A Bench in Setapak, 1978
I was in Form 4. She was in Form 3.
We did not go to the same school. We met at an event organized by the School Arts and Culture Association — a hall full of noise, rehearsals, and teenage nervousness.
And then there was Zalina.
We became friends. Not the kind that makes headlines, but the kind that makes you look forward to the next inter-school program. Lina, in her light blue pinafore,with that short bob and that bright, unguarded smile — the one you see in the photo dated July 1978.
September came. We sat on a wooden bench in High School, Setapak. Someone took a photo and wrote on the corner in black ink: "High School, Setapak, 1978." We were just kids trying to look serious.
In 1980, life split our path. I enlisted in the Royal Malaysian Navy. She continued to Form 6, and then, as she always dreamed, she made it to university — Menara Gading.
When I was at sea, crossing wide oceans with the TLDM, I would write letters. The ship would rock, and I would write. At first, replies came. Then they became shorter. Then they stopped.
I later heard she was working in Australia. Since then, I have never known where she is. I don't know what became of Lina. But I know what became of that memory. It stayed on that bench in Setapak, in Kodak colors, in September 1978.
Some people you lose to distance. Some memories, you keep forever.
— Zul. Setapak, 1978 - A Memory Kept Forever.
23 August 2026: 10.48 a.m
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