SHAH ALAM: Former Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, who died last night, was laid to rest at the Shah Alam Royal Mausoleum today.
The burial took place at about 2.30pm in the presence of family members. Many dignitaries also paid their last respects to Khalid during the final rites.
Khalid had died at 11.08pm last night due to a heart valve infection at Cardiac Vascular Sentral Hospital in Kuala Lumpur.
He had been hospitalised since April 23. His remains were then brought to the Saidina Umar Al-Khattab Mosque in Bukit Damansara this morning for funeral prayers.
A long list of dignitaries, leaders, friends and family members later paid their last respects to Khalid as his remains were placed at the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque, Shah Alam prior to the burial.
Among them were Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Tengku Laksamana Selangor Tengku Sulaiman Shah, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shaari, State Secretary Datuk Haris Kasim and Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) director Datuk Mohd Shahzihan Ahmad.
Many leaders had also paid their last respects to Khalid earlier in the morning. They included Senior International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Awang Hashim, PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his wife Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Khalid, who would have turned 76 in December, leaves behind a wife, four children and two grandchildren. He was Selangor menteri besar from 2008 to 2014.
His press-secretary Arfa Eza Abdul Aziz said Khalid's death was a great loss to Selangor.
"He was a very humble and down to earth person. If something ever went wrong about the way we handled a crisis, he would assure you that everything will be okay, and that you just need to improve and move on.
"In fact, there were so many things that he wanted to do for the people of Selangor, but he was unable to.
"It really is a huge loss as he was a politician who had the vision to do the right thing, regardless how long it would take," she said when met by reporters.
Khalid had served as the chief executive officer of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) from 1979 to 1994.
In 1981, he also led the Dawn Raid on the London Stock Exchange which resulted in PNB gaining a 51 per cent share in Guthrie Corporation Ltd, a large British plantation group, which in turn became a wholly Malaysian-owned company.
Khalid was also the PKR treasurer-general and was the Bandar Tun Razak MP from 2008 to 2018.