SIK: Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, whose mother passed away today, remembers her as a jovial person, but one who never shied away from giving advice to her children.
He said one piece of advice that had stuck with him was for him to always visit people in need.
"My mother reminded me to always visit people in need, just as what I did after being appointed menteri besar," he said.
Sanusi, the seventh of 13 siblings, said his late mother Meriam Ahmad, 74, loved to crack jokes.
The Jeneri assemblyman said the last time he met his mother was last week, when he returned to the family home three times.
"I hardly come back three times a week... she seemed fine. My father Md Nor Taib, 83, told me that my mother was planning to bring some rambutans to my sibling's home in Kuala Lumpur. Then she asked her grandchild to take her to have a meal in Tanjung Dawai.
"My father said she was unusually active. Perhaps that was a sign (that she was going to pass away). After she passed away, only then did my father realise that," he said when met at the family home in Kampung Sungai Pau here.
Meriam died from heart complications about 9.40am today at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (HSB) intensive care unit in Alor Star, three days after being admitted.
Sanusi said his mother died calmly, in the presence of all her children.
He added that his mother did not suffer from any disease except for heart complications.
However, she suffered a stroke and passed out on Monday.
"My brother managed to catch her and immediately rushed our mother to Sik Hospital. She was intubated and transferred to HSB on the same day," he said.
Meriam's body will be taken to al Ubudiah Mosque in Sungai Pau before being laid to rest at a nearby Muslim cemetery.