To one sincere, committed officer...

When hubby read out loud news regarding the passing away of Allahyarham Datuk Dr Salleh Hassan, I immediately thought that the name sounds familiar.

I asked Mak the following day during our Skype session. Mak confirmed that she used to know him. She visited him a few hours before he passed away and visited his house the following day to pay her last respect just before he was buried in Putrajaya.

He suffered from cancer, and when Mak visited him, he could no longer speak but communicated using notes. He was Mak’s junior, and in earlier days, Mak found it easy to criticize him for his chain-smoking habit. Sometimes, when she had a chance to do so, she even took the cigarette packet from him and literally threw it away. And he would only grinned sheepishly as he listened to Mak’s lecture on how bad smoking is for his health.

Friday is usually considered a good day to pass away – it’s the holy day and chances are one who pass away on a Friday would get more congregation for ‘solat jenazah’, hence more people making do’a for him or her. And as Allahyarham Datuk Salleh was obviously a well-liked person, there were many who attended his funeral.

I have never known him personally – but I know Mak to be a good judge of character. She has high regards for the guy – lots of respect, like and admiration. She even told him once that if she could use “sayang”, then he would definitely be one of her colleagues that she really “sayang”.

“What made him so special, Mak?”

“Too many people out there are busy establishing “network”, yet in truth they are merely tukang kipas - self-promoting themselves yet are not doing substantial work to prove their worth. He wasn’t like that. He got along well with everyone without even trying. All because he did not give anybody any reason not to like him. He was very dedicated, very passionate about his work. But most importantly he was sincere, and it showed”

I may not know him personally, but Mak's description was enough to convince me that the civil service had indeed lost one great officer. We have too many a** kissers and yes-men out there that it's almost rare to find a great officer in a well-deserved position...

Here’s to one sincere, committed officer whose loss is deeply felt – Al-Fatihah.