By Datuk Kalimullah Hassan
I said goodbye to Tun Abdullah Badawi (1939 – 2025) tonight. Tomorrow, I shall bade him a final farewell as he goes forever rob be with the One he loved most all his life, his Maker, Allah swt.
His family lost a very good man and we grieve with them. Malaysia, on the other hand, has lost a great man, one who tried to bring a gentler kinder face to a country he loved so much.
I have known him for close to 45 years and as a friend, a father figure, a kind teacher and just a good heart, since 1987. No politician in Malaysia has ever come close to him as a tender, forgiving, kind hearted leader.
He had the ability to forgive people so easily; he was not judgemental; he had weaknesses of course; but he knew it and he’d never cast the first stone. In fact, he never casted stones.
Polemics was not his style. He absolutely believed that God had given Malaysian its multi-ethnic multi-religious structure for a purpose – to make it – cemerlang, gemilang, terbilang.
So, I grieve today. His family grieves today. Many people grieve today.
I loved you Pak Lah, as I loved my parents; I love you as a Malaysian who loved his leader; I loved you for the same reasons your family and friends loved you.
Malaysia may not have been kind enough to you. But as I told someone in your house tonight, you’d have already forgiven everyone who slighted you( and it’d be your wish they forgive you too.)
Please give our salaams to Allah swt and to his Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Find the “damai abadi” you always spoke of.
As I bade good bye to Tun Jeanne tonight, she said “you were a good friend.”
Was I? I think I could have been a million times better, because, that was what he was to me. A million times better.,
Innalillahi wainnailahi rajiun. I grieve for you Pah Lah. I grieve deeply. Farewell.
