Pengalaman saya dengan seorang Menteri yang saya jadikan Mentor
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Passing of an Illustrious Diplomat.
The passing of Tun Ghazali Shafie, whose long illustrious service as the nation’s top Diplomat and Politician extraordinaire is indeed a great loss. In his heyday King Ghaz’s reputation in that specialized field is regarded by both friends and rivals as arguably, “Second-to-None”. A good reflection is recorded in The Star newspaper:
The long and illustrious road of a no-nonsense minister
By PAUL GABRIEL
Monday January 25, 2010
As for me, I can recalled some memorable fleeting encounters with King Ghaz, the most recent one being at one of the ISIS conference/seminar in 2007.
But my first encounter with him was during the turbulent first week after May 13th. I believed he was then the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry. This is where I, as a young subaltern witness “his flamboyance and dashing style”. He was addressing a crowd at the Balai Dato’ Harun in Kampung Baru where I and my troop were patrolling. What struck me then was his tight blue jeans and a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver tucked under his belt behind him. He called me aside and asked for an update. I gave the “under control situation reports”. He listened without interruption until I completed my short briefing. He then nodded at the rest of the troops and let us continues with our patrolling.
The second encounter was in May/June 1974 after the tragic accident suffered by my then boss, ACP Majid Din who was then HSB Pahang. He was in a coma at the Temerloh Hospital and King Ghaz, who was Home Minister and Majid Din’s Kampung mates decided that the victim is to be airlifted to HKL. If my memory served me right, the accident was on a Sunday and King Ghaz requested that I, as the MIO to arrange for a Nuri airlift. I got to speak to the duty officer in Mindef, a Major at about 1600hrs. Sensing that I have problem getting the Major to deal with the request, King Ghaz motioned that I gave him the handset. As a Captain I witness his “no nonsense side”. I can still recollect the words used by the minister, the result of which a Nuri was hovering at a makeshift helipad at a school padang at about 2000 hrs flood lighted by about 20 cars headlight that I had arranged.
My third encounter was in early August 1988 which took place while waiting for my flight home to KL at Don Muang Airport, Bangkok. This was more on the lighter side of life and as a Lieutenant Colonel; I witnessed King Ghaz display of his intellect and wittiness at its best. I was approaching the airport restroom when King Ghaz suddenly exited from the ladies restroom. (I could only surmised that in his haste to satisfy the call of nature he must have missed the signage to the men’s room)
He almost collided with two European ladies and was reprimanded in no uncertain term “sir, this is meant for ladies”. Inside me I was telling myself how the hell my minister is going to respond. But true to form and without batting an eyelid King Ghaz quipped, “I too, Ma’am, is meant for ladies”.
Phew! you should be there to see the look on the two mat salleh's faces!!!
May Allah blessed his soul. Alfatihah.
.
Posted by benadam at 7:23 PM 0 comments
Labels: Personal and "My Jejak Rasul"
Cerita tentang seorang Negarawan difb Anak Mersing, membuatkan saya terharu kerana Anak Mersing diberi kepercayaan memaparkan sebuah penulisan yang hebat. Kepada mereka yang seangkatan dengan saya, pasti tidak akan melupai saat saat cemas negara dengan rampasan kapalterbang oleh "Japan Red Army". Tun Ghazali Shafie adalah tokoh yang memainkan peranan menyelesaikannya tanpa ada pertumpahan darah..
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Passing of an Illustrious Diplomat.
The passing of Tun Ghazali Shafie, whose long illustrious service as the nation’s top Diplomat and Politician extraordinaire is indeed a great loss. In his heyday King Ghaz’s reputation in that specialized field is regarded by both friends and rivals as arguably, “Second-to-None”. A good reflection is recorded in The Star newspaper:
The long and illustrious road of a no-nonsense minister
By PAUL GABRIEL
Monday January 25, 2010
As for me, I can recalled some memorable fleeting encounters with King Ghaz, the most recent one being at one of the ISIS conference/seminar in 2007.
But my first encounter with him was during the turbulent first week after May 13th. I believed he was then the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry. This is where I, as a young subaltern witness “his flamboyance and dashing style”. He was addressing a crowd at the Balai Dato’ Harun in Kampung Baru where I and my troop were patrolling. What struck me then was his tight blue jeans and a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver tucked under his belt behind him. He called me aside and asked for an update. I gave the “under control situation reports”. He listened without interruption until I completed my short briefing. He then nodded at the rest of the troops and let us continues with our patrolling.
The second encounter was in May/June 1974 after the tragic accident suffered by my then boss, ACP Majid Din who was then HSB Pahang. He was in a coma at the Temerloh Hospital and King Ghaz, who was Home Minister and Majid Din’s Kampung mates decided that the victim is to be airlifted to HKL. If my memory served me right, the accident was on a Sunday and King Ghaz requested that I, as the MIO to arrange for a Nuri airlift. I got to speak to the duty officer in Mindef, a Major at about 1600hrs. Sensing that I have problem getting the Major to deal with the request, King Ghaz motioned that I gave him the handset. As a Captain I witness his “no nonsense side”. I can still recollect the words used by the minister, the result of which a Nuri was hovering at a makeshift helipad at a school padang at about 2000 hrs flood lighted by about 20 cars headlight that I had arranged.
My third encounter was in early August 1988 which took place while waiting for my flight home to KL at Don Muang Airport, Bangkok. This was more on the lighter side of life and as a Lieutenant Colonel; I witnessed King Ghaz display of his intellect and wittiness at its best. I was approaching the airport restroom when King Ghaz suddenly exited from the ladies restroom. (I could only surmised that in his haste to satisfy the call of nature he must have missed the signage to the men’s room)
He almost collided with two European ladies and was reprimanded in no uncertain term “sir, this is meant for ladies”. Inside me I was telling myself how the hell my minister is going to respond. But true to form and without batting an eyelid King Ghaz quipped, “I too, Ma’am, is meant for ladies”.
Phew! you should be there to see the look on the two mat salleh's faces!!!
May Allah blessed his soul. Alfatihah.
.
Posted by benadam at 7:23 PM 0 comments
Labels: Personal and "My Jejak Rasul"
Cerita tentang seorang Negarawan difb Anak Mersing, membuatkan saya terharu kerana Anak Mersing diberi kepercayaan memaparkan sebuah penulisan yang hebat. Kepada mereka yang seangkatan dengan saya, pasti tidak akan melupai saat saat cemas negara dengan rampasan kapalterbang oleh "Japan Red Army". Tun Ghazali Shafie adalah tokoh yang memainkan peranan menyelesaikannya tanpa ada pertumpahan darah..
No comments:
Post a Comment