Culture icon Azah Aziz dies at age 84

PETALING JAYA: Azah Aziz, an authority on national culture, died on Monday at the age of 84.

Azah, whose full name is Sharifah Azah Mohamed Alsagoff died of a stroke.

The wife of Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid and mother of Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz was buried at the Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery after the Asar prayers.

She also left behind grandchildren Alif and Aziz Tawfiq and great grandchildren.

Throughout most of her life, Azah was very passionate about the Malay culture, but she was especially serious about preserving the true style of baju kurung.

She had inherited the interest in Malay textile and attire from her late mother, Azizah Jaafar, who was the sister of Umno founding father Datuk Onn Jaafar.

She had always advocated the correct way of wearing the traditional Malay attire, down to the kind of accessories to be worn with it.

Azah was also a collector of various textiles, fabrics and garments from the old Malay world. Her private collection was said to be one of the best on old garments and fabrics fromt he Malay world.

The former journalist was also an avid collector of Malay proverbs, idioms and pantun which she used to great effect in her book on Malay costumes published six years ago.