KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Ghazali Shafie was once quoted as saying: “The bamboo is God’s gift. It is a great teacher. Therefore, Asian peoples should learn from the bamboo, grow in a cluster while remaining free and independent. The taller of the bamboos will bow its head in humility. No wind can break a cluster of bamboo.”
“Today, the late Ghazali, fondly known as King Ghaz, a true believer in Asean who embodied the true meaning of the region, its organisation and people, would have been so proud to be among the first Asean People’s Award recipients, said his grandson, Ahmad Nazmi Bakhtiar Ghazali, 25.
He said that his grandfather, the country’s foreign minister between 1981 and 1984, had always had a deep sense of attachment to the region and its cause.
“I know Asean meant a lot to him. The whole family was ecstatic with the news (receiving the award posthumously) and know that he would have been very happy and proud to receive this award,” he told reporters after accepting the award on behalf of Ghazali, today.
The award was presented by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the 27th Asean Summit opening ceremony at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here, for his significant contributions in the formation of ASEAN in 1967.
Under Malaysia’s first Prime Minister the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Ghazali helped shape the country’s foreign policy and was intimately involved in the founding process of Asean.
Known as a diplomat extraordinaire with great intellectual charisma, he was deemed as an ‘agent of peace’, and was responsible for the peaceful negotiations with leaders from Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Brunei that brought about enduring peace in ASEAN.
Born in Kuala Lipis on March 22, 1922, Ghazali held several key positions in the Government as Minister with Special Functions, Information Minister and Home Minister before retiring in 1984. He died at the age of 88 on Jan 24, 2010.
Ghazali was among the 10 recipients of the inaugural Asean People’s Award which recognised individuals or organisations that have contributed significantly in ASEAN community building.
The recipients each received a financial grant of US$10,000 (about RM42, 700) and a trophy.
Other recipients were Brunei Darussalam’s Persatuan Basmi Dadah (BASMIDA), Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia (UYFC), Prita Kemal Gani (Indonesia), Thasano Rice and Seed Multiplication Centre (Laos), Parami Roundtable Group (Myanmar), Ray Paolo J. Santiago (Philippines), Singapore Polytechnic, Dr Saisuree Chutikul (Thailand) and Nguyen Manh Cam (Vietnam).--BERNAMA