National Economic Advisory Council member Dr Zainal Aznam Yusof died of massive heart attack at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) today.

zainal aznam yusoff unctad wir event 240908 Zainal Aznam, who was supposed to celebrate his 67th birthday on May 23, breathed his last at 10.21am today.

He was admitted to the UMMC when he suffered a heart attack after cycling for 30km on April 21.

He is survived by his wife, Khaziah Abd Kadir and three children, Irwan Sharizal, 33, Shazalina, 30, and Juliana, 23.

Juliana said according to her mother, who was constantly at his bedside, her father was alright until he lost his composure at about 7am.

"He woke up at 6.05am and said he wanted to eat and walked around the room. But when he sat on his bed, he suddenly had a massive heart attack and became unconscious," she told Bernama at her residence in Pinggiran Zaaba, Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

Zainal Aznam was buried at the Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery here after the Asar prayer after a funeral prayer was conducted at the At-Taqwa Mosque, Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

The decease's brother, Ahmad Kamil, 59, said his brother, an avid cyclist, suffered a attack after cycling for 30km on April 21.

"He had not been cycling for a long time. He left for United Kingdom after performing umrah (small haj) for 10 days. When he returned from UK he decided to cycle for 30km.

"He pushed himself in the last few kilometers for it was about to rain. When he finished cycling on the top of a hill, he felt something was wrong," said Ahmad Kamil.

He said Zainal Aznam was admitted to the PPUM for an angiogram procedure on Tuesday but he was alright after that.

    

"But this morning he got a massive heart attack and there was a blood clot at the back of his brain. He did not recover. Its all very sudden," said Ahmad Kamil.

‘Dynamic and sharp views’

Former Bernama general manager Azman Ujang, who had known Zainal Aznam for two decades, described him as media friendly and always ready to give his views to the media.

"Zainal Aznam was a man of principle and gave his views without fear or favour.

"He was an eminent economist and the country had lost an economist with dynamic and sharp views," said Azman.

Zainal Aznam was ticked off by Perkasa in February for accusing the Malay rights group of forcing the government to water down the New Economic Model (NEM).

Zainal Aznam had a long involvement in economic research and policy development in the country, and was the deputy director-general of Malaysian Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) from 1995 until 2002.

Prior to that, he was deputy director of the Malaysian Institute for Economic Research (MIER) and Southeast Asia regional economist at Kleinwort Benson Research (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.

From 1990 until 1994, he was the adviser of economics at Bank Negara Malaysia, and had a stint as a consultant with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Malaysia, and in charge of political economy of poverty, equity and growth at the World Bank.

He was also responsible in the preparation of Malaysia's Industrial Master Plan, and the Second, Fourth and Fifth Malaysia Plans.

Zainal Aznam held a Bachelor of Science (Economics) from Queen’s University, Belfast, a Masters of Arts (Development Economics) from University of Leicester and a D.Phil. (Economics) from University of Oxford.

- Bernama