AKPS chief Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily remembers Tun Dr Siti Hasmah as a motherly figure who always cared for security personnel and remembered his birthday
PUTRAJAYA: Simple questions such as ‘Have you eaten?’ and ‘Have you had enough rest?’ remain fresh in the memory of Malaysia Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) director-general Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain whenever he remembers the late Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali.
He said Tun Dr Siti Hasmah never failed to look after the welfare of the security personnel accompanying her and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during their official duties overseas.
For the former Special Branch officer, Dr Siti Hasmah’s concern for their welfare meant that she was not merely the wife of the Prime Minister whom they were tasked with protecting, but someone they regarded as a mother.
“Every time we finished our duties, she would ask us if we had eaten or had enough rest. To us in the security team, she was like a mother,” he said when sharing his memories of the late Tun Dr Siti Hasmah at Pusara Negara, in Precinct 20, here today.
Amid the many experiences he had while accompanying the couple, Mohd Shuhaily said one particularly personal memory has remained etched in his mind, celebrating his birthday with Tun Dr Siti Hasmah in Baltimore, the United States, around 2012 or 2013.
Mohd Shuhaily said he and the late Tun Dr Siti Hasmah shared the same birthday, July 12, and what touched him most was that Tun Dr Siti Hasmah remembered this when she learned that he was in Baltimore.
“I was in Baltimore on our birthday, and she remembered that I was there. She called me and said, ‘Shuhaily, your birthday is the same as mine, right?’
“I replied, ‘Yes, Tun’, and she then invited me to celebrate it together,” he said.
Mohd Shuhaily said Tun Dr Siti Hasmah then asked Tun Dr Mahathir to stand on her right, and the three of them held the knife and cut the cake together.
“That is a memory I will never forget,” he said.
Mohd Shuhaily said after that, whenever he happened to meet Tun Dr Siti Hasmah, she would still recognise and remember him despite them not meeting often.
Mohd Shuhaily, who also led the security team for Dr Mahathir’s first visit to the United Nations (UN) after returning as Prime Minister in 2018, said he also witnessed first-hand how Tun Dr Siti Hasmah was always a pillar of support for her husband.
He said witnessing Tun Dr Mahathir return to the international stage after such a long absence was an honour, particularly when the statesman received a warm reception.
Throughout those trips, Mohd Shuhaily said Tun Dr Siti Hasmah remained her husband’s companion and staunch supporter.
“Tun (Dr Siti Hasmah) was his staunch supporter. Her passing is a loss to the country,” he said.
Tun Dr Siti Hasmah died at the National Heart Institute (IJN) at 9.20 am today at the age of 100.
Born on July 12, 1926, she was the sixth of 10 children of Mohd Ali Taib and Siti Khadijah Ahmad. She left behind her husband, Tun Dr Mahathir, and seven children.
