KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Datuk Mokhtar Hashim, a former culture, youth and sports minister who was sentenced to death for murder in 1983 but won a royal pardon, died early this morning at a hospital in Ampang.
Malay daily Sinar Harian cited the ex-Tampin MP’s wife and children as confirming his death through a WhatsApp message.
Mokhtar reportedly breathed his last at 3.10am.
According to The Star, Mokhtar was 78. The English-language daily reported that he will be buried at the Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery today.
The former Umno politician was culture, youth and sports minister in Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s first Cabinet.
Mokhtar was convicted of the April 14, 1982 murder of Datuk Mohamad Taha Talib, the then-speaker of Negri Sembilan legislative assembly.
The murder trial that lasted 76 days was widely reported in newspapers back then and caused a sensation due to allegations of the use of “black magic” to weaken Taha before his death.
Taha’s murder was said to be linked to an internal power struggle in Umno back then as he and Mokhtar were supposedly competing for the same post.
Three months after Taha’s death, Mokhtar was replaced by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his ministerial post.
Mokhtar was sentenced to death on March 6, 1983 by the High Court, which was later commuted to life imprisonment and finally released from prison on July 10, 1991 following a royal pardon by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
