Former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, who died this morning, had been taken to his residence in Bukit Tunku, Kuala Lumpur, for friends and relatives to pay their last respects.
Several cars believed to be carrying the family members of the former minister were also spotted accompanying the hearse as it left Assunta Hospital at 11.02 am.
According to his family’s statement earlier, Daim, 86, breathed his last at 8.21 am while receiving treatment at the hospital.
The funeral prayer is scheduled at Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan in Jalan Duta after the Asar prayers.
Members of the media had been flocking to the hospital immediately after the news of Daim’s passing broke out.
“He had a stroke recently and was in the intensive care unit. No further details yet,” his lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar said.
Daim, whose real name is Che Abdul Daim Zainuddin, was first appointed as the finance minister in 1984 by the then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and served until 1991.
He was appointed to the office again for a second tenure in 1999, also by Mahathir, before he resigned in 2001.
Daim was previously an Umno member and was an MP for five consecutive terms from 1982 until 1999 (Kuala Muda for one term, and Merbok for four).
Known as a close ally to Mahathir, he was sacked from the party after he and several others appeared at a Pakatan Harapan mega ceramah in Malacca in 2018.
The retired politician and business tycoon left behind his wife Na’imah Abdul Khalid and five children.
Born to a clerk in the Kedah civil service, Daim was the youngest of 13 siblings.
He received his early education at the Seberang Perak Malay School and later attended Sultan Abdul Hamid College.
Daim completed his upper secondary education at St Xavier’s Institution.
He went on to study law at Lincon’s Inn and was called to the English Bar at the age of 21.
Daim also has a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of California and PhD from Universiti Malaya which he obtained at the age of 81 in 2019.
He received his PhD for his thesis about the New Economic Policy and its effects between 1970 and 2008.