Ghafar Baba

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Tun Ghafar Baba (February 18, 1925–April 23, 2006) was a Malaysian politician from Melaka and a former Deputy Prime Minister. He was born on February 18, 1925 in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, the son of an impoverished villager. Ghafar Baba became a teacher and later became a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) political party, which is part of the governing Barisan Nasional coalition.

In 1986, he was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister by then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Previously, Musa Hitam held the deputy premiership but he resigned, citing irreconcilable differences with Mahathir. ^[1] In October 15, 1993 during UMNO election, he was challenged by Anwar Ibrahim. Ghafar Baba was defeated by Anwar Ibrahim and subsequently lost the deputy premiership.

On 23 April 2006, he passed away at Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur due to a heart attack. He had been in critical condition for several months prior to his death. He was 81 years old. He was buried in an official state funeral at Makam Pahlawan near Masjid Negara, Kuala Lumpur on the same day alongside the graves of former Malaysian Prime Ministers, Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Hussein Onn and former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tun Dr Ismail before nightfall.[1][2]