PETALING JAYA: Not all heroes wear capes, as Prof Dr Firdaus Hariri realised in his early years as a university student.
Firdaus, 44, a paediatric craniomaxillofacial surgeon, would not have achieved his dream if not for his father Hariri Sadiman.
“My father is certainly my hero,” Firdaus told theSun recently at their family home in Kampung Tok Muda in Kapar, Selangor.
Firdaus had wanted to be a dentist since he was a teenager after he had a minor accident that required dental care.
“The dentist was patient with me and that inspired me to become a dentist,” he said.
However, he was offered a place at Universiti Malaya to study microbiology.
“I wasn’t in the position to study abroad or in a private university, but I was later offered a dentistry programme in the middle of my semester. It was a sudden offer. I was surprised.”
But the arduous study regime in the field that initially inspired him as a child started to affect his performance.
“I became tired and I stopped playing music. The fact that I came into the faculty late affected me too. In hindsight, I may have had some mild form of depression.
“In my first year, I failed my subjects.”
Somehow, his parents got wind of his troubles and made a surprise visit to his dormitory. Instead of being reprimanded, Firdaus’ father shared his failure when he started as an electrical engineering student.
“It was the first time I heard he had ‘failed’. He was the first to leave his village and study abroad. I thought I was fighting this war alone. It was then that I felt a stronger kinship with him. Things started to change gradually.”
Firdaus retook his exams the following semester with his parents’ encouragement.
Hariri, 75, sees the moment as a time when Firdaus needed his support the most.
“I had a difficult time growing up. Life was tough, there were no roads. I remember my father toiling in the field, riding his bicycle. He did all the manual work himself. I’d help him by going to the farm after school.”
Partly due to his background, Hariri said he felt overwhelmed with the technical engineering jargon. He had to divert his studies to a science degree and then return to his initial passion.
“I was swamped by the technical jargon. Although I completed two degrees, it took me two years longer,” he said.
As the world celebrates Father’s Day this Sunday, Firdaus and Hariri took time to reflect on the meaning of fatherhood.
Firdaus, taking his cue from Hariri, said being a father to three children poses its challenges, especially with the onslaught of online information. However, he is not one to hover over his children’s academic efforts, but rather spends time with them.
“I don’t believe in being strict with them. I had been in a military boarding school as a teenager. Hence, my belief in raising them is different. I am firm but I love spending time with them too,” he said.
