KUALA LUMPUR — Former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin died this morning at the age of 86.
His lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar confirmed Daim’s passing when contacted.
Daim had been hospitalised after a stroke and was receiving treatment before his death, according to media reports citing his lawyer.
He had been in the ICU at Assunta Hospital at the time of his passing.
A statement from his family later confirmed the time of his death at 8.21 am today, at the hospital.
Prayers for Daim will be held at the Federal Territory Mosque after asar prayers this afternoon.
Born April 29, 1938, in Alor Star, Kedah, Daim grew up in humble beginnings, studied law at Lincoln’s Inn, London, and worked as a lawyer upon his return to Malaysia.
He was in the civil service for a few years in the 1960s as a magistrate and then a deputy public prosecutor, before returning to private legal practice, and then the world of business.
From business, Daim entered politics through his close ties with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who became prime minister in 1981, and who picked him to contest the Kuala Muda parliamentary seat in the 1982 elections.
Daim became Kuala Muda MP, and later also Merbok MP. He was a federal lawmaker, representing Umno and Barisan Nasional, for a total of five terms, until 2004.
He served as finance minister under Mahathir from 1984 to 1991, and again from 1999 to 2001. Daim was a pivotal figure in steering the nation through several economic challenges, including the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
His political career was marked by his close alliance with Mahathir, and he played a significant role in mobilising Malaysia’s private sector and rehabilitating public enterprises during his tenure as finance minister.
In 2018, Tun Daim supported Mahathir in opposing then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and was a key figure in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that led to the fall of the BN government.
Regarded as Mahathir’s right hand man, Daim was later sacked from Umno, then led by Najib, in the run-up to the 2018 general elections for working with PH.
Daim, along with fellow former minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, campaigned with Mahathir on stage at ceramah ahead of the 2018 election.
Following the change of government, he chaired the Council of Eminent Persons to advise the PH government under Mahathir for its first 100 days.
In December last year, Daim was announced as the targetof a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe on corruption and money laundering following the seizure of Ilham Tower, which his family owned, on December 18, 2023.
MACC said it was investigating him over information about his wealth as leaked in the 2021 Pandora Papers, which detailed prominent names involved in transactions in offshore financial centres.
Earlier this year, he and his wife Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid pled not guilty in court on charges of failing to comply with a notice from the anti-graft agency on asset declaration.
Daim was accused of failing to declare 38 companies, 19 plots of land, six properties and seven luxury vehicles.
No charges for actual corruption have been brought against Daim or Na’imah to date.
The sessions court had previously ordered Daim to be present at an ongoing hearing to determine whether he should undergo an evaluation to establish if he was fit to stand trial, with further submissions scheduled to be heard on November 20. – November 13, 2024
