Kailan was committed to social activities

KEPALA BATAS: Datuk Kailan Hassan, the mother of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who passed away peacefully at her home here at 5.05pm yesterday, was born in Bayan Lepas, Penang, on Dec 21, 1925.

She was one of six children of Hassan Salleh or Hah Su Chiang and his third wife Kamariah Abd Razak.

Hassan, from Guangdong Province in China, had come to Malaya and made a living in Bayan Lepas as a rubber planter, padi farmer and jewellery trader.

Kailan received her early education at Sekolah Melayu Bayan Lepas, and later became committed to social activities such as development issues for women.

She was chairman of the Kepala Batas branch of the Women’s Institute in the early 1970s.

She married former politician and Umno activist Datuk Ahmad Badawi Abdullah Fahim, who passed away in 1977.

Besides Abdullah, the couple have two other sons – Ibrahim, 57, and Mohd Tahir, 48, and a daughter, Aminah, 60.

When Abdullah was sworn in as Malaysia’s fifth Prime Minister on Oct 31 last year, Kailan had told reporters that she had never expected her son to become prime minister.

She had expressed the hope that Abdullah would carry out the trust and responsibilities which had been given to him well and continue to be humble.

“Entrust everything to God and don’t be carried away by posts,” she had said.

“I am happy for him and will always pray for his success although it means I will see him less. But it does not matter because his duties to the people and nation are more important.”

The Star, Tuesday 3/2/2004