Kalimullah Hassan said Abdullah, fondly known as Pak Lah, had the “ability to forgive people so easily”, adding that polemics was never his style.

“Malaysia may not have been kind enough to you. But as I told someone in your house, you’d have already forgiven everyone who slighted you (and it’d be your wish that they forgive you too),” he wrote on Instagram.

Kalimullah, a former New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd group editor-in-chief, also said Abdullah was never judgmental.

Aware of his own weaknesses, Abdullah would never cast the first stone, he said.

“In fact, he never cast stones.”

Abdullah, according to Kalimullah firmly believed that God had given Malaysia its multiethnic and multireligious structure for a purpose – to spur the country to greater heights.

Separately, former federal minister and Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon recalled that when Abdullah was appointed education minister, he was instrumental in seeking solutions for issues related to Chinese education.

The former Penang chief minister also said when Abdullah was appointed the prime minister in 2003, he approved and launched several important projects in support of the socio-economic development of the state, including the second Penang Bridge, the Penang Transit bus system and the Northern Corridor Economic Region.

“Pak Lah’s kindness and magnanimity would be fondly remembered by all of us. He set a very good example as a very kind and caring leader.”

Abdullah passed away last night at the age of 85, a day after he was warded at the National Heart Institute (IJN) for breathing difficulties.

He was laid to rest in the Warriors’ Mausoleum at the National Mosque at 2.30pm today.