Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg took time off his busy schedule last week to launch a book dedicated to the memory of the late Datuk Polycarp Sim Cheng Mong.
It was to be done in October, on the 30th death anniversary of one of Sarawak's foremost and pioneering educationists.
Abang Johari had a particularly busy schedule then, and requested the launch to be in December so he could be present.
He has good reason to want to be present: Sim was not only his school teacher and tutor, but his mentor, too.
As the premier recounted, his late father, Sarawak's first Malaysian governor, Tun Abang Haji Openg, requested Sim to be his son's tutor in geography.
Sim took his young charge to places around the globe through his lessons.
It was, Abang Johari recounted, as if Sim had a premonition that he was coaching a future state tourism minister.
The lessons went beyond the classroom and tuition centre. Sim would always encourage Abang Johari to read as much as possible.
The former student said it is because of the habit inculcated in him by his teacher that he now talks so much about hydrogen as an energy source despite not being in the science stream in school.
Sim inspired Abang Johari perhaps as much by the power of personal example. The teacher used up most of his salary to help students in need.
Such humility, the premier said, was what moved him to serve all Sarawakians without any expectation of reward.
It could be argued that the unassuming Sim loomed large in his influence over Sarawak.
He was, after all, a teacher not only to the current Sarawak premier, but the last three as well — Tun Abdul Rahman Ya'kub, Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud and Tan Sri Adenan Satem.
All received their early education at Sarawak's best-known school: St Joseph's in Kuching.
Sim was so devoted to the Roman Catholic missionary school, run in the early years by priests and brothers of the La Salle order, that he remained a life-long bachelor and devout Catholic.
But as the above political leaders invariably noted, being educated in a Christian missionary school did not turn them away from their Muslim faith despite they admitting the ability to recite Catholic prayers and even quoting scripture recalled from Bible studies that they voluntarily picked up.
They were also struck by how Sim, despite being a Catholic, attended to the needs of all students regardless of religious affiliation.
At the book launch, Abang Johari repeated his disbelief that even decorating cakes with Christmas messages could become an issue in some parts of the country. Such was the pivotal influence of Sim that Rahman and Taib indulged him when Sim retired from teaching.
In his official capacities as deputy chairman (he was said to have declined to be chairman) of the Sarawak Public Service Commission and director of the Sarawak Foundation, he continued what he was best known for: helping needy students out of his own pocket to further their studies, checking on them all across Sarawak and beyond, and finding jobs for those who have completed their studies.
It can be said that not only the good and great in Sarawak counted Sim as a life-changing influence, but also many others across the state.
Indeed, author and publisher Richard Song Swee Jin admitted he was moved to come up with the book because Sim had "changed my life and saved my soul".
* The writer views developments in the nation, region and wider world from his vantage point in Kuching
