Deaths of my three friends a personal tragedy - Najib

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak described the deaths of his close friend the late Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis and two of his senior officers, Datuk Seri Azlin Alias and Datuk Mohd Po'ad Jelani, recently as a personal tragedy.

But while grieving for them, the Prime Minister said their deaths had pushed him to perform his tasks better.

"Losing them has strengthened my resolve to carry out my duties in leading the country in the best possible way to achieve all the dreams, all the ideals and vision of the country," he said during an interview on a Special Edition of TV3's Soal Jawab (Question and Answer) programme, aired on Thursday. READ ALSO: Najib's TV interview: The full transcript

He said they had contributed a lot and carried out their responsibilities to the best of their abilities.

"In the context of the national administration, the late Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis contributed significantly in various capacities at home and abroad.

"The late Datuk Azlin performed his duties efficiently and with trust in running the administration of my office. Likewise, Datuk Po'ad as my private secretary, had done a good job.

Jamaluddin who was Member of Parliament for Rompin and former Special Envoy to the United States and Azlin, who was principal private secretary to the prime minister, were killed in a helicopter crash in Semenyih on April 4.

Po'ad who was private secretary to the prime minister died of lymphoma cancer, last month.