GEORGE TOWN – Though of royal stock, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj was a deeply humble man, said a former aide whose family worked for Malaysia’s Father of Independence for decades.
K. Muthu told The Vibes of his experience driving the country’s first prime minister to Mount Miriam Cancer Hospital in Tg Bungah for treatment following a minor surgery.
At the time, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s driver was R. Kalimuthoo, Muthu’s late father.
“Tunku asked me to check if his driver was around, but unfortunately, he was out running errands,” said Muthu.
He said Tunku Abdul Rahman then asked him whether he owned a car, to which he replied he had a two-door Honda Accord hatchback.
“I felt it would be uncomfortable for him to sit in the back.”
However, the Kedah prince said he would be fine “as long as it was a car”.
Kalimuthoo was Tunku Abdul Rahman’s driver from 1948 until his retirement in 1982. His wife, S. Thanam, 75, was an aide to the former prime minister’s wife, Tun Sharifah Rodziah Syed Alwi Barakbah, since 1980.
After Kalimuthoo retired, Muthu’s brother, Markandan Ganesh, took over as chauffeur. He became Sharifah’s driver after her husband’s death on December 6, 1990.
The family lived in the staff quarters of Tunku Abdul Rahman’s retirement residence in Jalan Ayer Rajah here.
Muthu – now a businessman married to teacher R. Alil Subagary, 47, with whom he has a 10-year-old daughter, Akkshadha – said he will forever cherish memories of working for the stern yet humble leader.
“Such memories can never be erased,” he said, browsing through news clippings on Tunku Abdul Rahman.
“Tunku was a fun-loving and caring person, very friendly to everyone he met, including strangers. He never wanted to hurt other people’s feelings. He always had the people’s interests at heart.”
He said Tunku Abdul Rahman recommended that he pursue a London Chamber of Commerce and Industry accountancy diploma after he sat the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations, and asked him to become a personal assistant after graduation.
“My father used to tell me and my siblings about his experience driving Tunku to Stadium Merdeka for the declaration of independence, as well as to other pre-Merdeka and important historical events.”
One of the notable episodes Muthu remembers from his younger days was when Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Tengku Mohd Hamzah, the late Datuk Marina Mohd Yusoff and other leaders paid a courtesy call on Tunku Abdul Rahman to get his blessing for them to form Semangat 46.
Foreign leaders and dignitaries visited Tunku Abdul Rahman in his final days, he said, naming former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, then German president Richard von Weizsacker and former Penang chief minister Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu among them. – The Vibes, September 21, 2020
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