UPDATED
PETALING JAYA, July 23 – Filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad is in critical but stable condition after underging emergency surgery at Damansara Specialist Hospital here following a stroke.
She collapsed earlier this afternoon while presenting a working paper at Sri Pentas, the headquarters of the TV3 television station.
The news spread fast through Internet social networks Facebook and twitter, which buzzed with chatter about the critically acclaimed director, first with rumours that she had died but later updates that she is alive but unconscious and in the ICU at the Damansara private specialist hospital.
Bernama quoted her brother-in-law, Datuk Dr Zakaria Zahari, as saying that Yasmin had suffered a stroke and haemorrhaging in the brain.
“Her heart is being supported by drugs to control blood pressure ... the next few hours are extremely important but she is now stable even though she is still unconscious,” he said.
The hospital has yet to issue a statement on her condition.
Datuk Siti Nurhaliza and her husband Datuk Khalid Mohamad Jiwa, who were also present when Yasmin was presenting the paper, said Yasmin complained of not feeling well 15 minutes into her presentation.
“She had started the presentation at 3pm and when she did not feel so good, she sat down and placed her head on a table. A few seconds later, we tried to wake her when we found she was having difficulty breathing,” he told reporters when met at the hospital.
After Yasmin was laid down in a supine position, Siti said, a TV3 employee got hold of a panel doctor to attend to her.
She said Yasmin was then rushed to the hospital at 3.45pm.
Tan Kean Ang, a friend and managing director of the Leo Burnett advertising agency, said Yasmin had been fine in the morning and had exchanged jokes with staff at the office.
“I was surprised when this happened,” he told Bernama, adding that he was in discussions with Yasmin on several projects, which also involved Siti and her husband.
Yasmin, 51, is best known for her film “Sepet” as well as the festive messages sponsored by national oil company Petronas, all of which celebrate Malaysia’s racial diversity and harmony.
Yasmin’s road to success began with her work as an advertising copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather. Over time, she advanced to become creative director with Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur.
Fame followed when she took up filmmaking, with her movies having won widespread acclaim, including many international awards, and her works have been shown at prestigious film festivals in Cannes, San Francisco, Berlin and Singapore.
Yasmin was inducted into the Malaysian Advertising Hall of Fame by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia last November.
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