Tan Sri Zain Azraai passes away

[M.G.G. Pillai]

Tan Sri Zain Azraai, the compleat bureaucrat and diplomat, died
over the weekend, of a lung cancer which an operation last
September could not stop it in its tracks. He was 60. The end
came quickly, and his death robs Malaysia of yet another link
with its early independence. In the last seven weeks, we have
lost three; the others being Tan Sri Tan Chee Khoon and Tan
Sri Hamzah Sendut, the first chancellor of the Universiti Sains
Malaysia.

But unlike the other two, he would never have challenged the
status quo (indeed, never did), although that did not prevent him
being on the wrong side of those in power. His appointment as
ambassador to the United States in 1976 (in which he excelled as
usual) was a graceful favour by the then prime minister, Dato'
(later Tun) Hussein Onn, when UMNO elements were baying for blood
after allegations that some of his brother-in-law, Tun Razak,
advisers had communist links. One of his relatives was Abdullah
C.D., the Malayan Communist Party leader.

His father, Dato' Zainal Abidin, was an equally distinguished
civil servant, who like him, went into business after retirement.
Bangunan Dato' Zainal Abidin, in Jalan Melaka, was built by the
family, although the building, since last year, belongs to MNI.
Tan Sri Zain's early brilliance was recognised early in the
diplomatic service, which he joined on his return from his studies
in England.

But he was not the first Malay, as the New Straits Times
insists, to graduate from Oxbridge: the first was Raja Chulan,
after whom Jalan Raja Chulan in Kuala Lumpur is named, who after
coming down from Oxford in 1903 (yes, 93 years ago) and
joined the Malayan Civil Service, the first Malay; Tun Suffian,
the former Lord President; Tun Ismail Ali, the former Bank Negara
governor (both Tun Suffian and Tun Ismail were also Queen's scholars
before the Second World War); and, among his contemporaries, Dato'
Malek Marican, the former Treasury official now in business (and
with degrees from both Oxford and Cambrdige).

After his posting to the United Nations in 1963, he returned
to Wisma Putra as then permenant secretary (now he would be known
as secretary-general) Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie's assistant. He rose
in that position until he was seconded as special assistant to
Tun Abdul Razak Hussein. When defence minister, Dato' Syed Hamid
Albar's father, Tan Sri Syed Jaffar Albar, raised his accusations
against Tun Razak's alleged communist advisers, the net spread wide
and he could well have been detained had not Tun Razak died amidst
the controversy, and Tun Hussein moved Tan Sri Zain to Washington.
In the crackdown that followed, about 40 were detained, including
Malaysia's special ambassador to the United Nations, Dato'
Abdullah Ahmad, and Tan Sri Samad Ismail, the former editor-in-
chief of the New Straits Times group.

After seven years as ambassador to US, Tan Sri Zain moved on
the United Nations as permanent representative in 1983. On his
return in 1986, he was appointed secretary-general of the Treasury,
from which he retired. And went on to an equally satisfying business
life. I had often urged him to write his memoirs, but he would tap
his head and say there are too many secrets in there, which cannot
be written; and if they could not, why bother, he would retort.
The more the loss.

M.G.G. Pillai
pil...@mgg.pc.my