Former Sabah governor Tun Sakaran Dandai dies

KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah Governor Tun Sakaran Dandai died at the Gleneagles Hospital here early today.

He was 91.

His grandson, Ahmad Marzuki Nasir, said Sakaran breathed his last at 5.30 am.

"Together we pray for Allah to bless his soul and place him among the righteous and pious. Al-Fatihah," he said in a brief statement here.

Sakaran was admitted to the hospital for suspected COVID-19 infection on Aug 18 before being warded in the intensive care unit over the past five days.

Sakaran, from Semporna, Sabah, was the 8th Chief Minister of Sabah in 1994 before being appointed as the 8th Yang Dipertua Negeri of Sabah from Jan 1, 1995, to Dec 31, 2002.

He had played an important role for Sabah and Malaysia in improving the socioeconomic status and education of the people, and also in promoting Islamic literature, which had also led him to be named the recipient of the National Tokoh Maal Hijrah Award 2017.

-- BERNAMA