Learning from Salahuddin Ayub’s example

They say only the good die young.

I cannot say I was anything resembling a personal friend of the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub. I’d seen him around a few times, and he always struck me as a very nice person. But I’m not qualified to write a proper eulogy, for such a good man.

For better insight into what Salahuddin was like, I might direct someone to the writings of Muhaimin Sulam, Hannah Yeoh, Syahredzan Johan, S. Arutchelvam, and more.

Reading these, I was particularly moved to read about Salahuddin’s early days.

Muhaimin wrote of the days before Salahuddin was a member of Parliament, when he was still a member of Pas, and would travel up and down the country by bus to speak and work.

He travelled so much, that he was known for sleeping in bus stations in Medan Kidd, Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu, Puduraya - ultimately earning him the nickname “Din Pudu”.

More than one person commented on his voracious appetite for books. Muhaimin spoke of how Salahuddin would forego the mattress he offered him when the latter would stay at his house, in favour of sleeping on the floor, simply because this allowed him to sleep next to the bookshelf and read as he fell asleep.

My friend and colleague Mohammad Alshatri confirmed this great thirst for knowledge in his own tribute.

Many others wrote about how down to earth, soft spoken, compassionate, principled, and sincere Salahuddin was.

When someone as sincere as Arutchelvam says that he found someone to be sincere about helping the poor, I consider that to be among the highest endorsements possible.

One of the first things I reflected upon, reading all these glowing tributes was that Salahuddin was far from Malaysia’s most famous politician.

Of course, his Menu Rahmah initiative which was created to ensure high quality affordable food for even the poorest Malaysians may go down in history as one of the government’s most popular and well received programs; it is something he will be forever remembered for.

That said, by and large, Salahuddin was not what many might consider a ‘household name’. He kept a relatively low profile, and in Malaysia, leaders who do that tend to go largely unnoticed by the press and the public.

He served in both Pakatan Harapan cabinets, but if you had asked me a few days ago which ministries he led, I may have been hard pressed to remember.

Men like Salahuddin and the late Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim tended to prefer focusing on work and helping people, as opposed to always being at the centre of the kinds of sensational political battles that tend to capture national imagination and attention.

An example of the latter is Caretaker Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor. There’s a household name (especially in the Malay community), and someone who’s often hot on the lips of people in coffee shops everywhere.

Yet, even though I don’t believe he should have been arrested, I cannot help but feel that most of what comes out of his mouth tends to be more hot air than matters of substance. He seems to love picking fights with people, and we Malaysians seem to love to ‘grab our popcorn’ and watch those fights unfold.

And the saddest thing of it all is that sometimes, it takes their passing for many of us to learn about leaders who eschew such toxic, unproductive conflict, and focus instead on trying to do good work.

As coincidence would have it, Salahuddin’s passing comes at a time when former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad, who strikes me as one of the oldest Malaysians still up and about, decided to release another controversial statement.

Dr Mahathir was graceful enough to also record his condolences to mark the passing of Salahuddin, who was a member of his cabinet.

Some five hours before he posted those condolences on Twitter however, and well after news of Salahuddin’s passing had spread, Dr Mahathir saw fit to post yet another of his somewhat nonsensical statements.

This time, Dr Mahathir made this mind boggling ‘comparison’ between Ukraine and Malaysia. He basically implied that non-Malays in this country were akin to Russian invading forces, and that if Malays did not stand up for their country like the Ukranians are doing, they would lose all power.

This kind of logic and ‘analogy’ would make my face melt if not for one simple fact that all who think about Dr Mahathir would do well to remember: we have no reason to bother to listen to a man who not only lost his deposit in the last general elections, but led a party full of candidates who all met the exact same fate.

He has been resoundingly rejected by Malaysians up and down the country, in no uncertain terms. The people have spoken, and I think it is they that we should listen to, not one old man.

So clear is it that they would still be rejected today, that Dr Mahathir’s party Pejuang doesn’t even dare to contest the upcoming state polls. If he is so confident about the truth of his words, why doesn’t Dr Mahathir put his candidacy where his mouth is?

Again, the timing of this posting gives much cause for reflection.

Dr Mahathir ended his statement in typical divisive fashion, pitting Malays against non-Malays. Dr Mahathir was a household name. Salahuddin was not.

But what was Salahuddin’s perspective on multiracialism in Malaysia?

Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh spoke with great feeling about how Salahuddin leapt to her defence when she was being attacked on the basis of her race and religion.

And when it came to preparing affordable meals for poor Malaysians, Salahuddin simply said: “Menu Rahmah is for all.”

An initiative designed to help all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion. He even went on to say that non-halal restaurants could use the term Menu Rahmah!

The difference cannot be more striking.

That a leader with an Islamist background would say such a thing was nothing short of extraordinary.

It seems to me clear as day that we need more who lead like Salahuddin, and fewer who lead like Dr Mahathir.

We need more who work to bring this country together, and fewer who want to tear us apart.

Let us honour this great man’s legacy by doing our part in ignoring the haters, and committing to a united, forward looking Malaysia.

NATHANIEL TAN offers his deepest condolences to the family of the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub. Nathaniel is a strategic communications consultant who works with Projek #BangsaMalaysia, and can be reached at [email protected].