Noor Aishah Mohammad Salim

Noor Aishah binti Mohammad Salim (21 May 1933 – 22 April 2025), commonly known as Puan Noor Aishah, was the wife of Yusof Ishak, the first president of Singapore. She took the role as First Lady of Singapore between 1965 and 1970.

Background Noor Aishah was born in Selangor on 21 May 1933, and was adopted by Mohammad Salim Jusoh (born Barney Perkins) and Fatimah Ali. She grew up in a village in Penang, completing only two years of primary school due to the interruptions of World War II.

Aged only 16, she married Yusof Ishak, 23 years her senior, on 20 November 1949. The two met three days before the wedding, having been introduced through a mutual acquaintance. After marrying in Penang, she returned with Yusof to Singapore.

She was known to frequently wear the kebaya.

Noor Aishah died at the Singapore General Hospital on 22 April 2025, at the age of 91.

Other roles In The Istana While living in The Istana, Noor Aishah taught the English-trained chefs more local recipes, including "beef rendang, epok epok and various kuih".

In order to better host foreign dignitaries and their wives, she took English classes. After a year, she was offering speeches in English at state functions.

Patronages Noor Aishah was patron of the Singapore Red Cross, the Young Women's Muslim Association, and the Girl Guides Association.

Noor Aisha was a patron of Masjid Yusof Ishak in Woodlands, whose construction was announced in 2014. She donated some plants from her nursery for the mosque's landscaping. Following its opening in 2017, she appeared at many of the mosque's events. She was awarded the Laurel Leaf, the highest award of the Singapore Girl Guides' Association, in 1970.

Veteran Guiding leaders credit her with helping to raise funds for the movement when funding was scarce, and with helping to secure a plot of land for their headquarters in the Clemenceau area in the 1960s.

In 1971, she received an honorary degree from the National University of Singapore, the first Malay woman to do so.