SG PETANI – The travel trade community in Kedah has paid tribute to former menteri besar Datuk Seri Syed Razak Syed Zain who passed away today aged 79 after a long battle with various ailments.
Industry veteran Ahmad Pishol Ishak said that Syed Razak contributed greatly towards tourism in Kedah, particularly for Langkawi when he was the executive councillor for tourism in the 1990s.
“He had an uncanny ability to settle issues fast. I think the leaders of today can learn a thing or two from Syed Razak’s legacy of limiting bureaucracy and offering quick respite to the woes in the industry,” Ahmad Pishol said in an interview.
He said that not every issue in tourism is related to funding – some just need attention from the authorities.
“Solutions can be found by fine-tuning policies instead of constantly waiting for someone else to make decisions. It becomes a waste of time,” he said.
“Syed Razak carried out policies which were meant to drive tourism, not hinder it.”
Kedah’s eighth menteri besar, who served from 1999 until 2005, was surrounded by his family when he breathed his last at his family home here today.
Acting Kuala Kedah Umno chief Dr Zaki Zamani Abd Rashid, who confirmed Syed Razak’s demise, said that the former menteri besar had headed the division for decades.
“His health deteriorated in the past three days,” Dr Zaki said.
Syed Razak was also former Kubang Rotan assemblyman.
He was the surprise choice for the menteri besar’s post as there were more proven candidates when his party Umno was looking for a leader for the state.
Syed Razak was made menteri besar during a minor crisis after Kedah was forced to relieve the late Tan Sri Sanusi Junid as menteri besar after Barisan Nasional almost lost the state to PAS in the 1999 general election.
An affable character, Syed Razak’s down-to-earth approach kept PAS at bay until 2008 when the party stormed into power on the heels of Malay voters’ dissatisfaction with the sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from Umno and the government a decade earlier.
Syed Razak was forced to resign as menteri besar in 2005 during the administration of then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi due to health problems.
He was replaced by Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid. – The Vibes, March 8, 2023
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