KUALA LUMPUR: The country's seventh Armed Forces chief Gen (Rtd) Tan Sri Mohd Ghazali Mohd Seth died at a private hospital here today.
His second daughter Rowina Seth told the New Straits Times that her father, who was a cancer patient, was admitted for pneumonia at the Cardiac Vascular Sentral facility at Kuala Lumpur Sentral recently, and died there at 10.30am today.
Ghazali, 92, popularly known as Gary, is survived by wife Puan Sri Norziah Onn and four children — daughters Rowina and Ida Kamaria, and sons Datuk Badlisham and Ahmed Reza. One other daughter Rohani had died.
"The funeral prayers were conducted at the Defence Ministry's Khalid Al-Walid Mosque at Jalan Padang Tembak before burial at the Bukit Kiara muslim cemetery," said Rowina.
Ghazali was married into a family of aristocrats, with his father Datuk Mohd Seth Mohd Said himself serving as the acting Johor Menteri Besar at one time.
Norziah's father was Datuk Onn Jaafar, while her brother was the country's third prime minister Tun Hussein Onn, while Ghazali's sister Toh Puan Noor Ashikin Seth was the wife to former deputy prime minister Tun Ismail Abdul Rahman.
Rowina said Ghazali, born on Feb 4, 1929 in Johor Baru, had enlisted with the Federation Regiment as a recruit on Dec 27, 1950, after obtaining his Senior Cambridge certificate (Form 5) a year earlier from the Government English School in Johor.
He was later selected for cadet officer training and sent to Eaton Hall in England on May 5, 1952 and subsequently to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on Sept 9 the same year. Ghazali was commissioned as a second-lieutenant on Feb 12, 1954.
He went on to serve as Army chief (Dec 1, 1977–Jan 19, 1981) before becoming the country's seventh armed forces chief from Jan 20, 1981 to Nov 1, 1985, and retiring on Feb 4, 1986.
Ghazali had also served as defence adviser in Indonesia in 1958, was the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Singapore Infantry Regiment in Tawau, Sabah in 1964, defence intelligence director in 1968, aide-de-camp to the second king in 1970 and Rajang Security Command chief in Sibu, Sarawak, in 1972.
Meanwhile, the country's first local Royal Malaysian Navy chief Rear-Admiral (Rtd) Tan Sri K. Thanabalasingam described Ghazali as one from the old school.
"He was a refined officer and fine gentleman who was well-liked and polished.
"Although he was soft spoken, he was firm in work and diligently carried out his duties," said Thanabalasingam.
He recounted his forays at the height of the confrontation with Indonesia when both were serving in Tawau in 1964.
"I was commanding the newly acquired patrol boat KD Sri Kelantan, which I had taken delivery and sailed from England earlier, at the time.
"We were involved in numerous operations to keep the enemy at bay.
"My ship had to refuel at the Wallace Bay jetty often and I frequently bumped into Ghazali who was stationed at Pulau Sebatik there as the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Singapore Infantry Regiment.
"Our relationship grew from there through our career days for over 60 years now, and we became close family friends even after retirement," he said.