TUN Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, one of Malaysia’s pioneering women doctors and a prominent advocate for public health and women’s welfare, has died at the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur at 9.25am today. She was 100.
Her death was confirmed by her son, Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir.
Dr Siti Hasmah, who celebrated her 100th birthday on July 12, leaves behind seven children and a public legacy that extended from medicine and maternal healthcare to family planning, rural women's development, drug-abuse prevention and mental health.
Born on July 12, 1926, in Kampung Jawa, Klang, Selangor, she was among the first Malay women to pursue medicine at the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore, graduating with an MBBS from the University of Malaya in 1955.
Dr Siti Hasmah met he r husband, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, while they were studying in Singapore and the couple married in 1956.
Her medical career saw her become the first woman appointed as a state health officer in 1974, after earlier serving in maternal and child health.
She later pursued postgraduate studies in public health at the University of Michigan and wrote extensively on family medicine, pregnancy and women's health.
She became the wife of the prime minister when Dr Mahathir took office on July 16, 1981, but used the platform to pursue causes that were closely linked to her professional background and long-standing social interests.
As president of Bakti, the welfare organisation for ministers' and deputy ministers' spouses, she championed maternal and child health, family planning, adult literacy and drug-abuse prevention.
Her work on drug-abuse prevention also took her to international forums. In 1985, she attended the First Ladies' Conference on Drug Abuse in Washington DC at the invitation of then US First Lady Nancy Reagan, and later represented Malaysia at an international conference in Vienna in 1987.
She was also an advocate for rural women, attending the First Ladies Summit for the Advancement of Rural Women's Economic Development in Geneva in 1992 at the invitation of Queen Fabiola of Belgium.
At the summit, she was selected as one of the core group initiators from the Asia-Pacific region and signed the Geneva Declaration, which became a basis for efforts to advance rural women.
“With proper education and training, rural women can raise literate and productive children who can become positive contributors to the country,” she said.
Her interests also extended to mental health. She was invited by former US First Lady Rosalynn Carter to join the World Federation for Mental Health's national committee, which Carter chaired at the time.
In education, Siti Hasmah became the first Chancellor of Multimedia University and was also credited with inspiring the establishment of a medical faculty at Universiti Teknologi MARA.
She received the 'Mother of the Nation' title from ASLI on Aug 22, 2019, in conjunction with National Women's Day.
That same year, she publicly revealed that she had undergone surgery to remove a breast cancer lump, using her experience to encourage women to undergo regular health screenings.
The Jeffrey Cheah Foundation subsequently launched the RM10 million Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Scholarship to support studies in the creative arts and music.
Dr Siti Hasmah came from a family with a distinguished record of public service. Her siblings included Tun Mohamed Hashim, a former Chief of the Armed Forces; Tun Ismail Mohd Ali, a former Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia; and Tan Sri Ahmad Razali Mohd Ali, a former Selangor Menteri Besar.
Dr Siti Hasmah is survived by her husband and seven children.
Dr Siti Hasmah's passing marks the end of a century-long life that spanned Malaysia's transformation from the colonial era to the modern nation, while her contributions to medicine, women's health and social welfare established a public legacy of her own. - September 28, 2026
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