Tengku Robert Hamzah who passed away recently after courageously fighting many years of illness, was the Captain of the Club in 1979 and before that the Vice Captain in 1978. He will be sadly missed by his children, Adam, Amir and Sophie, and by his many friends both here and internationally. He succeeded me as Club Captain and I am privileged to have spent many years with him on club activities and as a friend. He was a very well known architect and helped the Club always with his talents. He travelled with me for many interclub matches to Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and China where he made many friends. Sadly, his Australian wife Diane died quite a few years ago, but before that the couple were often seen at the Club with their friends. Although he was from Kelantan Royalty (his brothers being Tengku Aziz an Ambassador and Tengku Razaleigh our Finance Minister for many years), Tengku Robert preferred to keep to his practice as an architect.
He was highly competent, conscientious, responsible, a person of integrity who was always neat in everything he did. For some twenty years the Club hosted the Malaysian Open and Tengku Robert was on some of the Organising Committees helping. I remember one year in the middle of the tournament, the Workers Union ordered the field staff to work to rule to demand for higher wages. The field staff in obedience did not work overtime, which meant after the day’s play, there were no field staff to go out to repair and do other maintenance work. Tengku Robert was one of those friends who went with me to do the field work. I always remember how amazed the field staff were as we went on the course and did what they should have done. Many of them wanted to help but couldn’t.
To me, the best years at RSGC were the years soon after our Independence. It was the time when the British and other expatriates handed over the running of the Club to Malaysians in a friendly and harmonious manner. It was a marvellous time when everyday there was a gathering of Malaysians and international people all enjoying the Club together. Competitions were attended by people of different nationalities. The Club was frequented by our first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and his Senior Ministers, Sultans and other Royalties and many Ambassadors. We also had members from the Military, Police and the Civil Service. Malaysians of all races were full of energy to promote golf. The Club held the Malaysian Open for 20 years, all the time without outside help and raising funds by itself from sponsors. Members headed the Malaysian Golf Association and led the whole country forward in the development of golf.
Tengku Robert and his wife Diane having returned from England were very much part of that history of the Club.
Many of Tengku Robert’s friends will remember him in their own ways. But the common memory will be that he was a true gentleman, a good friend and a really nice guy and fun to be around.
