My name is Syed Jaafar Aznan. I was born in Parit Buntar, Perak in 1947. My father was a ‘Penghulu’ from the pre “merdeka” time. The nature of his job took the family to live in various villages and small towns in Perak. Some of the places where we lived had no treated piped water supply or electricity. Secondary schools were far away from home, and in many cases not accessible to most village folks. I had to stay at school hostels to continue secondary schooling. Such was the development situation in rural Perak at those times.
In 1967 I was admitted to the University of Malaya at Kuala Lumpur. After graduation I joined the civil service in 1970 and served various institutions in Malaysia. From 1991-1993 I served as the State Financial Officer of Perak. In 1997 I moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to take up appointment as Vice-President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). I left the IDB in July, 2009 and returned to Malaysia. I have now retired from full-time employment.
I spend much of my time now travelling, reading and writing.
I have never been a member of any political party in Malaysia.
This blog is an attempt to write my memoirs. It centred around me, my family, my friends and colleagues at work and life during those times. The stories are glimpses of the past as I saw it. I welcome objective and informative comments, but libelous and defamatory remarks should be avoided.
Comments can be sent to me at sjaznan@gmail.com.