Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, the wife of Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, died on Monday, the veteran leader’s office said.
Siti Hasmah, 100, died at the National Heart Institute, the state news agency Bernama said, citing the couple’s son Mokhzani Mahathir. No further details were immediately available.Often credited with modernising Malaysia, Mahathir, 101, served two stints as premier, totalling more than two decades.
During his first tenure between 1981 and 2003, he oversaw a period of rapid industrial growth, turning Malaysia into one of Southeast Asia’s economic tigers.He returned to the top job in 2018, becoming the country’s oldest prime minister after coming out of retirement to topple the then-leader Najib Razak, who was involved in the multibillion-dollar financial scandal.
Mahathir’s second stint in office ended in less than two years after his coalition collapsed in 2020 amid political infighting.
