Al-fatihah...

Former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Ghafar Baba, passed away yesterday from heart, lung and kidney complications at Gleneagles Hospital in KL. He was 81 years old. First, I have to make it clear that this is not an eulogy for Tun Ghafar. I've never had much affection for him especially when he was still serving in the government. He was pliable; a company man, so to speak. Never the one to go against the current, nor the one to hog the limelight for personal glory. That, of course, makes him an obedient foot soldier within UMNO. Bid his time, move up the leadership rank ever so slowly, step on nobody's toes along the way, and ultimately assume the second highest political office in the country. When he was asked to step down and make room for the up-and-coming Anwar Ibrahim, Tun Ghafar gladly did so. Never the one to complain--the fifth-grade educated country bumpkin knew where his place was among the sophisticated urban political elites. But Tun Ghafar was what most Malaysian politicians are not: a people's person--with his constituents at least. His Parliamentary district is the Masjid Tanah area in Melaka where my late grandpa was originally from. There are a lot of things around Masjid Tanah named after Tun Ghafar like schools and such. What's even more fascinating is that his constituents love and idolize him so much. He was one of them; "orang kampung just like us," what they used to say. Tun Ghafar was never comfortable with the high society lifestyle of the UMNO ruling elites. He was more at ease in his white Pagoda t-shirt and kain pelekat lusuh drinking coffee and chatting with the people at the local warung. Urbane he was not nor he ever aspired to be one, but talk to people in Masjid Tanah and they will speak of him with such affection and reverence. That's the reason why he's the only politician who had never lost a single election since the first one was held in 1955 until he retired in 1990.

Anyway, rest in peace, Tun Ghafar. May Allah bless your soul. Amin!