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MALAYSIAN DIPLOMATS: OUR STORIES

f nancial crisis and all embassies were af ected. Scholarship awards were no
longer available. Except from Cuba.

I remember inviting the Ambassador, His Excellency Pedro Monzón, for
lunch at the Summer Palace restaurant in Marriott Putrajaya. My wife,
Hawa, came along. We had a very pleasant conversation and a week later,
the embassy called. I was told that scholarships were only available for a
degree programme that would stretch over 5 years, plus the one-year Spanish
language course. It was not what we had initially planned. But after Amirah’s
interview with Ambassador Monzón, we all warmed up to the idea. Even
then, I recall discussing with Hawa about it one evening. We f nally relented.
At least Amirah’s movements would be restricted to just an island, and not
backpacking through Latin America with her best friend Fuzeani Fauzi, as
was her initial plan.

Amirah went on to study at La Universidad de Ciencias Pedagógigas
“Félix Varela” in Santa Clara, some 280 km southeast of Havana. T e then
Ambassador, Zainol Abidin Omar, a family friend, and the Embassy staf
certainly helped Amirah in settling down. T is was in November 2005.
She did exceptionally well in her studies and was awarded El Título de
Oro for graduating with the highest Grade Point Average in her class. We
really appreciated the generosity of the Cuban government in awarding
the scholarship to her. Up until then, no Malaysian had ever taken it. She
became a pioneer, becoming the f rst Malaysian student to undertake full-
time studies in a Cuban institution of higher learning. T ere were others
who came after her, all pursuing studies in medicine. In my daughter’s case
though, she ended up not only coming back with a Cuban degree, but with
a Cuban husband as well – the pleasant and well-mannered Yoandry Luis,
whom we all fondly call Yoyi. T is was the second major event that took me
back to Cuba this last time.

T e f nal visit to Cuba was about 14 years after my last visit and was
signif cantly dif erent to all my previous ones. I was the Ambassador to
Bosnia-Herzegovina at the time and took a ten-day vacation from my post,
f ying from Sarajevo to Havana via Frankfurt. It was a whirlwind visit, taking
us from Havana to Santa Clara, and back. With the help of my colleague,
Yean Yoke Heng, our Ambassador in Havana, and the embassy of cials,

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