Celebrity: Yasmin Ahmad

Yasmin Ahmad suffers stroke

2009/07/24

PETALING JAYA: Multi award-winning director Yasmin Ahmad suffered a stroke yesterday when she was at Sri Pentas for a 3pm meeting with Datuk Siti Nurhaliza, her husband Datuk Seri Khalid Mohamad Jiwa and Media Prima representatives for an undisclosed project.

She was taken to the Damansara Specialist Hospital where she underwent a neurosurgical procedure at 5pm. The operation was over at 7.30pm and she was reported to be in a stable condition.

The 51-year-old film and television commercial director, who is Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur's executive creative director, is recuperating at the hospital's intensive care unit.

"According to the surgeon, she's still unconscious. So let her rest," Leo Burnett's managing director Tan Tien Eng said at the hospital.

Yasmin had complained of feeling unwell and collapsed during the meeting. Efforts were made by those at the meeting to resuscitate her but she did not gain consciousness. She was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.


Siti, a former ambassador for the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, also lent a hand when it happened together with a panel doctor for TV3.

"Yasmin didn't show any signs of being unwell. Only when she put her hands to the face and slumped on the meeting table that we knew something was wrong," Siti said.

Yasmin's parents, Inom Yon, 74 and Ahmad Hashim, 75, are scheduled to fly from Langkawi to be with her.

Yasmin's maiden effort Rabun was inspired by the lives and love of Mak Inom and Pak Atan.

Yasmin, who is known for her 1Malaysia theme in her TV commercials, made her big screen debut with Sepet in 2004 after the critically acclaimed Rabun. Sepet made waves for its story that combined humour and love that transcended cultural barriers.

Her follow-up films put Malaysian cinema in the limelight when she bagged awards at international film festivals from Hong Kong and Hawaii to Cannes and San Francisco. Among her works include Gubra (2006), Mukhsin (2007), Muallaf (2008) and Talentime (2009).

Yasmin Ahmad will be featured in Crosstalk in the NST tomorrow. She and Datin Shuhaimi Baba offer their views on the recent ruling that films should not feature Mat Rempit and "men in women's clothes".

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