Serving with integrity and passion
R. Nadeswaran, The Sun Daily
IT was something that even a cleverly scripted itinerary would have caused the sequence of events to be played out. She was a member of the Board of the Women’s Institute. He’s a journalist who had been invited to speak on corporate governance to MBA students. Midway through the session, she arrived and took her seat.
For the journalist, it was familiar face. They had worked together in the Seventies and Eighties trying to make life easier for residents of Petaling Jaya. Tried as they did the culture which had found root in the local council, they discovered at their own peril, would never change.
She is Dr Rokiah Talib, previously with Universiti Malaya’s Department of Anthropology and Sociology. He is this writer and I can’t remember the last time we met.
Over a simple nasi lemak lunch and during the car ride home, we chatted about the days when she was the councillor with then Petaling Jaya Municipal Council.
For the record, she was a four-term councillor and was then the first who was not nominated by political parties. Her appointment was by virtue of her position in the Selangor Consumers Association.
In the eight years she served, there were no dull moments as she spoke – without fear or favour – prompting councillors with vested interests to ask who she was representing. Without batting an eyelid, her answer was consistent – “I represent the consumers – the people.”
Rokiah was the fiery woman who brooked no nonsense and would pour scorn on councillors who had their hands in one development or another.
We had a laugh when we discussed a particular councillor who was more interested in getting his projects through instead of presenting the interests of residents.
Today, he’s a corporate leader with links to the higher echelon. I couldn’t resist a jibe: ‘These days, he’s lecturing us on good governance!”
She kept an eye on development plans submitted for approval and the expenditure and was the sort of people we need in our councils these days. She vehemently opposed taking away open fields, green lungs and buffers. She may have obtained temporary reprieves for them. As soon as they had seen the last of her, everything changed with shouts of “setuju” or everyone raising their hands without debate or discussion.
Those days, service was a calling and fighting for people’s rights was a vocation for volunteers like her. Those were also the days when covering council meetings was not a chore but a duty to the public.
Those days are gone, she noted. True. These days, those serving in some NGOs and consumer movements have turned “professionals” who collect huge salaries and perks that come with the job. Issuing statements has now become their favourite craft.
After retirement from the academia and the council, Rokiah started writing a series of biographies including on Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali and Tan Sri Fatimah Hashim. She and her classmates also co-authored a book on her teacher at the Anderson School in Ipoh – Datuk Seri N.S. Selvamany.
