Death sheds a kindly light on Dr Ling

 The good he did while he was MCA president and transport minister is now coming to light whereas significant aspects of it were unknown while he was alive.

From Terence Netto

“The evil men do lives on after them, the good is oft interred with their bones” is a famous quote from Shakespeare that comes to mind in the way it is invalidated by what is being said about former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik who died at the age of 82 last Saturday.

People who knew about Ling’s good deeds have come forward to speak well of him since the day of his passing.

Some of the encomiums, like that about his contributions to the transportation infrastructure in the country, could be seen as obligatory comments by individuals now concerned with the portfolio.

But other revelations about Ling’s deeds, made by people who were in the know, such as how his interventions as transport minister to see that Hindu temples located along the route of the double track system being built by Malayan Railways were not arbitrarily removed.

This stuff disclosed by the former president of the Malaysian Hindu Sangam, A Vaithilingam, in a letter to the press, shows that as a national leader Ling possessed the sensitivity his present-day counterparts could well emulate.

No doubt, to Malaysian society’s peaceful betterment.

Ling’s elocution was understated and so it was hard to infer from his deportment that the man would be up to things weightier than his manner suggested.

One recalls matters like the Langkawi Project, an educational endeavour the MCA undertook while he was president of the party (1986-2003) that saw aid given to Malay schools and students that were in need of the wherewithal necessary for their uplift.

MCA aid for the educational advancement of poor Malays was something right wing Malay types these days would rather not be reminded of.

But at one time in our recent history an MCA president was engaged in rendering this aid and that was a commendable thing.

Ling was briefly prime minister (a matter of two weeks) of the country during Umno’s illegality troubles in 1988 but you would have to be told he was PM — such was the quiet with which he assayed the role.

These days the notion of a Chinese politician being in prime ministerial charge of the nation could cause paroxysms of rage and anxiety in certain quarters, but Ling was once briefly in the prime saddle.

No harm was done to the nation and its polity.

Instead, Barisan Nasional secretary-general Zambry Abdul Kadir is on record as saying that Ling’s touch was tranquil and peace-inducing all round.

Would that certain quarters in our political gallery take note. - FMT

Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.