Much revered father figures

Much revered father figures
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In fact, the word "father" has become associated with nobility of character, the title bestowed on those feats which are recognised in history. The Pilgrim Fathers, so called, commemorate the first English immigrants to America who arrived in the Mayflower in 1620 and founded the colony, Plymouth in New England. Our subject, Nelson Mandela, was Father of the Nation. He had many predecessors -- Cicero was so entitled by the Roman Senate, as were successive Caesars and George Washington, the first president of the United States. Many of those mentioned above were leaders of their country. In Malaysia, we set great store in lineage in our political establishment. It has almost become a pre-qualification. The pattern is repeated in the private sector, especially among appropriately named Chinese family companies -- Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong and Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay of Genting, Tan Sri Yeoh Tiong Lay and Tan Sri Francis Yeoh of YTL.
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NST Online, August 17, 2008

By Paddy Bowie

RECENTLY, we celebrated Fathers Day. This month, we honour Merdeka and Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman. And on July 18 the world paid tribute to Nelson Mandela on his 90th birthday.

Mandela is seen in South Africa as the Father of Freedom and is also regarded as the Father of the Nation. I would call him Father of Forgiveness, and remember him especially when Hari Raya Aidilfitri comes.

Father is the name we give to the head of a family or the head of a tribe. In Chinese family businesses, the founder is the patriarch.

In Malacca, the Baba ancestral homes in Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lok often include a special altar to the patriarch.

The popular image is of a kindly, loving and protective father figure. But the reality, from King Lear onwards, can sometimes be very different, as we know.

In modern times, there have been disturbing cases of child abuse, estranged families and even biological fathers who scarper before their baby is born, escaping the responsibilities of paternity.

In Malaysia's more family-centric society, the father still tends to conform to the loving authority figure, much respected and loved in return.

In fact, the word "father" has become associated with nobility of character, the title bestowed on those feats which are recognised in history. The Pilgrim Fathers, so called, commemorate the first English immigrants to America who arrived in the Mayflower in 1620 and founded the colony, Plymouth in New England.

The title of "father" has been bestowed, rather like the Nobel Prize, upon persons of outstanding achievement down the ages, like Robert Boyle, the Father of Chemistry, the Venerable Bede, Father of English History, Geoffrey Chaucer, the Father of English Poetry, Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine.

Our subject, Nelson Mandela, was Father of the Nation. He had many predecessors -- Cicero was so entitled by the Roman Senate, as were successive Caesars and George Washington, the first president of the United States.

Many of those mentioned above were leaders of their country. In Malaysia, we set great store in lineage in our political establishment.

Datuk Onn Jaafar, the founder of Umno, was father to Tun Hussein Onn, the third prime minister, and grandfather of Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

Tun Tan Cheng Lok, the revered leader of the Baba community and founder president of MCA, was the father of Tun Tan Siew Sin, who also headed MCA and was our first finance minister.

Second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein was the father of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the present deputy prime minister. Firebrand politician Lim Kit Siang is father to Penang Chief Minister Guan Eng, who is very much in the news these days.

It has almost become a pre-qualification. The pattern is repeated in the private sector, especially among appropriately named Chinese family companies -- Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong and Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay of Genting, Tan Sri Yeoh Tiong Lay and Tan Sri Francis Yeoh of YTL.

The founders of the most well- known Chinese enterprises like Tan Sri Robert Kuok, Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan and many others ensure the future of their businesses especially through the eldest son, since primogeniture prevails.

The pattern is repeated elsewhere, especially in Asia.

Lee Kuan Yew was the first prime minister of Singapore while his son Hsien Loong is the third. The most famous political Asian family is probably the Nehru family of India.

Britain had Pitt the Elder and the Younger as prime ministers, while in the US, George Bush Senior and his son, George W. Bush, held the top job.

While China was, until very recently, preoccupied with ceremonies of handing on the Olympic torch to unite mankind through sport, Mandela handed on the Torch of Liberation after a lifetime's struggle to eliminate the hideous practices of apartheid.

He was the first black president of South Africa but not before being incarcerated for 27 years, or one-third of his life.

In the dock when sentenced, he spoke of "the cause (anti-apartheid) for which I am prepared to die".

Of the 27 years, 18 were spent on Robyn Island, isolated in the harshest conditions and permitted only one visitor every six months.

One of the things he said about that time of privation was he regretted not being able to enjoy the upbringing of his children.

He consoles himself now by enjoying the company of his 21 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

His greatest sadness as a father was the loss of his son, who died of AIDS. Hence the Mandela Foundation, an AIDS charity.

Mandela was born into tribal royalty but his childhood was humble and impoverished.

His father, Henry, was deposed but was determined his son would be educated. The younger Mandela went on to become a British-trained lawyer.

Entering the political arena was inevitable and his mission was to change South Africa. At 35, he started the first all-black law firm, Mandela and Tambo, with the young Oliver Tambo, his lifelong political brother. Mandela, Tambo and Walter Sisulu were the founding members of the ANC Youth League.

The apartheid regime would brook no such nonsense and Mandela was arrested and charged with treason at 38.

The one desire he had when released was to be reunited with Tambo who, by then, was ailing. Their reunion took place at my house in Britain. It was a touching scene.

The main impression of Mandela shortly after his release was the amazing compassion and forgiveness of the man. He wore his suffering lightly. He did not blame his jailers, his enemies or those who maltreated him.

You would have expected Mandela to be consumed with anger, bitterness and revenge. But no, he showed nothing but magnanimity. True nobility of spirit. He belongs with Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King as the great Fathers of our time -- not flamboyant, but quiet men of peace and love of mankind.

During all those years, he had been shut out from society, with all its news and conflicts. But Mandela, frail as he is now, is fully aware of how ugly the world has become, even here in warm, friendly, tolerant and gracious Malaysia where the murky developments are despoiling our image.