Selayang: Veteran journalist Fauziah Rauf, who died early today, was buried at the Selayang Baru Muslim cemetery here at 2.30 pm. More than 200 people, comprising family members, relatives, and friends, including renowned lyricist Datuk Habsah Hassan, came to pay their last respects.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the former Utusan Malaysia journalist, who founded the Malaysian Entertainment Writers and Journalists Association (WHAM), is survived by four children and 13 grandchildren. Sharing memories of his mother, Firhat Yasir Omar Sudi, 46, said he had always been especially close to her as the youngest child and had continued living with her up until her passing.

Firhat Yasir expressed his sadness over not being present when his mother fell after performing ablution for the maghrib prayers yesterday. He recounted to Bernama how he found her lying face down and unconscious in front of the bathroom after returning home from picking up his child. He carried her to the bed, noticed she still had a pulse, and immediately contacted the hospital. She was taken to Selayang Hospital for further treatment, but the doctor later informed the family that she passed away at 1 am.

Meanwhile, her eldest daughter, Nilly Wahida, 54, shared that she would greatly miss her mother’s sense of humour. Fauziah, who was one of Malaysia’s earliest female editors, died at the hospital due to a brain haemorrhage. She was 81.

With over two decades of experience at Utusan Malaysia, Fauziah was a pioneering figure and the first Malaysian woman to publish newspapers and magazines such as ‘Mingguan Famili’, ‘Pentas Dunia’, and ‘Hawa’ during the 1980s.