KUALA LUMPUR: Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, the wife of former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, died on Monday (Sep 28) at the age of 100.
She died at the National Heart Institute at about 9.20am. This was confirmed by her son Mokhzani Mahathir when contacted by state news agency Bernama.
Hasmah was a doctor who used her platform as the former prime minister’s wife to advocate maternal health, family planning, literacy, drug abuse prevention and mental health.
She had celebrated her 100th birthday on Jul 12. The following month, she was recognised by ASEAN Records as the Oldest Living Spouse of a Former Prime Minister.
Mahathir, 101, posted an obituary on social media with her image accompanied by a prayer: “May God forgive her, have mercy on her and grant her peace.”
The post garnered over 114,000 “likes” and 28,000 comments in under three hours on Facebook, and about 164,000 “likes” and nearly 10,000 comments on Instagram.
