MALAYSIANS had for decades looked up to Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, wife of twice former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as both the pillar of strength behind her husband during his reign and more importantly, for having never intervened/interfered in his business of running the country.
Such utmost respect is in stark contrast to the bombshells and brickbats levelled at Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor – the self-proclaimed FLOM (First Lady of Malaysia) – and wife of the now incarcerated sixth Malaysian premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
But the nonagenarian’s request yesterday (Oct 28) for Malaysians to stop calling her “Siti Hasmah” was a stunner despite her contention that “Siti” was added to her name when she and Dr Mahathir moved to Kuala Lumpur from Kedah.
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In the Coffee with Ryan podcast published recently, Dr Hasmah corrected host Datuk Dr Ryan Ponnudurai who claimed to have been acquainted with the couple for decades after he called her “Tun Siti, the mother of Malaysia”.
“One thing I want corrected is I’m not a Siti. I was not born Siti Hasmah; I was just plain Hasmah. It’s just that someone, some smart ‘people’, gave me the word Siti when we were transferred back from Alor Setar to Kuala Lumpur,” revealed with slight agitation Dr Hasmah whose marriage with Dr Mahathir has spanned 68 years.
“Here, there is a Siti Nurhaliza, Siti this and Siti that, so they just put it in front of my name: I’m not (Siti Hasmah), I am just plain Dr Hasmah.”
But Malaysian who have for decades – ever since Dr Mahathir’s maiden premiership in 1981 – identify her as “Dr Siti Hasmah” were seemingly unforgiving that she only revealed the truth during her twilight years.
This brought to mind the sudden instruction from seventh premier Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to address him as “Mahiaddin” via a memo dated June 3, 2021.
“Saya perlu betulkan… Saya bukan Siti. Saya tidak dilahirkan sebagai Siti Hasmah…”.#AWANInews #AWANI745 https://t.co/T0MeVAxa5a
— Astro AWANI (@501Awani) October 27, 2024
Interestingly, some inquisitive Malaysians took the trouble to dig up the ultimate truth with one netizen finding out that Dr Hasmah’s ‘actual’ name has been promptly updated on Wikipedia.
Some cheeky netizens even teased Dr Hasmah that she wanted “Siti” to be dropped from her name as she “can no longer compete with (famous songstress) Siti Nurhaliza.”.
Whatever said and done, one netizen ticked off Astro Awani for being unprofessional by using clickbait headlines Nama Saya Hanya Hasmah, Bukan Siti Hasmah “which invites ridicule to both nonagenarians”. – Oct 29, 2024
Main image credit: Asrul Muzaffar🇲🇾 (@asrulmm)/Twitter
