KUALA LUMPUR - Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, died Monday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. She was 100.
Anwar expressed his condolences and said Siti Hasmah, who died at the National Heart Institute, will be accorded a state funeral. A trailblazer in her own right as one of the country's first ethnic Malay female doctors, she spent her life advocating public health and championing women and children's rights.
Siti Hasmah and Mahathir met in 1947 as first-year medical students in King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore. When she graduated in 1955, she was the third ethnic Malay female doctor in Malaysia.
The couple married in 1956 and in 1981, she took on the role of wife of the prime minister when Mahathir assumed office and went on to rule for 22 years until he resigned in 2003.
In her autobiography "My Name is Hasmah," she spoke about being the wife of the country's longest-serving premier.
"When I started as a medical officer, working with the poor in the rural areas taught me when to speak and how to behave. The life of a prime minister's wife made good use of these interpersonal skills, but it also required a poker face that I did not have," she said.
Siti Hasmah found herself back in the spotlight in 2018 when Mahathir, who had ditched his old party, led his new alliance to a stunning victory over the National Front coalition that had ruled Malaysia since independence. Mahathir again took over the helm at the age of 92, until internal fighting forced him to step down in 2020.
Besides Mahathir, 101, Siti Hasmah is survived by their seven children.
