READING the letter from Halimah Mohd Said, “Long road to religious understanding” (July 28), which described briefly a part of the life and times of Dr Mohd Said Mohamed, past mentri besar of Negri Sembilan, reminded me of a conversation a few of us had with Dr Tan Chee Khoon sometime in the early seventies.

At that time Chee Khoon was a respected and distinguished member of our parliamentary opposition. When our discussion moved to the subject of corruption in government, I asked Chee Khoon whether there were any BN mentris besar or chief ministers who, in his opinion, are corruption free. Without hesitation he replied that to his knowledge and opinion there was none.

However, also without hesitation and any second thoughts, he told us that to his knowledge and in his opinion, the previous mentri besar of Negri Sembilan, Dr Mohd Said Mohamed, was the only BN mentri besar, past and present at that time, who was 100% corruption free. I believe Dr Mohd Said was mentri besar until 1969.

Source: The Sun – July 31, 2009