Pepatah Melayu ade kate, berkawan biorlah beghibu, bermusuh bior satu(setan).
In defining the word of ‘kawan’ or friend, we can illustrate it in so many dimensions. For example, hobby partners, work colleagues, friends among ex-schoolmates, friends known while travelling etc etc..
However it sadden me to see that most of us do not maximise the dimensions of friend that we have got.
For some of us, ‘kawan’ is confined only among their ex-schoolmates or ex-college mate. This per se is not wrong, but it really is restricting the contribution that friends can make on us. Whenever they meet during reunion or congregation, one of the major subjects of conversation is the past history of their comradeship. I personally believe that this retrospection will add only a little value to their future life. What more shocking, is to see some ex-sudent of prime preparation colleges and prime boarding schools who are currently studying in the UK sometimes discrimate friends between ex-schoolmates and non-ex-schoolmate. What a shame.
I was once told by someone, there is one occasion when the new committee need to be elected for the UK-wide students association, on the night before the election, at Malaysia Hall canteen, the current president who is going to step down the next morning loudly said, ‘I hope the person who is going to replace me comes from XXXK (XXXK is his ex-school) as we have bla bla bla……’ Thinking about it, I sometimes wonder, how ‘old-school’ his thought is. And once again, it is a shame considering he is the president of the UK-wide students association, not his school alumni.
I must say and confess that this kind of friends segregation really pissed me off, as I were occassionally left behind due to that very reason. It is really sad to have that feeling of being left behind, I can assure you, considering that yesterday you walk together, eat together, live in the same house, and suddenly today your friends left you behind to attend some functions that do not necessarily require you to attend any particular school or college.
For some people, their friendship is bounded only to the people around their own age. This is not wrong, but from my humble opinion, this really is abstaining the maturity process of mind.
My advice, do not confined our friendship scope. During this metamorphosis period of us in the UK, it is better for us to make friends with a wider range of people, doctors, ulama’s, ustazs, laymen, engineers, students, youngsters, and so on and so forth as it will make our assimilation process to the society a lot easier.
Rasulullah during his time, did not confine his sahabah to any criteria whatsoever. His friendship boundary among human being is not constricted only to the people of Bani hasyim. He has a wide range of sahabah, from servant to successful merchant. From the youngest age, to the shuyukh age of sahabah. Regardless of skin colour and origin. He has such a diverse kind of friends like Bilal bin Rabah r.a, Abdurrahman bin Auf r.a, Saidina Ali bin Abi Talib r.a, Saidina Abu Bakar r.a, Salman al-Farisi r.a etc etc.
To know someone better, look at his friends…..
p/s: to my junior in Bristol University, the invitation of mine to Swindon only for third year students must not be seen as batchist or friends segregation, as I really do not want ‘budak-budak kechik’ ganggu ‘orang-orang tua’ shopping. Nanti ade je dimintak nye cikedies ke jajan ke ..tehehehe.
Takderlah, kalau nak follow ok je, cume time tak ditetapkan lagi. To qoute Aidi, ’sumer pun bole pegi swindon, swindon bukan amar punye 
‘
