To-day, 23/4/2016 is exactly ten years since the death of Tun Ghafar Baba. A tahlil of sorts was held at his old house in Peringit, Melaka, where I had occassion of being present.
"Of sorts" because it wasn't the traditional tahlil. "Occasion" because at the very last hour I somehow got "invited".
The "traditional" tahlil is a sombre, sitting-on-the-floor affair, attired in "baju Melayu" reciting of the Quranic verses and offering supplications for the dear departed during evening prayers.
This was a music-band accompaniment of tables-of-eight domed luncheon under a big tent at high noon. A lot of "songkoks" were seen among more bare heads and all casual street clothes. The doa recited by the Melaka CM sounded authentic enough, though, and hopefully God Gives compassion for Ghafar's soul.
My late father knew Ghafar, and I'd met him many times. He was in fact born in Tebat Kering, my kampong. His parents were buried in Melang, where both my parents were also buried. My father used to tell stories about Ghafar in the early years, about his humble beginnings and poor post SITC days, how he used to stay in friends' houses when travelling around the country, campaigning for whatever causes he was pursuing then. But later, when Ghafar resigned as the CM to concentrate on MARA, my father would relate with admiration the fact that Ghafar declined the gratuity of 25,000 ringgit offered by the state for his services as the CM. That really struck him, because of the relative enormity of the sum against Ghafar's humble background. That story, and Ghafar's continuous refusal to accept any State or Federal honours until the final Tunship at the end of his career (which happened after my father's death) impressed on him Ghafar's political sincerity.
Ku Li spoke of Ghafar's wit. They were, if true, really good jokes, but unfortunately Ku Li is no comedian, and speaking in English, while I grinned, even having heard the two jokes before, the humour was lost on the crowd. One was about people coming to him for donation, and he gave RM 100. "But your son, Tamrin, gave RM 1,000 !" Ghafar replied "his father is the DPM. Mine was a bullockcart driver !" The other one was about visitors to Tanjong Rambutan mental hospital who saw an inmate holding a fishing line in a bucket of water. They asked " are you fishing ?" The mental patient replied " you crazy ? There's no fish in the bucket !" But the gist of Ku Li's speech in remembering Ghafar made its point.
Tamrin opened things up when he was first to speak after the tahlil. It was an eulogy to his father that, like Ku Li's later, made its point. But the greater part of his rambling speech was highlighting his association with the v.i.p.s present, from the Governor, the PM, right down to the chairman of Tabung Haji who was also present. The crux of the matter was his public apology to Najib about his behaviour before this, and the public request for support in establishing the Tun Ghafar memorial. Najib agreed to both.
Najib's speech was short and tame, except for the part about betraying UMNO, and that sharp jab was meant for you-know-who.
In fact, while this was an occassion in memory of a true UMNO stalwart, Najib came to turn it into a gathering of those-against-Mahathir. Many of them were there. Dollah Badawi, Musa Hitam, Ku Li, Nazri (Tourism), Bashah (Kedah), Aziz (TH), Ali(ex CM), Isa(Felda), Syed Hamid (SPAD), Zahar Ujang(Senate), and even a Sabahan whose name escapes me, but it must have been somebody pro Najib or anti Shafie. And Tamrin himself was before this with Mahathir, like Ku Li. But news that Ku Li is becoming the new Finance Minister and the second DPM is blowing hard, and explains his turnaround.
I call this piece "Ghafar & Najib" because I see the stark contrast. Ghafar was the simple political figure fighting for the Malays' honour from a muddy peasant background.. Najib is the sophisticated and complex political scion fighting for personal glory from a gilded upbringing.
This was a strange scene. Was this a Melaka state affair with the state UMNO liason managing the honouring of a Melaka hero, or was this a national event honouring a national hero? There were non-Melaka dignitaries of present and past ilk, but not enough of them to make this truly "national". But the local crowd seemed insufficiently large to make it clearly significant. Not all the tables under the single large tent were filled up, and there appeared to be more veterans than youth present.
Musa and Ku Li and Dollah Badawi were from "Team B" fighting Mahathir and Ghafar from "Team A" in 1986, that's common knowledge to UMNO followers. And here they were together heaping praises to Ghafar in his own house in Melaka. He must be turning in his grave in KL !
Even the video presentation and the phamplet distributed took obvious pains in avoiding any mention, much less pictures of Mahathir who was the UMNO President longer than anyone else in the Party's history.
Everyone in UMNO knows the Tamrin Ghafar story. Getting him to very publicly supporting Najib again must rank high in Najib's propaganda. But we all know Tamrin. He's Ghafar's son, but he's no Ghafar.
If the whole thing was an exercise in isolating Mahathir rather than remembering Ghafar, it was pathetic. What Mahathir and Ghafar went through together in the short history of UMNO makes it impossible to mention one without the other. Any deliberate attempt at highlighting one cannot block out the role of the other in as far as UMNO goes thus far.
I went because it supposed to be about Ghafar. It seems it was all about Najib.
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