PETALING JAYA: The brother of G25 member Datuk Ahmad Mokhtar Selat, who died on Jan 22, has joined the group of prominent Malays.
A representative of the G25, Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, said former senator Dr Nordin Selat had joined the group.
She said Mokhtar, who died of cancer, had asked his brother Nordin to consider joining the group.
Several days after he was hospitalised, Mokhtar informed one of the group members that his brother Dr Nordin was keen to join the group.
She said Mokhtar’s final message to the G25 was “I am sorry that my condition prevents me from playing an active role, but please be assured that whatever happens to me, I join our friends in G25 in trying to bring sanity back to our country”.
Mokhtar, a former diplomat, is best remembered as the Malaysian ambassador to Peru who was taken hostage by armed Marxist rebels in 1996.
Dr Nordin was a Universiti Malaya lecturer and political secretary for Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Samad Idris from 1976 to 1980.
He served as a senator for five years and was director of corporate affairs at Public Bank from 1984 to 1994.
Noor Farida also announced another new member of the G25, Professor Emeritus Azman Awang.
The former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia professor currently sits on the boards of the Higher Education Leadership Academy and the Accelerated Programme for Excellence at the Education Ministry.
The group became popularly known as “G25” in reference to its original 25 members, who penned an open letter urging the Government to initiate a rational dialogue on the position of Islam in the country’s constitutional democracy.
With the entry of Dr Nordin and Azman, the group now has 36 members, comprising prominent individuals, including former secretaries-general, directors-general, ambassadors and academics.