Fatimah Hashim

Tun Fatimah binti Hashim (; 25 December 1924 – 9 January 2010 ) was a Malaysian freedom fighter who later served as a minister in the Malaysian cabinet. Along with her husband, Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Yusof, they were the first and only couple to both be ministers in the Malaysian cabinet.

in 2009, she received the Merdeka Award under the Education and Community category.

Political involvement The petite-framed freedom fighter, who was the United Malays National Organisation's (UMNO) 315th member, joined the struggle for independence when she was in her 20s. She was head of Kaum Ibu Malaya, later known as Wanita Umno, which is the women's wing of the UMNO. She was the movement's leader for 16 years until 1972.

She saw then that there were inadequate facilities and infrastructure for the people under colonial rule, especially for health care and education. She recalled that during her visits to Kota Bharu, she had to wait for the water level to subside before she could cross the river to visit villagers because there were no bridges. Fatimah said that working alongside luminaries such as Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tan Khir Johari and Tun Abdul Razak was a great experience, and they treated each other like family.

From an interview in the Malaysian newspaper The Star:

Achieving independence On Hari Merdeka (Independence Day), 31 August 1957, Fatimah traveled with her three eldest children her husband, the late Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Yusuf, in a car from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur to celebrate Malaya's emergence from British rule. Fatimah attended the ceremony at Stadium Merdeka with her husband. They stayed at the late Tun Sardon Jubir's house in Kuala Lumpur and the couple took the children around the city.

From The Star interview, she said: I could not sleep the night before. We had an UMNO ceremony at the Royal Selangor Club field and then went to the stadium in the morning. I felt so proud of what we had achieved. I can still see Tunku at the podium crying out 'Merdeka!'.

Family The former Welfare Services minister had six children, 19 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

Her eldest daughter, Mariam, was the Director-General of the National Library of Malaysia and is now retired. Her second son, Mohamed Shah, has now retired as Chairman of McDonald's Malaysia (division of McDonald's), and founder of Ronald McDonald's Charity Club (RMCC) Malaysia. Her third son, Dato Professor Emeritus Dr Khalid Abdul Kadir was previously the director of Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, and is now the Head of Clinical School at Monash University Malaysia. Her fourth son Datuk Ali Abdul Kadir is an accomplished accountant who has held such prestigious positions as chairman of Ernst & Young Malaysia, a short stint as chairman of the Securities Commission, and recently retired as Chairman of Dubai Investment Group's Malaysian division. Her fifth son Abdul Karim is in business and adviser to a few public and private companies. Faridah, her youngest daughter is also an adviser to a Denmark based investment bank.

Foundation and tribute The Kadir and Fatimah Foundation recently started conferring the Tun Fatimah Award medal for the best female student active in community work for the first time in September 2007 and will be awarded annually to Universiti Malaya, Universiti Teknologi Mara and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia students. The first recipient was Sharifah Fatimah Syed Omar of Kuala Terengganu.

Death Tun Fatimah Hashim died from old age on 9 January 2010.