FORMER Malacca chief minister Mohd Adib Mohamad Adam breathed his last at Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) this morning due to old age. He was 81. 

His wife, Zainiah Hussein, 77, said he was admitted to HKL last night after complaining of breathing difficulties. 

She said at 8.20am, she was informed that her husband had died. 

“My husband has never complained of illness before, only in the last month he suffered a stroke, his condition was also quite weak and his memory affected,” she said when met by Bernama at Darul Ehsan Mosque, Taman Tun Abdul Razak, Ampang. 

The final rites including the shrouding of the body were carried out at the mosque and the funeral prayer was performed at 4.25pm by more than 100 worshippers led by the imam of the mosque, Mohamad Khairi Hussein.  

He will be buried at Malacca Heroes’ Mausoleum after the Maghrib prayers. 

Adib, who was born on July 2, 1941, leaves behind his wife and four children. 

He held the position of the fifth Malacca chief minister from July 11, 1978 to April 26, 1982. 

The experienced politician and corporate figure also held the information as well as the rural, cooperatives and entrepreneurship minister positions. 

Meanwhile, a close family member, Professor Emeritus Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, said Adib contributed immensely to the villagers in Kampung Kesang Tua Jasin, Malacca and the public at large. 

“He helped a lot of people; he did a good job and was very dynamic in his work… He stepped away from politics in 1988 before venturing into business,” he said. – Bernama, September 21, 2022.