LETTERS: Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, 76, a human rights activist, who died on June 27 after a brief illness, was one of the very few practising lawyers inducted into the diplomatic service.
She was co-founder of the G25 group of prominent retired civil servants.
Farida, who was from the Kuala Kangsar-Taiping area, entered the diplomatic service after a long stint in the judicial and legal service and a three-year stint at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
At the Commonwealth Secretariat, she was entrusted with handling women and development issues.
The foreign service had had early recruits with a legal background — including Tun Ghazali Shafie, Datuk Hussein Mohd Osman, Datuk Zainal Abidin Ibrahim and Datuk Renji Sathiah — but almost no practising lawyers.
In that regard Farida and her contemporary, Datuk Azzat Kamaluddin, initially of the foreign service, who later took up legal practice, were rare exceptions.
Another two early foreign service recruits who went into the judicial and legal profession were Tan Sri Lamin Mohd Yunus and Chew Kim Poh.
Two prominent practising lawyers, Datuk Dr R Ramani and Tan Sri P. G. Lim, were co-opted into the foreign service in the 1960s, and Farida represented a continuation of that almost forgotten tradition.
But unlike those two prominent lawyers, Farida was essentially a serving civil servant.
Relative to those two legal eagles, Farida was of a later generation, and as a late entrant to our diplomacy, she had been subjected to a government functionary's ingrained bureaucratic mindset in the 1980s and 1990s.
Yet she was the ultimate patriot, loyalist, diplomat and kind soul committed and rather outspoken about decency, fair play, justice, good conduct, integrity and transparency.
Following her retirement in 2012, she dedicated herself to the G25's mission of promoting accountability, good governance, moderation, transparency and building a harmonious pluralistic society.
Always attired impeccably, her deportment and her compassionate and cosmopolitan approach endeared her to her colleagues and associates.
Her capacity to transcend ethnic, religious and status differences earned her much affection and respect.
She knew the art of fine, convivial conversation, impeccable hospitality and the proper boundaries of diplomatic conduct.
She could with obvious sincerity and courage speak truth to power, a rare attribute in a system beholden, at times, to political oddities and officiousness.
Her school principal, Long Heng Hua, a distinguished educationist who declined promotions, would have been proud of the acclaim and achievements attributed to his pupil.
Her passing, given her activism at a crucial stage of development in our history, is a loss to the nation.
She leaves behind a legacy of love, loyalty to the nation, level-headed thinking about polemical issues, and a dedication to the rule of law.
M. SANTHANANABAN
Former ambassador
Kajang, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times