If first Penang Chief Minister Wong Pow Nee was alive, he would be in the forefront of the moderation movement to fight against any form of extremism, DAP senior leader Lim Kit Siang believes.
 
Lim said Pow Nee, as he was simply known, together with the late Foreign Minister Ghazalie Shafee, made a commitment on behalf of the Malaysian government that the country would remain secular and practise freedom of religion.
 
Lim said the commitment was made in the well known Cobbold Commission report which was ratified on June 21, 1962, where the duo presented their recommendations for the formation of Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak.
 
"This country can only survive if the ideals and values of our forefathers like Pow Nee and the first generation of our leaders including first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman remain," he said today at the official book launch of Pow Nee's biography ‘Unsung Patriot’ in Penang.
 
Lim (left) said without such ideals and values of the first generation of leaders, the country has seen growing incidents of racial and religious extremism.
 
Also at the event was Lim's son, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who officiated the launch.
 
The 336 page book was authored by Pow Nee's seventh son, Peter Wong Tet Phin and Penang Institute researcher Koay Su Lyn.
 
Guan Eng recalled that Pow Nee's administration from 1957 to 1969 went through one of the most turbulent times in Malaysian history and the island’s economic development.
 
One of the incidents, he said, was the abolition of the island's free port status which placed the "final nail" in Penang's entreport coffin.
 
"In spite of Pow Nee's own achievements and efforts in salvaging the crumbling state, it is most unfortunate that circumstances did not permit the successful and complete implementation of his policies and proposals," Guan Eng (left) said.
 
He added that while Penang under Pow Nee was transformed into a "Silicon Valley", his contributions were seldom acknowledged.
 
"Many may claim that he did little or nothing during his three term reign as chief minister, and that his successor Lim Chong Eu had more famous accomplishments.
 
"However it must be remembered that Pow Nee planted the seeds of Penang's industrialised future.
 
"His ideas and development plans laid the foundation that allowed Chong Eu to transform Penang from a fishing village to the success story it is today," he said.
 
Pow Nee who hailed from Bukit Mertajam died in 2002 at age 90.
 
Former secretary of the Alliance, Yusof Latiff, said the first chief minister was a very humble man, very hard working and dedicated to serving the people.
 
He was Pow Nee's political secretary from 1964 to 1969, and had tailed him day and night, witnessing his commitment to the development of Penang.
 
"Pow Nee had presented a detailed master plan in the state assembly before the general elections in 1969 and it was passed.
 
"Unfortunately, he lost in the general elections of 1969 but I am glad that the Alliance government later took up Pow Nee's recommendations," he added.