Former Malacca CM's wife named 'Tokoh Ibu'

Datin Seri Asmah Ab Rahman, who is the wife of former Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, was honoured with the 2014 Malacca "Tokoh Ibu" award in conjunction with the state-level Mothers' Day celebration here yesterday.

Asmah, 59, who is the chairman of Pertubuhan Perkumpulan Perempuan Melaka and the Malacca National Council of Women's Organisation (NCWO), was selected for the award based on her active involvement in welfare and women development activities.

She received the award from Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron.

Meanwhile, Idris, in his speech at the award presentation, said mothers should take care of their health as well as that of their husband and children.

He said based on statistics, there were still not many women in the state who went for cancer screening, adding that this showed the level of awareness on cancer among them was still low.

Only 2,067 women in Malacca went for mammogram screening last year and 10 of them were referred to hospital for further examination, he added.

On prevention of cervical cancer, he said, only 233 women went for pap smear last year.

He advised women to go for early screening as a preventive measure.