Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad may have a duty to the people, but his wife Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali believes that the people have entrusted her with the duty of taking care of him.
“For me, being really close to him, staying in the same house, I do worry about his health.
“I tell him, ‘I am looking after you and this is my duty now. You have a duty to the people and I have a duty to you.’
“‘The people ask me to take care of you and I am just playing my role’,” she told Malaysiakini in an interview yesterday at the Perdana Leadership Foundation.
Dressed in a pale gold baju kurung, the 92-year-old Siti Hasmah appeared to be in good spirits.
Upon being told that netizens have been asking Mahathir to get some rest from his frenetic schedule, she agreed immediately.
Siti Hasmah, like her husband a doctor, said she has tried convincing him to take a breather since he assumed prime ministership again, but her attempts are usually deflected.
“He will say, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine’. (He is being) gung-ho, so I have to be gung-ho with him because I follow him wherever he goes.”
However, she said, she has to occasionally put her foot down when it comes to his health.
“Sometimes I do that, you know. I really insist. I say ‘I don’t care (you must let me take care of you)’.”
The star attraction
Mahathir’s schedule was particularly taxing in the run-up to the 14th general election, noted Siti Hasmah, as he had to attend late ceramah sessions around the country almost every night.
As he was the star attraction at these ceramah, she added, organisers tended to put him last on the bill – meaning he would only step onstage at around 10.45pm or later.
Nevertheless, Siti Hasmah was still taken aback by the crowd reaction at every ceramah she attended during the campaign period.
“It is amazing, especially when you follow the last campaign trail.
“It was raining and the ground was muddy, but they (the crowd) sat on the ground and didn’t move at all. They were there to listen,” she said.
One moment in particular that stands out for her is when a ceramah crowd raised their mobile phones with the flashlights turned on.
“The best was when they said ‘Okay, now shine your torch’, and we could see thousands of lights.
“Even though I can’t see much of the people in front of us, I could see them in the lights, shining.
“It is something to remember. It was really people showing support for what they want,” Siti Hasmah said.
Though Mahathir and she have been through many elections together, she said, moments like these were what made the GE14 campaign trail particularly “extraordinary”.
– M’kini
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