No words can describe how much Taib meant to me, says Raghad

PETALING JAYA: Mourning for the late Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, Toh Puan Raghad Kurdi Taib says no words could ever describe how much her husband meant to her.

She said this in a heartfelt social media post on Wednesday (Feb 21) following the former Sarawak governor's passing.

"No words could describe how much you meant to me.

"May your soul be blessed and placed among the righteous in paradise. Al-Fatihah," she wrote.

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Abdul Taib married Raghad, who is of Syrian descent, in 2010. She has been in the spotlight over a family dispute recently.

Taib, 87, passed away at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur at 4.40am.

He was the last surviving member of the first post-Independence state cabinet formed in 1963, when he was sworn in as the youngest Sarawak minister at 27.

He also served as a federal minister in various capacities for 13 years before his appointment as Sarawak's fourth chief minister on March 26, 1981.

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As the state's longest-serving chief minister from 1981 to 2014, he was instrumental in transforming Sarawak into a modern economy through what he called the "politics of development".

After stepping down as chief minister, Taib became the seventh Yang di-Pertua Negeri on Feb 28, 2014, succeeding Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng.