KUALA LUMPUR – Former national unity and community development minister Tan Sri Zaleha Ismail has died of health complications. She was 84.
Zaleha died about 8.15pm yesterday at a hospital here, her brother-in-law, Abdul Aziz Shahrin, 60, told Bernama.
He said she was taken to hospital after experiencing breathing difficulties at home around 6pm.
“Her remains will be brought to the Salahuddin Al-Ayubbi Mosque in Taman Melati here at 9am tomorrow (today) for prayers, before being laid to rest at the Taman Ibukota Muslim cemetery.”
Selangor Umno chairman Tan Sri Noh Omar, who was at Zaleha’s family residence in Taman Perwira, Gombak, last night, described her as “my mentor in politics”.
“Her friendly and soft approach made her well-loved by many, and I regularly visited her then.”
Zaleha was deputy transport minister before taking on the national unity portfolio from 1995 to 1999.
She was Wanita Umno deputy head from 1976 to 1980, and the wing’s Kuala Lumpur head in 1977 and 1978.
Zaleha, who was married to the late Abd Rahman Ali, is survived by three sons, namely Datuk Dr Zurin Adnan, Zurin Azlan and Zurin Azrai. – Bernama, November 15, 2020
