Ferocious War Room Political Strategist But With A Heart
The untimely and tragic death of Tan Sri Dr. Jamaluddin Jarjis in a helicopter crash last night in Semenyih has definitely shocked the nation. JJ as he is popularly known will be sorely missed.
JJ is no ordinary Member of Parliament. In his 25 years of parliamentary career since 1990, he has headed various government-linked corporations such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad and PR1MA. JJ held 3 different ministerial portfolios, as well as spent considerable time on the foreign policy front, as Malaysia’s Ambassador to the United States with ministerial rank.
Jamaluddin’s resume is certainly the envy of many of his parliamentary colleagues. Perhaps his most important role was to serve as the most trusted political operator of Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak as Najib’s war room chief strategist. Even though he was the Chief Strategist of Najib’s war room, he had a heart for all, including the opposition.
I will always remember him as a smiling warrior, willing to negotiate to work out some compromise. We may political opponents, but we never doubted each other’s loyalty to Malaysia and were willing to have friendly and reasoned discourse.
As a fellow MP and on behalf of the DAP, I offer my deepest condolence to his family, as well as the family of other passengers on the ill-fated helicopter.