COMMENT | This is a true account.

During my stint in Sibu in the early 80s, I came to know this timber tycoon quite well. He was a friendly and generous soul, well known in the community for his involvement in many voluntary and charitable organisations.

He was also a Datuk and a senator, a well-respected personality who had served the Sibu community well in his public life.

One or two years after I was transferred back to Kuching, my then Sibu colleague informed me that the Datuk had suddenly passed away. Cancer took his life at a relatively young age. He was only in his early fifties.

It was a departure from this world that the man was unprepared for. It was agonisingly painful for him...