A most loyal and patriotic civil servant

I LEARNED with much sadness of the sudden death of a dear and well-respected former senior Foreign Service colleague, Datuk N. Parameswaran. He died on Friday aged 74.

In the 14 years since relinquishing our posts as heads of diplomatic missions overseas, Param – as he was known – and I largely maintained occasional text and phone contact. While opportunities to meet became rare, we did share concerns about the country and both wrote on matters of public interest in the media. Param was a straight shooter. He did not mince his words and often lambasted the authorities in a direct and critical manner while I chose the more obtuse and less polemical approach.