Che Puan Besar Hajah Haminah binti Haji Hamidun ( Jawi: ), formerly known as Sultanah Haminah (born Haminah binti Hamidun; 15 July 1953) is the former

Sultanah of Kedah Sultanah of Kedah is the title given to the consorts of the incumbent Sultan of the Malaysian State of Kedah. The title was introduced by Sultan Badlishah on 13 May 1943. Previous consorts of the Sultan of Kedah given no any official title. Su ...

and the widow of Sultan Abdul Halim Mua'dzam Shah. Born as a commoner, she married Sultan Abdul Halim on 25 December 1975 as his second wife. She served as the 14th

Raja Permaisuri Agong The Queen of Malaysia, officially ''Raja Permaisuri Agong'' ( Jawi: ) is the consort of the ''Yang di-Pertuan Agong'', the elected, constitutional federal monarch of Malaysia. Title and precedence The queen's full style and title in Mala ...

(queen consort) of

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

from 2011 to 2016, during her husband's second term as

Yang di-Pertuan Agong The King of Malaysia, officially ''Yang di-Pertuan Agong'' ( Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ), is the constitutional monarch and Figurehead, ceremonial head of state of Malaysia. The office was established in 1957, when the Federation of Malaya gained ...

, the Malaysian federal

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

. After her husband's death in September 2017, his successor and her brother-in-law Sultan Sallehuddin, bestowed upon her the title Che Puan Besar of Kedah, roughly equivalent to the

queen dowager A queen dowager or dowager queen (compare: princess dowager or dowager princess) is a title or status generally held by the widow of a king. In the case of the widow of an emperor, the title of empress dowager is used. Its full meaning is cle ...

Early life

Born on 15 July 1953 in Kampung Matang Jelutong,

Bagan Serai Bagan Serai is a mukim in Kerian District, Perak, Malaysia. It is located southeast of George Town, the capital city of the neighbouring state of Penang. As such, the town is also part of the George Town Conurbation, Malaysia's second larg ...

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

. She is the fourth of seven siblings born to father

Haji Hajji (; sometimes spelled Hajjeh, Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is given to a Muslim who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. Etymology ''Hajji'' is derived from the Arabic ' (), which ...

Hamidun bin Taib and mother Hajah Isma binti Mohamad. Tuanku Hajah Haminah was educated at Sekolah Kebangsaan Matang Jelutong and later Sekolah Menengah Inggeris Bagan Serai.

Interests

Tuanku Hajah Haminah is known to enjoy golf, tennis, badminton,

lawn bowling Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

and music. She has participated in various golf tournaments in Kedah and initiated amateur women's golf tournaments such as the Kedah International Red Tee Invitational, as well as being invited as the royal guest for the International Lawn Bowls Mahsuri Cup in

Langkawi Langkawi, officially known as Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah (), is a duty-free island and an archipelago of 99 islands (plus five small islands visible only at low tide in the Strait of Malacca) located some 30 km off the coast of northwe ...

. She also served as the first Chancellor of

Management and Science University Management & Science University (abbreviated as MSU Malaysia or simply MSU) is a private university in Malaysia located in Shah Alam Shah Alam (, from Persian language, Persian, meaning "king of the world") is a city and the state capital of ...

from 2004 until 2019.

Orders and recognitions

She has been awarded the following honours:

Honours of Kedah

* Member of the

Royal Family Order of Kedah The Most Illustrious Royal Family Order of Kedah () is the highest dynastic order of the House of Sri Mahawangsa and the second highest chivalric order of the state of Kedah ranking immediately after the State of Kedah Star of Valour. The order w ...

(DK) (9 January 2004). * Member of the

Halimi Family Order of Kedah The Most Illustrious Halimi Family Order of Kedah (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Kerabat Halimi Yang Amat Mulia Kedah'') is an honorific order of the Sultanate of Kedah History It was founded by Sultan 'Abdu'l Halim Mu'azzam Shah of Kedah in January& ...

(DKH) (15 July 2008).Photo
of Sultan Abdul Halim and Sultanah Haminah * Member of the Supreme Order of Sri Mahawangsa (DMK) – Dato' Seri Utama (20 January 2017)

Honours of Malaysia

* : ** Recipient of the

Order of the Crown of the Realm The Most Exalted Order of the Crown of the Realm () is a Malaysian federal award. It is ranked lower than the Order of the Royal Family of Malaysia. It should not be confused with the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia. Classes and re ...

(DMN) (26 January 2012)

Foreign honours

* : **

Grand Cordon (Paulownia) of the

Order of the Precious Crown The is a Japanese order, established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. Since the Order of the Rising Sun at that time was an Order for men, it was established as an Order for women. Originally the order had five classes, but on Apr ...

(3 October 2012) * : ** Dame Grand Cross (First Class) of the

Order of Chula Chom Klao The Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao (; ) was established on 16 November 1873 by King Rama V of The Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) to commemorate the 90th Jubilee of the Chakri Dynasty and bears his name (จุลจอมเกล� ...

(2 September 2013)

Places named after her

Several places have been named after her, including: * Sultanah Haminah Mosque in Pendang, Kedah * Taman Tuanku Haminah, a residential area in Sungai Petani, Kedah * Pusat Perdagangan Tuanku Haminah, a trade centre in Alor Setar, Kedah * Dewan Tuanku Permaisuri Hajah Haminah, a ceremony hall at the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah in Kuala Ketil, Kedah * Yayasan Anak-anak Yatim Sultanah Haminah, an orphanage foundation in Kedah

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haminah, Che Puan Besar 1953 births People from Perak Living people Royal House of Kedah Kedah royal consorts Malaysian Muslims Malaysian people of Malay descent Members of the Royal Family Order of Kedah Members of the Halimi Family Order of Kedah Members of the Supreme Order of Sri Mahawangsa Grand Cordons of the Order of the Precious Crown Dames Grand Cross of the Order of Chula Chom Klao Queens consort of Malaysia Recipients of the Order of the Crown of the Realm