Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, the wife of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, died today at the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur, Malay Mail reported. She was 100.
Her son, Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir, confirmed the passing, according to Malaysiakini. The news reached the public through an unexpected channel: it was announced during a townhall session at Parliament, where attendees paused for a brief Islamic prayer in her honour.
In a feature for her 100th birthday, FMT set out a career in medicine and public health that ran alongside a role beside a prime minister. She had turned 100 on 12 July.
Born sixth in a family of 10, she schooled in Klang before taking up medical studies in Singapore. When she graduated in 1955, she joined a small group of Malay women doctors entering a profession that offered women few openings.
Her work in maternal and child health later changed outcomes on a wide scale. As Kedah’s state maternal and child health officer, she oversaw a fall in infant mortality from 75 per 1,000 births to six.
It was in the wife’s role that most Malaysians came to know her. When Dr Mahathir took office in 1981, she used the platform to champion maternal health, family planning, literacy, drug abuse prevention and mental health.
Outside government she led several organisations, serving as president of Bakti and of the Malaysian Girl Guides Association, and as chairman of the Kedah Family Planning Association. She also patronised numerous healthcare bodies, and was invited by then US first lady Rosalynn Carter to join the World Federation for Mental Health.
She married Dr Mahathir in 1956 and marked 70 years of marriage in August. The couple have seven children, and FMT described their marriage as a partnership built on mutual respect and shared values.
Her later years stayed public. In 2019, after surgery to remove a breast lump that was detected early, she urged women to keep up regular health checks. She also wrote a memoir, My Name is Hasmah, and a second book, Speaking of Mass Destruction.
In a 2024 interview she corrected a name the country had used for decades. She said she was never given the name Siti, which others added to her as the moniker surged in popularity in the 1990s, and asked to be known simply as Dr Hasmah.
Further details on her funeral are awaited.
