TODAY my father Tan Sri B. C. Sekhar would have turned 92. He created history by becoming the first Asian, the first Malaysian to head the Rubber Research Institute and then the Malaysian Rubber Board.
He created the Palm Oil Research Institute and all the associated bodies that would become the Palm Oil Board.
And along the way he founded the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda), Malaysia Rubber Development Corporation (Mardec), Malaysian Carbon and many others. All for his country.
Despite controlling an industry that at the time represented nearly 80% of Malaysia’s GDP, he retired with only a pension and his EPF savings.
Well, retired is not the correct word. At the age of 56, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Daim Zainuddin decided they had no further use for him.
They forced out the man who created and implemented SMR (Standard Malaysian Rubber) and had saved the Malaysian economy, giving it the backbone and footing that would allow the Mahathir administration to make her the “tiger economy” it would become.
So, in the end my father had to leave the country and accept a global position in London – just so he could earn a living and take care of his family.
It broke his heart, as he loved his country so much. When he returned from London, he tried again to help the poorest parts of this nation of ours, even speaking with Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the late menteri besar of Kelantan to find a way of breaking the cycle of poverty in his state.
Wealth meant very little to him. He wanted to always do the right thing. And he always tried to.
It’s not an easy thing, though he made it seem that way.
He spent his last few years with many incredible and wonderful moments with his grandchildren.
“Experimenting” on new ideas and inventions.
Right to the end, before his untimely death at only 76 years old, he was rushing around creating, inventing, and giving a vision for what can help those most in need and how to make this world a better place.
I hope Dr Mahathir and Daim in their old age have a sense of remorse and regret for how they treated him and other great sons and daughters of Malaysia – and the state they have left our nation in.
Because my father was not alone. His was a generation of great nation builders.
Country first.
We sadly don’t really have many of those anymore. Former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim once told me that we had to correct the history we teach our children and show them the contributions of great men like my father and others – many of whom have been forgotten.
Regardless of race or religion – they stood, fought for and built Malaysia.
I hope our current prime minister and those who come after him will remind us all of the great men and women forgotten by history that built this great nation of ours. – The Vibes, November 18, 2021
Datuk Dr Vinod Sekhar is chairman and chief executive of the PETRA Group
