Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s fifth prime minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was a calm man whose leadership skills allowed him to handle crises in a wise and responsible approach, Public Services director-general Tan Sri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz said. Abdullah always approached crises with the view that a solution was at hand, he added.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Wan Ahmad Dahlan, a civil service veteran of almost 30 years, described Abdullah as a teacher and leader to those who served in his administration. “Throughout my time serving under Abdullah, I learnt many things, especially about how to tackle crises. His approach was actually very simple – that a matter or issue was not unsolvable but was something that could be resolved – it was his method to be more organised and wise about things,” he told reporters after attending his department’s Jalinan Ukhwah event here today.

“As far as I can remember, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, he was always calm, and it seemed like he acted as a kind of role model that guided civil servants at that time,” Wan Ahmad Dahlan said. He highlighted that one of Abdullah’s significant contributions to the civil service was emphasizing the delivery of the best service to ensure the public could enjoy every service offered by the government.

Wan Ahmad Dahlan shared that Abdullah’s contributions were immense, noting that his emphasis on service delivery has become part of the civil service’s norms today. He also remarked that Abdullah’s death was a significant loss for the country and the civil service sector. Abdullah passed away at the National Heart Institute at 7.10 pm yesterday and was interred at Heroes’ Mausoleum, National Mosque at 2.30 pm today. He was 85.