Most prized moment from Pak Lah’s state funeral: The few secs PM8 & PMX put aside their animosity

A PRO-MADANI influencer made an apt observation that the passing of soft-spoken Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who is fondly known as Pak Lah has been an eye-opener for many – most striking of which is that political and ideological differences should not be allowed to turn into personal grudges.

Specifically, he was referring to a short clip of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim ‘bumping’ into his current political arch-rival and eighth premier Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the state funeral of the fifth premier who breathed his last aged 85 at 7.10pm on Monday (April 14).

But it did not take long for such prized moment to get politicised when Madani government backers praised PMX for being a gem of character by “gracefully extending his hands to someone who incessantly condemn and humiliate him”.

In fact, much of the spotlight fell on Muhyiddin who is currently helming the opposition front as he was best remembered for having pushed for the resignation of Pak Lah by having joined forces with the latter’s predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Apparently, Pak Lah who reigned for six years from Oct 31, 2003 to April 3, 2009 had openly expressed his disappointment with Muhyiddin for failing to toe the line as per what was internally agreed upon during discussions within their then UMNO party.

Not wanting this issue to prolong and affect the rakyat and the country, Pak Lah announced his resignation as PM and party president soon after the shocking Barisan Nasional (BN) performance in the 2008’s 12th General Election (GE12).

The moderate Islam Hadhari advocate’s deed of delivering a landslide victory for BN in 2004’s GE11 during his first term as PM (BN won 198 out of 220 parliamentary seats and wresting control of Terengganu from PAS) was quickly forgotten with BN having lost its two-third majority four years later.

Despite been instrumental in orchestrating Pak Lah’s downfall, the gentleman in Pak Lah did not take to heart or was he angered at Muhyiddin’s betrayal and had even forgiven the latter for his action during his final speech to announce his stepping down as PM.

Aside from Muhyiddin who is currently the Bersatu president and Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman, twice former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was also chided for having remarked that “Pak Lah has been exemplary for his preparedness to vacate his premiership”.

After all, many pro-Madani netizens see that as an insinuation directed at his nemesis PMX from the now opposition coalition adviser.

“There’s no stopping of you urging (every) PM to resign. Tun should be ashamed of using the phrase ‘follow Pak Lah’,” reacted a pro-Madani digital creator to a Malaysiakini article of the soon-to-be-centenarian making such call.


“After his resignation, was Pak Lah still being power-crazy and working 24×7 to bring down any other leader? 🤔” – April 16, 2025

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