KOTA KINABALU: The late Toh Puan Rahimah Stephens, the widow of Sabah’s first chief minister Tun Mohd Fuad Stephens, was recognised as among the first women leaders to champion women and children’s issues even though she was thought to be a reluctant politician.

       Rahimah, who stepped into Mohd Fuad’s political shoes following the “Double Six” air crash that killed her husband, died of a heart attack yesterday at a private hospital, where she was admitted to after suffering a fall at her house here over the weekend. She was 92.

       “My mother was waiting to be treated by a specialist today but unfortunately, succumbed to a heart attack early this morning,” her daughter Faridah said yesterday.

       Rahimah took over her husband’s political mantle shortly after he and five other Sabah Cabinet ministers died on June 6, 1976 – in the crash that came to be known as the “Double Six” tragedy – just three months after Mohd Fuad had led Berjaya to topple Usno led by Tun Mustapha Harun.

       His widow was elected to his Kiulu seat in a by-election and became the first Sabah woman Cabinet minister in the Berjaya government under Tan Sri Mohd Harris Salleh.

       Born on Oct 22, 1930, in Beaufort, Rahimah was known as the first state woman leader to get the ball rolling on women and children’s welfare as she spearheaded the then Social Services Ministry.

       She was credited with forming the Sabah Women’s Organisation (Pewasa) during her time as the social services minister when she urged then businesswoman Datuk Ariah Tengku Ahmad to lead the pro tem organisation.

       Former Pewasa president Datuk Zahra Ismail said it was among the first actions taken by Rahimah after she became a minister in 1976.

       Rahimah also initiated Sabah’s first women’s day celebration at the Prince Philip Park in Tanjung Aru here in 1976.

       She was also the founding president of the SOS Heart Fund in 1981.

       “I believe that she started the focus on women and children’s issues under the ministry,” said former state secretary Tan Sri Simon Sipaun, who remembered Rahimah from the days when she was a teacher at Sacred Heart School here.

       “She was a very down-to-earth, pleasant and soft-spoken person,” said Sipaun, who felt that she was a reluctant politician thrust into politics after her husband’s demise.

       Rahimah had always been by Mohd Fuad’s side as he navigated a chequered political career from his early days in the 1960s. She was also the women’s wing leader in her husband’s party, Upko.

       Upko and Usno were among the key Sabah parties that were involved in the formation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963.

       In 1972, Mohd Fuad was made the Yang di-Pertua Negeri after patching up with Mustapha but by 1974-75, Mohd Fuad quit to lead newly-formed Berjaya to challenge Mustapha.

       Since losing her seat when Berjaya lost the government in the 1985 state election, Rahimah had kept a low profile and mostly spent her time with family.

       She was accorded the “Tokoh Mubarak 2011” title by the former elected representatives’ association Mubarak during its meeting here.

       Apart from Faridah, Rahimah is survived by her son Asgari and another daughter, Fauziah.

       Rahimah was laid to rest at the Muslim cemetery in Likas here yesterday afternoon.