Despite being diagnosed with a terminal illness of leukaemia in 1969, Abdul Razak Hussein continued to work as hard as possible for the country, said his son, Ahmad Johari.

Johari, 62, the second of five siblings, said his father persevered and lived longer to look after the rakyat, despite doctors giving him only two years to live after being diagnosed with the illness.

Razak succeeded Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra as prime minister on Sept 22, 1970. He died on Jan 14, 1976.

"He had wanted very much to live longer. There was still so much he wanted to do.

"To be prime minister and to look after the interest of the rakyat, while in the grip of a debilitating illness must have been hard to bear. He must have had superhuman courage to cope with it," Johari told Bernama .

The soft spoken Johari, who read law, like his father, is a senior partner in a major law firm in Kuala Lumpur.

Johari ( photo ) said his father wanted to, among others, launch the country's third five-year economic plan, attend the Asean Summit in Bali, resolve the political conflicts following the prosecution of Harun Idris (former Selangor menteri besar), as well as to resolve the communist insurgency.

Johari, who obtained his law degree from the University of Kent, United Kingdom, recalled his last moments with his father.

It was when Razak went to London in December 1975 and was admitted to a London hospital the following month.

Johari was 21 at that time and was preparing for his final year law examinations.

He said his last conversation with his father was between Jan 12 and 13 at the hospital, where his father asked him to buy a new suit.

Razak asked him to get his briefcase and gave him 40 pounds sterling, he added.

'His last gift to me'

Johari said he spent the money on a new suit a month later and wore it to important occasions until it no longer fitted him.

"That was his last gift to me," he said, adding that he still missed his father.

Johari remains thankful that his father had lived his life to the full and managed to implement policies that brought much benefit to the people.

Razak, who was born 94 years ago, was known as "Bapa Pembangunan" (Father of Development) for his contribution in bringing development to the nation, including rural development by setting up Felda.

It was Razak who, in the aftermath of the 1969 race riots, infamously known as ‘May 13’, mooted the idea of Barisan Nasional (BN) to replace the ruling coalition 'Perikatan' (Alliance), so that all political parties representing all ethnic groups in Malaysia could unite under one coalition, thus enabling them to focus on nation-building and less on politicking.

Razak died at the age of 53 and he was only into the fifth year of implementing key policies introduced post 1969, such as the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the National Education Policy that led to the conversion of the medium of instruction in national schools from English to Bahasa Malaysia.

At the international front, Razak was instrumental in the establishment of a diplomatic relations with China in 1974, the first member of Asean to do so.

Razak and his wife Rahah Noah had five sons and the eldest is current Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

- Bernama