Grandstand Ahad with Jazeman

Eight years ago, I got a call from a friend, requesting me to do an interview with Jazeman Firhan Jaafar, a young go-karter. The friend said: "Go la, his prodigious talent is too big to ignore. He could well be our first F1 driver."

So I spoke to Jazeman's father Datuk Jaafar Abdul Hamid, a former MD of UEM who undertook privatisation projects like the North South Expressway (PLUS) and the National Sports Complex at Bukit Jalil. He invited me to his residence at Saujana, Subang.

The article on the then 10 plus-year old Jazeman, or just Man to his family, appeared on the backpage of the Sunday Mail on  March 2, 2003.

Man is sandwiched between the man in charge of the PLUS and National Sports Complex projects and the blog author. Since Datuk Jeff and I come from Johor, our conversation veered towards business, politics and the history of Johor...upon his retirement from UEM, Datuk Jeff founded Hektar Group, which today own Subang Parade and Mahkota Parade 

Man with his array of trophies...all these before he turned 11...

The intro of the Sunday Mail article is here

A friend later told me someone implied that I went to great lengths to highlight the boy because I was supposedly related to him. "Eh who's this boy ah, Rizal's relative or cousin ah?"

Today, Jazeman is driving in the British F3, perhaps two steps away from becoming part of the F1 family. And eight years down the road, I get the chance to interview him, in my capacity as co-host of Grandstand Ahad, Astro Arena's weekend talk-show, noon tomorrow.