Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, also known as Pak Lah, passed away at 7:10PM yesterday (April 14) at the National Heart Institute (IJN).
This morning (April 15), several political figures and government leaders showed up at the National Mosque for the State Funeral to pay their last respects to the former Prime Minister, including Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as reported by Malaysia Gazette.
A leader with strong principles
Mahathir, who showed up at the National Mosque around 11:15AM with his son Datuk Seri Mukhriz, was greeted by the late Abdullah’s son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin.
While speaking at the mosque, Mahathir described Pak Lah as a leader with strong principles and a big heart, especially for stepping down as Prime Minister gracefully after Barisan Nasional (BN) performed poorly in the 12th General Election (GE12).
“Abdullah took over as PM after I stepped down, and in the early part of his term, the country saw one of the biggest election wins ever when BN secured nearly 90% of the seats in GE2004.”
Dr Mahathir added that even though they didn’t always see eye to eye when Abdullah was in office, he respected how Abdullah handled the power transition.
“That massive win showed how much trust people had in Abdullah’s leadership back then. But after that, he faced a lot of challenges, and that eventually led to BN’s drop in GE12.”
“It’s something future leaders should keep up”
Looking back at that moment, Dr Mahathir said that when the 2008 general election didn’t go the government’s way, Abdullah didn’t hesitate to step down and handed over the role to his deputy at the time, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“Abdullah’s decision to let go of the position without any drama or conflict shows how mature our political scene can be. It’s something future leaders should keep up for the sake of the country’s stability,” he said.
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