Rest in peace, Michael Jackson

I was on the news channel on Thursday night while working on two assignments. At 10.30pm British time, BBC news paused for a breaking news. They said Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital and that he wasn't breathing. 10 minutes later, a footnote wrote "TMZ: Michael Jackson dies".

I stopped my work and immediately called my brother and friends in Malaysia. It was 5.40am in Malaysia and I woke them up from their sleep. I didn't care as I was shocked.

People in my generation know MJ. We grew up listening to him. For me, I remember Billie Jean most because it was the first song that I came to know MJ.

Early this year when tickets to attend one of his 50 gigs in London was up for sale, I set my alarm to wake up early and queued for the tickets. I couldn't get a ticket in the end because the server crashed. So I told myself to buy it off Ebay nearer the time. Now I do not have to worry about it anymore.

MJ was a great artist. His talent was unsurpassed. He was one of the few artists whose music grew with the technologies of our time - from the days of cassette tape to CD and to downloadable music files now.

He is a legend. There will never be another Michael Jackson in our lifetime. This is exactly what kept me moody these couple of days. I engaged in conversations, see and listen to chat shows that was close or had anything to do with MJ. It was a great antidote to feeling depressed.

It's strange. I am not a big fan of MJ, yet his departure has left me feeling upset. I felt more upset when I heard people bringing up his past on child molestation charges and race inferiority. To me, I don't know if these allegations were true but neither do they.

It's shocking how much energy people waste paying attention to rubbish allegations and not on what is real and proven i.e his talent, struggle to get airtime for black music in the 80s and 90s, highest number of albums sold in history and the positive messages in his songs. Or even if nothing good could be said about him, for goodness sake, shut up and leave him alone, he's already dead!

People cry and scream in concerts not because of his alleged wrongdoings. People cry and scream because of how he touched their lives. Now people of all races and nationalities come together to mourn for his death. His death has united the world.

Now I feel old. After the passing of MJ, talking about him reminds me of how my parents used to talk about Elvis Presley. I am sure people in my generation will always associate MJ to the great music legend of our time.

RIP Michael Jackson.