Noor Farida’s pivotal role in release of labour camp detainees

 

From P Ramasamy

It was with much sadness that I came to know that my friend Noor Farida Ariffin had passed away at the age of 76.

She was one of the co-founders of G25, an influential group of Malay professionals bent on bringing reforms in the country.

Farida served in the civil service as a magistrate, sessions court judge, and later the ambassador for the Netherlands before she retired.

I came to know Farida in the first half of the 1980s when I was a lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. It was during my involvement in the Institute of Social Analysis, especially on labour issues, that I met her.

She was extremely helpful when it came to the release of workers detained under the Emergency Ordinance. Without Farida’s help, the slave labour camp in Selanchar Empat, Pahang, would not have been exposed in the mid-1980s.

It was Farida who assigned an officer of the Legal Aid Bureau from Johor Bharu to accompany me on the trip to Selanchar Empat.

I am extremely grateful to her. She was a great person, professional and independent.

I met her briefly at a book launch at the Singapore high commission a few years back. It was the launch of the book written by Singapore’s former high commissioner to Malaysia, K Kesavapany.

I will certainly miss her as a great Malaysian. - FMT

P Ramasamy is chairman of Urimai.

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