Syed Saddiq humbly distances himself from Mahathir-Hasmah legacy

Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman stood before reporters in Kuala Lumpur and gently pushed back against a comparison that, on its surface, seemed flattering. People had been drawing parallels between his relationship with artiste Bella Astillah and the storied partnership of Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the late Dr Hasmah Ali—a union that had endured for more than seven decades and shaped the nation's trajectory. Syed Saddiq would have none of it.

"I don't think we deserve to be compared with the late Hasmah and Mahathir," he said. "We don't even come close, not even one percent, because their contributions have been extraordinary." He acknowledged that those making the comparison meant well, but the gap between the two couples, he insisted, was simply too vast to bridge. Where Mahathir and Hasmah had written an entire library of shared history, he and Bella were only turning to the first page.

The timing of his remarks carried weight. Hasmah had died on September 28 at the National Heart Institute, at the age of 100. Her passing had prompted a national reckoning with her legacy—her pioneering work in medicine, her commitment to bringing healthcare and education to rural communities, her willingness to serve beyond the city's boundaries. Mahathir himself was hospitalized at the IJN for routine treatment, and the couple's decades together had become a touchstone for what enduring partnership could mean. In the days following Hasmah's death, Malaysian media had drawn comparisons not only to Mahathir but also to Indonesia's former president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie and his late wife, Hasri Ainun Besari—a marriage so celebrated it had been captured in two feature films.

Syed Saddiq and Bella were preparing for their own wedding solemnisation on October 10 at Menara 118 in Kuala Lumpur, with a reception to follow on October 18 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center. But before that milestone arrived, something else had happened—a final meeting that had become, for the couple, one of their most treasured memories. Three days before her death, Syed Saddiq and Bella had visited Hasmah. The conversation lasted more than two hours. Hasmah was cheerful, animated by the prospect of attending their wedding solemnisation. She offered them counsel drawn from her own seven decades of marriage: the necessity of compromise, the importance of tolerance, the need to navigate jealousy and conflict with grace. "Marriage is not just about love, but also tolerance and knowing how to compromise, navigate challenges and deal with issues such as jealousy in a relationship," Syed Saddiq recalled her saying.

Bella, for her part, spoke of Hasmah's warnings about the particular pressures of being married to a politician. The older woman had counseled her to be strong, to stand by her husband, to approach married life with gentleness. "There are things I can share and others I choose to keep private out of respect for her," Bella said. "She told me that being the wife of a politician would not be easy. But as long as there is trust in the relationship, God willing, the marriage will last. Tolerance and respect for your partner are also very important." The advice had been specific, grounded in experience, offered by someone who had lived the role for longer than most people live at all.

Syed Saddiq, the former Muda president, framed his and Bella's journey as one of aspiration rather than equivalence. They hoped to draw inspiration from Mahathir and Hasmah's experiences, to learn from the architecture of a marriage that had weathered decades and contributed so visibly to the nation's story. But he was clear about the distance between emulation and comparison. Mahathir's political achievements, he noted, far surpassed anything his own much shorter career had yet produced. The couple's contributions to the country remained, by any measure, in their infancy. He closed by asking the public to pray for Hasmah's memory and for Mahathir's full recovery, acknowledging that the process ahead would not be easy for the former prime minister or his family.