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Soi Lek: 'Muhyiddin told MCA to make a stand on 1MDB'

Editor’s note: This is the ninth of a 12-part series from former health minister and MCA president Chua Soi Lek’s book, 'Like Me or Hate Me: Rising from the Political Ashes'.

BOOK EXCERPT | This chapter gives my impressions of some of the major personalities I have had dealings with during my political career - Abdul Ghani Othman, Abdullah Badawi, Chan Kong Choy, Lim Ah Lek, Ling Liong Sik, and Muhyiddin Yassin.

Abdul Ghani Othman

Abdul Ghani Othman became the menteri besar of Johor in 1995. Prior to this, he was a senator and a deputy minister. In 1993, he was appointed the Minister of Youth and Sports. I served two terms as the state exco (1995–2004) when he was the menteri besar.

Abdul Ghani became a politician with a strong academic background, having served as the dean for the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at University of Malaya from 1980 to 1984.

He is tall and well-built, but soft-spoken. At times, he tends to be academic in his approach towards solving the rakyat’s problems or developing the state.

Those who don’t know him well would assume he is a man of few words. Somehow, we got along well.

He is hard-working, humble but not a good public speaker, especially in Bahasa Malaysia. He seems more comfortable speaking in English.

Somehow, Ghani has reservations about fostering good relations with Singapore. Under his leadership, we continued to host Hari Raya open houses for the prime minister of Singapore and his cabinet members.

We also continued to visit the residence of the prime minister of Singapore to celebrate Chap Goh Meh. However, there was hardly any bilateral contact officially between Singapore and Johor.

Under Ghani, the state government continues to promote industrialisation in Johor. I was a member of his delegation to Taiwan, the US, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

While he did not neglect to promote industrialisation, Ghani (photo) felt strongly that the rakyat of Johor were entitled to a better quality of life with greater emphasis on landscaping, large-scale tree planting and the development of amenities and recreational parks in every district in Johor. I was appointed by Ghani to develop recreational parks in Johor and succeeded.

He was very committed to developing sports and culture in the state. His favourite cultural show is zapin, a famous traditional dance in Johor.

Under his leadership, we can see a revival of sporting and cultural activities in every district. Because of the emphasis on tree planting and landscaping, Johor became cleaner and greener.

From 2003, I initiated a yearly dialogue cum dinner in Saujana, the official residence of the menteri besar of Johor. This dialogue involved the menteri besar and all MCA state assemblymen in Johor.

This proved to be extremely useful for the MCA state assemblymen to resolve difficult issues in their respective constituencies, such as land issues for squatters, conversion of land use by temples, relocation of under-enrolled SJKCs, and construction of places of worship such as Chinese and Hindu temples, which required the personal attention of the menteri besar. I continued this yearly practice until I retired in 2013.

Ghani continued to serve as the menteri besar until 2013.

In the 2013 general election, despite announcing his retirement, it was felt that he was the only winnable candidate to face Lim Kit Siang in the contest for the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat. Unfortunately, the winds of change had started blowing then and he was defeated by Kit Siang.

This marked the end of his political career. After his retirement, he was appointed as the chairman of Sime Darby Bhd.

I still touch base with Ghani. We remain good friends...

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