Editor’s Note: Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin was laid to rest yesterday (June 27) afternoon at the Jalan Ampang Muslim cemetery.
Her brother Zainil Anuar Ariffin, 72, said Noor Farida breathed her last at 1.30pm yesterday (June 27) at the age of 76 after being warded for a week at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Neurology Institute of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for brain tumour.
“Last week, the doctors did an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan and found that the tumour had grown bigger. They said it was not advisable to do anything anymore due to her age factor,” he told Bernama.
Letter to editor
IT is with much sadness that I came to know that my friend Noor Farida Ariffin passed away at the age of 76 yesterday (June 27).
She was one of the co-founders of G25, an influential group of Malay professionals bent on bringing reforms in the country.
Faridah served in the civil service as a magistrate, session court judge and later as the ambassador for the Netherlands before she retired.
I came to know Faridah in the first half of the 1980s when I was a lecturer in Universiti Kebnagsaan Malaysia (UKM). It was during my involvement in the Institute of Social Analysis (INSAN) – particularly on labour issues – that I met Faridah.
She was extremely helpful when it came to the release of workers detained under the Emergency Ordinance. Without the help of Faridah, the slave labour camp in Selanchar Empat, Pahang would not have been exposed in the mid-1980s.
It was Faridah who assigned an officer of the Legal Aid Bureau from Johore Bahru to accompany me on the trip to Selanchar Empat.
I am extremely grateful to her. She was a great person, professional and independent.
I met her briefly in a book launch at the Singapore High Commission a few years back. It was the launch of the book written by Singapore’s former high commissioner to Malaysia, K. Kesavapany.
I will certainly miss her as a great Malaysian. – June 28, 2024
Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy*
Penang
* Former DAP stalwart and Penang chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
