Since young, Malek Awab would rush from school, asking for early dismissal from the teacher, so that he could leave school by 3pm & sell food and drinks at the stadium during football matches. At the same time, he secretly wished that someday, he would be the one playing on the pitch for Singapore. His dream eventually came true when he was invited to play for the national team. It all began when he played football for Farrer Park United. On one fateful Wednesday afternoon after a game, he was invited to play for a match that very Sunday & was put on second half of the game where he scored two goals. Since then, he was invited to play for the National team & made his debut season in Malaysia Cup in 1981, playing alongside local legendary icons with the likes of Quah Kim Song & Nasir Jalil.
Although he and Fandi Ahmad grew up in the same kampong, they were only casual friends. It was only when they came together as a national squad to play for Malaysia Cup during the 90s that they became closer. He remembered that during the 1994 Malaysia Cup, the national squad had flown to Malaysia a few days before the final match and were put up at a hotel near the Shah Alam stadium to enable them to make the necessary preparations & training sessions. On the match day itself, he remembered walking into the stadium & being amazed at the sight of three quarter of the stadium being filled by Singapore fans clad in red and white stripes. At that point in time, he remembered asking himself, with the amount of support, how could the team possibly let the crowd & their fans down? As such, the sight of the crowd & feeling the tremendous support boosted the morale of not just himself but also the whole team.
Not long after the whistle was blown, Abbas Saad scored the first goal during the first half. In fact, it remained status quo till the end of first half. Although happy with the score, the team had to remind themselves that their winning place was not secured until they scored more goals, so when they came back in during the second half, they played as though they had not scored a single goal. The team remained high spirited and made a breakthrough with a second goal by Fandi, which was followed by a third goal by Abbas. It was only after the third goal that they felt that they were winning the Malaysia Cup. By then, the Pahang team, which was their opponent, already had its spirit dampened. With Fandi finishing off the game with the fourth goal, the team went euphoric the minute the referee blew his last whistle. Malek remembered that he felt very happy that he broke down in gratitude. The promise of big bonuses was also something that the whole team was looking forward to as the national team had been doing fairly well throughout that season.Till today, the medal is something that he remembers by for his contribution to Singapore in Malaysia Cup although he has no idea where his medal is.
