KEPALA BATAS: Long before Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became Malaysia's fifth prime minister, he was Pak Lah to the people of Kepala Batas, a quiet, soft-spoken figure whose decades-long presence reshaped the town he called home.
News of Abdullah's passing at the National Heart Institute (IJN) on Monday has stirred a wave of remembrance in this northern Penang town, where residents recall not only a national leader but a constituency man who brought lasting change to the place he served for seven consecutive parliamentary terms, from 1978 to 2008.
