KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 — Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad paid tribute today to the late Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali as a pioneer in the development of public health in Malaysia.
Dr Siti Hasmah, who was the wife of former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, died at the National Heart Institute (IJN) earlier today at 100 years old.
“Tun Dr Siti Hasmah was not only a respected medical figure, but also a pioneer in the development of public health, particularly in maternal and child health, family health and community welfare,” Dzulkefly was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying at an event in Ipoh, Perak, today.
“Her contributions to the medical profession, public health, and community development will certainly be remembered for generations to come.”
Dr Siti Hasmah, born on July 12, 1926, in Selangor, was the only Malay female student in the Class of 1947 at King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore, where she and Dr Mahathir first met. Dr Mahathir is also from the Class of 1947.
During a visit by Dr Mahathir and Dr Siti Hasmah to the Tan Teck Guan Building in Singapore last November, the former prime minister said he was initially afraid of studying medicine after seeing covered cadavers on the first or second day of college.
Dr Siti Hasmah chimed in: “He’s the one who was scared; I wasn’t scared.”
According to a text of her speech on the 35th anniversary and third reunion of the Class of 1947 in Penang in 1982, Dr Siti Hasmah spoke about enduring ties of friendship in her batch, even though not everyone ended up becoming a doctor.
“Some were gently persuaded that their talents would be better utilised elsewhere and in retrospect, how right their decisions were! So today from our batch we are not only doctors and dental surgeons, professors, surgeons, physicians, and obstetricians and respected general practitioners, but also lawyers, civil servants, social welfare experts, customs chiefs and company chairmen and even politicians, and lest you have forgotten, a surprisingly large number of them,” said Dr Siti Hasmah then, a year after her husband became prime minister in 1981.
“I can think of at least eight who have actively participated in politics and three times as many armchair politicians. The eight have had mixed fortunes — one even got deported, four tried unsuccessfully to enter Parliament, both in Malaysia and Singapore, but three were successful, a rather large percentage, for a batch as small as ours in the first 25 years of independence.
“Not bad, I dare say, even though we must face the fact that one or two of them became government ministers, and one or two, like Sau Kan and myself, even worse became jobless housewives.
“Surely then we can be forgiven, if on looking back nostalgically at our careers and lives since 1947, all of us feel rather pleased with ourselves tonight. It is surely a tribute to the strength of the ties that bind us together, that 45 of us are able to find great joy, happiness, and pleasure in just being together.”
Dr Siti Hasmah was survived by her 101-year-old husband and seven children, including social activist Marina Mahathir and former Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that Dr Siti Hasmah would be given a state funeral.
