Tun Suhailah, widow of 3rd PM Tun Hussein Onn, dies at 82
Tun Suhailah Mohamad Noah (pic), the wife of Malaysia’s third prime minister Tun Hussein Onn, died at 12.30am today. She was 82.
Suhailah died at the Damansara Specialist Hospital and the body is at the family home in Bukit Tunku, Kuala Lumpur.
News of the death was shared by her son, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, on his Facebook page about 1.30am.
Hishammuddin is the fourth child and she leaves behind four other children. Her eldest daughter, Datin Roquaiya Hanim died in 2005 from breast cancer.
Suhailah was the daughter of Tan Sri Mohamad Noah Omar, the former Dewan Rakyat Speaker, and she was born on October 24, 1931, in Muar.
She married Hussein in 1948, and became a widow on May 29, 1990.
Her sister, Tun Rahah Mohammad Noah, is the widow of Malaysia’s second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak. Rahah is the mother of present prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Between 1977 to 1981, Suhailah was the founder of the Welfare Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti) in 1977 and led the organisation until 1981.
In 1990, she was awarded the title “Tun” by the federal government.
The public may pay their respects at No. 19, Jalan Changkat Tunku, Bukit Tunku, from 9am before the funeral after Zohor prayers at the National Mausoleum in Masjid Negara at noon. Hussein is also buried in the National Mausoleum. – October 4, 2014.
