Ex-PM Pak Lah has dementia, Khairy confirms

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia’s fifth prime minister, has dementia, his son-in-law and health minister Khairy Jamaluddin revealed yesterday.

Khairy said the revelation followed discussions with other family members as many people had been asking about the health of Abdullah, popularly known as Pak Lah.

"Pak Lah indeed has dementia, and his condition is deteriorating so much so that he can’t even say the names of family members as he doesn’t remember. He may recognise them, he appears to, but he has reached the level of having difficulty speaking.

"I asked my wife, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law just now. I said to them that there are people who are aware of his condition while others aren’t, so could I reveal this (to the public)?" he said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

"I've never shared this (information) before. Many of you may wonder where the fifth prime minister of Malaysia is. Dementia is a very... very cruel condition because the body is there but the mind isn’t.

"So for family members, caregivers, it's a very difficult situation because you see them there but they’re not there. I’ve seen my father-in-law deteriorating over the years, so you don’t see him in public anymore as the dementia has deteriorated to the point where he cannot function normally anymore.

"He doesn't remember my name or even my wife’s name. The only reason I know that he recognises me is because there is a flicker in his eyes when I come to visit him.

"Otherwise, I don’t know whether he registers that I’m there or not. Now for us, the management of his care is challenging. I see how my mother-in-law struggles," said Khairy, adding that his father-in-law was wheelchair-bound. 

"There are good days but increasingly, there are more bad days," he said.