Abdullah Ahmad laid to rest in Kok Lanas

KOTA BARU: The late Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, former political secretary of second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, was laid to rest today at the Masjid Ayesha Muslim Cemetery in Kok Lanas here.
Abdullah died of cancer at 1.15pm yesterday at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur. He was 79.
Popularly known as Dollah Kok Lanas for having long been the MP of that constituency, Abdullah was buried at 11.30am after prayers at the mosque that he had built.
His remains were taken from his residence in Jalan U-Thant Kuala Lumpur to Subang and flown in a C-130 aircraft of the Royal Malaysia Air Force to the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport in Pengkalan Chepa and transported by van to Masjid Ayesha.
Abdullah's wife Puan Sri Fauzah Mohamed Derus and their three children, sons Adhha Amir, 47, and Ahmad Fuad, 42, and daughter Hamdia Munirah, 45, were at the burial ceremony.
Also present were the Tengku Temenggong of Kelantan, Tengku Muhammad Rizam Tengku Aziz, Kok Lanas state assemblyman Datuk Md Alwi Che Ahmad, family members, friends and the people of Kok Lanas.
Fauzah expressed the family's thanks to all quarters, including the RMAF, for helping to facilitate the burial.
She said Abdullah had willed that he be buried in the grounds of the Masjid Ayesha that he had built and that the family members manage the mosque after his departure.
"I am grateful for having been able to fulfill his desire to be buried here," she said.
Fauzah said Abdullah loved to do charity work and, besides the RM6-million mosque, he had also built three suraus in the Machang area.
She also said that other people had also contributed to the construction of the mosque, including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and friends of Abdullah.
The Imam 1 of the mosque, Abdul Hashim Abdul Aziz, said Abdullah was a philanthropist who had shown much concern for the welfare of the people of Kok Lanas. — Bernama