My Friend Met Michael Jackson in 1996, Here, In MALAYSIA.

I just had to share this as the conversation I had tonight is quickly fleeting away!

I was at SS15 tonight with some friends and one of my friends was like, “Eh, saw your blog that day. Wahhhh what a long post on Michael Jackson!”

I was all, “YES! OMG He is so hot so hot so hot so hot. In the 90s lah.”

And he goes and drop the mother of all bombshell, “Did you  know I met him before?”

I slammed both hands on the table, “WHAT?!? START TALKING!”

Here was a boy who grew up and lived in Subang Jaya, just like me. Attended the same primary school as me and secondary school as me and he had a once in a lifetime opportunity of meeting Michael Jackson.

It was a morning in 1996 and his mother was running late. The time was 7.15am and school was starting at 7.30am. The 10 year old Jonathan (okay lah, I think it’s okay to say his name… and it’s Jon Ooi for those who are wondering.) was fretting as he would be late for school. The 9 year old Jolene was probably doing some rounds as a prefect at that time in that very same primary school, all early and stuff. Anyway, back to Jon.

His mother then said, “Okay, no need to go to school already. We’re meeting Michael Jackson today.”

His eyes widened to dinner plates size.

This happened because he had an aunt who was a diehard Michael Jackson fan. She had some connections who knew that Michael was having a “Meet the Children” session at Hard Rock Cafe KL.  He only wanted children so for any adult fan to come see him, their only ticket to this golden opportunity was a child. It’s so amusing to think of my friend as the sacrificial kid! That’s so typical of Michael Jackson right. 🙂 As much as I want to be his Lisa Marie Presley, and I’d even settle for a Debbie Rowe kind of post, it’s okay to have a giggle at Michael jackson’s fascination with children.

Michael Jackson was in Malaysia at that time as part of his History tour. It was quite a hoo-hah. Even a kid like me who didn’t read the papers and only saw a few bits of advertisement on tv knew that the king was coming!

So apparently, he, his brother, his baby sister, mum and aunt were there at Hard Rock Cafe. About 30 over children were allowed to roam around the venue but the parents were confined to the bar. I’ve never been inside so I don’t really know what’s the layout but apparently the bar is kind of restricting.

All Michael wanted was to come and make friends with the children and play some games. Parents were not part of the plan but they had to be there to watch over their children.

When Michael Jackson finally entered the venue, all the children swarmed around him. Most of them were on a mission, like Jon, who was made to get Michael’s autograph on a Michael Jackson picture book. He was promised RM100 for each autograph and after getting the first one, he went back to his aunt who scolded him and said, “GET SOME MORE ! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!” LOL i’d probably do the same. I’ll definitely drag my nephew if I had one who can already talk. *waits impatiently for Ethan to grow up*

Jon said Michael Jackson did not say anything the whole time but enjoyed the company of the children for about 15 minutes. Apparently, the parents went ballistic. They were CRAZY. They were trying to climb over the bar to get to Michael Jackson. For the 10 year old, he had never seen adults lose control. And we all know what kind of effect Michael Jackson has on his fans right? Fainting, screaming, crying..etc. A crowd of screaming fans had already gathered outside the restaurant by then.

Michael was apparently, according to Jon, pissed off by the commotion as all he wanted was some quiet time with the children of Malaysia.

Even Jon’s mum (HI Aunty! I wonder if you’re reading this! :P) was slightly crazy but couldn’t go all the way cuckoo because she was holding on to his baby sister. The security guards wanted to take his baby sister to Michael to hold but she was crying. His aunt later chided the poor kid for the missed opportunity. LOL.

Jon’s younger brother was running around, quite oblivious to everything. He stopped in front of Michael and looked up at him. Michael reached down and ruffled his hair.

After that, his aunt continuously ruffled the brother’s hair going, “OMG MICHAEL JACKSON TOUCHED YOUR HAIR. HE TOUCHED YOUR HAIR! MICHAEL JACKSON TOUCHED YOUR HAIR!!” The ruffling continued.

I love his aunty, she’s so funny! Hahaha.

And just before they entered the venue, the aunt made sure Jon’s mum remembered to load batteries and film into their analog camera. The aunt was going trigger happy the entire time. When they wanted to develop the photos, they realized that the film was actually inserted the wrong way. -________________________________________- I’d go mad. So mad… I was actually very angry when I heard it at the dessert table just now.

I found Jon’s story so fascinating because he actually met the legend as a young boy. It’s just so amusing as you keep hearing all these accounts of children visiting Neverland and spending time with him. And Jon actually had the Malaysian version of it. How I wish I was one of the children at that little Meet The Children session. But won’t it be wrong for a 9 year old to be thinking, “Hot damn, if only I could tear off his clothes… that long white sleeve shirt and those black slacks…mmmmmmmmmmmmm”?