KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said most PAS leaders could not attend Tun Dr Hasmah Mohd Ali’s funeral because they had prior commitments at home and abroad.
The party’s deputy president said PAS had conveyed its condolences directly to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his family, according to Sinar Harian.
“We acknowledge that most PAS leaders had specific programmes on the day she passed away,” he said at a press conference for the Zulkifli Muhammad Islamic Studies Convocation Ceremony (KUIZM) in Gombak today.
Tuan Ibrahim, who is also Perikatan Nasional’s Pahang chairman, said the absence was not deliberate.
He cited his own involvement in a programme in Kelantan, along with Secretary-General Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan and Vice-President Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah.
“Thus, their absence was indeed due to unavoidable programmes,” he said.
PAS sent Muslimat wing chief and Central Committee member Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, and joined the tahlil at Dr Mahathir’s home, he said.
Tuan Ibrahim said Dr Hasmah’s death is unexpected and her burial must be expedited without waiting for anyone.
“Sometimes a father dies but the child cannot make it in time because the death was sudden,” he said.
“We cannot wait long because when someone dies, the body must be buried quickly.”
He said the party had conveyed its condolences on behalf of PAS.
“May he (Dr Mahathir) be patient with what has happened, and what matters is that we pray that the soul of the late Dr Hasmah be blessed and placed among the righteous servants of Allah,” he said.
Dr Hasmah died at the National Heart Institute (IJN) at 9.20am on September 28, as reported by Sinar Harian.
Her son, Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir, confirmed the news of the passing of the 100-year-old.
Dr Hasmah was born on July 12, 1926, and married Tun Dr Mahathir on August 5, 1956.
