KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has revealed that former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh offered scholarships to his children during his incarceration.
"Not many people know this, and it is time that I share it with Malaysians, during the years of my incarceration, he extended a kindness that he didn't have to," Anwar said in a Facebook post in which paid tribute to Manmohan who died last night.
"One that was neither politically expedient nor, as one can imagine, appreciated by the Malaysian government at that time."
Yet, Anwar said, true to his character, Manmohan did what he felt was right and offered Anwar's children scholarships.
"Although I had declined the gracious offer, such a gesture undoubtedly showed his extraordinary humanity and generosity, demonstrative, as the Bard would have it, of a man so full of 'the milk of human kindness',".
"In those dark days, as I navigated the labyrinth of imprisonment, he stood by me as a true friend," Anwar said.
He said Manmohan was worthy of every praise that would be said about him and his contributions to India.
Anwar described Manmohan, an economist by training, as the "widwife" for India's emergence as an economic powerhouse.
"I had the rare privilege of witnessing the early years of these transformative policies first-hand while we both served as finance ministers during the 1990s."
He added Manmohan, leaves behind a legacy that will inspire generations to come.
"To me, he will be all that and much more. Goodbye, my mitra (companion), my bhai (brother), Manmohan."