Obituary: Sabbaruddin Chik passes away

Ismail Sabri in a Facebook post described the late Sabbaruddin as his 'sifu' and political mentor who appointed him as the Temerloh Division Information chief at the age of 27.

Sabbaruddin, who would have celebrated his 80th birthday on Dec 11, breathed his last at 7.45 pm on Saturday at the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), a week after being admitted there.

Born in Kampung Paya Banir, Temerloh, Pahang in 1941, he received his early education at Sekolah Melayu Bintang in Temerloh and Kuala Kangsar Malay College in Perak before pursuing further studies in public administration from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands.

Sabbaruddin began his career in the civil service in 1966 as the assistant secretary of Negeri Sembilan and was the Consul General of Malaysia in Saigon, Vietnam in 1967.

In 1975, he was appointed director of the Planning Unit in the Prime Minister 's Department, before being appointed as the director of International Trade in the Ministry of Trade and Industry for three years from 1976.

He held the position of Deputy Minister of Finance from 1982-1987, and was later appointed as Tourism, Arts and Culture minister from 1987 to 1999, before resigning from the post due to health reasons.

In the private sector, Sabbaruddin had been appointed as Bank Rakyat chairman in 2012, and as Amanah Raya Berhad chairman in 2016.

He began his political career by contesting in the Temerloh Parliamentary constituency, and held the seat from 1982 to 1999.

He joined UMNO in 1973, and among the important positions he held in the party was as UMNO secretary-general for three years from 1996, Temerloh UMNO Division chief in 1984 and UMNO Supreme Council member from 1984 to 1996.

Sabbaruddin was conferred the Darjah Panglima Setia Mahkota (PSM) which carries the title of Tan Sri in June 2000.

He was married to the late Puan Sri Faridah Mohamed, and the couple was blessed with four children.