On June 1, 1959 Tun Abdul Ghafar was appointed as the second Chief Minister of Malacca after Tan Sri Dato 'Kurnia Jasa Othman bin Talib. Under the leadership of Tun Abdul Ghafar, the State of Malacca developed well in agriculture and infrastructure. To overcome the problem of poverty, Tun Abdul Ghafar takes a very practical approach. His BERNAS view to address the poverty problem of rural communities has been effectively enabled by him to provide bicycle assistance to poor children to enable them to school, aid of chicks and cattle for farmers, fishing boat assistance, the opening of agricultural land for settlers. New settlers and so on. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj has appointed him as Chairman of the Council of Amanah Rakyat (MARA) on 1 September 1967 based on his approach and determination to overcome the poverty problem.