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Ahmadul Kobir, Malaysia: With tears in his eyes, Malaysia’s modern architect and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad bid a final farewell to his beloved wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, who stood by him through seven decades of joy, sorrow and life’s challenges.
Siti Hasmah was laid to rest with full state honours in Putrajaya on Monday. The 101-year-old former premier attended his wife’s funeral prayers and burial in a wheelchair, with an oxygen tube attached. Overcome with grief at the loss of his lifelong companion and greatest source of strength, Mahathir was repeatedly seen wiping away tears.
Siti Hasmah, 100, breathed her last at 9:20am on Monday at the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur. Her death cast a pall of grief across Malaysia, particularly among the country’s political community.
On the instructions of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Siti Hasmah was accorded full state honours. Her first funeral prayer was held at Masjid As-Syarif in Seri Kembangan, Selangor.
Her remains were then taken to Pusara Negara, the National Heroes’ Mausoleum in Precinct 20, Putrajaya, where she was laid to rest. Senior politicians, diplomats and thousands of ordinary Malaysians gathered to pay their final respects.
The love story of Mahathir and Siti Hasmah began in 1947 when they were students at King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore. After knowing each other for nine years, they married in August 1956.
Only a few weeks ago, the couple marked 70 years of marriage — their platinum jubilee.
According to Asia Records, they are the first former head-of-government and spouse couple in the world to have both reached the age of 100.
Dr Siti Hasmah was not known merely as Mahathir’s wife. Through her own work and public service, she carved out a distinguished place in Malaysia’s history.
She was among the pioneering Malay women doctors of then-Malaya. As the wife of a prime minister, she also played a prominent role in social issues, including maternal health, family planning and the prevention of drug abuse.
Throughout Mahathir Mohamad’s long and turbulent political career, Siti Hasmah remained a calm and steadfast source of strength.
On the day Malaysia bid farewell to that enduring source of strength, the tearful face of the man widely associated with the country’s transformation into a modern nation moved those gathered at the funeral and touched the hearts of many Malaysians.