Toni Kassim

Toni, as those who knew her, those who loved her and those who despised her, all knew her, had a gift for seeing beyond the colour and obvious conurbations of a problem, to seeing the heart of what was at stake, exposing the power imbalances implicit in the various positions and showing how they could be resolved justly. Not always to everyone's interest, but justly. She saw beyond race, religion or class, to the humanity in each and every person. Even those with whom she disagreed. It sometimes made her unbearable – to live up to her standards was tough. But it would have made her this, or any other, country's best ever Prime Minister.

Malaysia was blessed to have her born on our soil.

Toni was no saint. She should go down in the history books as one, but those of us that knew and loved her will also remember her impishness, her sense of humour, and even her bizarre hatred of chocolate, ice-cream and balloons.

For CIJ, Toni was someone who helped us in our darkest hours, both financially and through example. She was a stalwart defender of all human rights, and saw freedom of expression as integral to those rights. We'll miss her as a colleague, as a leader, but most of all, as a friend. From all of us at CIJ, our love, our gratitude are with you Toni, we hope to live up to the ideals and goals you helped us to set for ourselves.

Toni With CIJ Staff During Retreat