OBITUARY SPEECHES

The Deputy Prime Minister (Dr Toh Chin Chye): Mr Speaker, no one can speak of sorrow unless he has felt the anguish of sorrow. No one can write of pain unless he has suffered the pangs of pain. And if those in sorrow and pain ask us for the answer to the eternal question of life and death, who can blame us if we can give no answer? We can only give consolation. And if an epitaph were to be written, I can find no better phrase than this simple verse from the Rubaiyat:

`Then said another, "Surely not in vain

My substance from the common earth was taken

That he who subtly wrought me into shape

Should send me back to common earth again."'

Sir, if we lived in an age of despair, then little else could be said. But today we live in an age of faith and hope, faith in ourselves and hope for the future of the Malayan nation and our country. And it is with faith and hope that the late Member for Anson, Inche Baharuddin, came forward to take part in the leadership of the country.

He sacrificed security in his old position as a journalist in the Utusan Melayu to face insecurity as a leader of the people. Inche Baharuddin had served the people in the City Council and in the Legislative Assembly. He was rare as a leader. He was broadminded and tolerant in accordance with the tenets of his Islamic faith. He was loyal to the people whom he represented, and on the very evening of his death he was with them in Anson listening to their complaints and trying to find an answer to their questions.

Sir, I speak not as a partisan, not because Inche Baharuddin was a member of the P.A.P., but I speak in respect of his virtues and qualities as a leader among the people, as a representative of the people who had sat among us in this Chamber. There was so much to hope in a man so young, and can you blame us if we are bitter that that hope is knocked out without any warning?

The people today have a great need for leaders who are prepared to be self-sacrificing. If we hope to build our budding nation, if we hope to succeed in our quest for building our united Malayan nation, then it is absolutely necessary that leaders from all communities must work together to achieve this purpose. Inche Baharuddin, young as he was, had the faith that a Malayan nation could be built. He had the hope, although he did not live to see his faith and hope fulfilled, that the time will come when we will all be marching from strength to strength in our task of nation-building.

Mr Speaker, you have been in this Chamber for the last six years. You have witnessed stormy scenes. You have heard words flung across the Floor of this Chamber in anger, in bitterness, in acrimony. But, Sir, all anger, all bitterness, all pain, are finally dissolved in death.

Tun Lim Yew Hock (Cairnhill): Mr Speaker, Sir, those whom the gods love die young. And so we lost a very good friend, Inche Baharuddin, who was taken away much too young. He had many years of service before him, and therefore his death is indeed a loss to all of us and to the country.

I would like to associate myself with all the words of sorrow expressed by the Leader of the House. But I would just like to add one little bit - to say that the loss which has been suffered by his family and by the country is also a personal loss to me, because he has been a very good and personal friend of mine.

Mr Speaker: As a mark of respect to the late Member, I propose to suspend this sitting. I shall take this Chair again at ten minutes to three.

Sitting accordingly suspended at 2.41 p.m. until 2.50 p.m. Sitting resumed at 2.50 p.m.