PETALING JAYA: Senate president Mutang Tagal died today. He was 69 years old.
The Dewan Negara president’s office said he died at 11.46am at the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur.
“Further information on his burial will be announced later,” it said in a statement.
Mutang had been undergoing treatment at IJN after falling ill during a working trip to Azerbaijan.
He was appointed as Dewan Negara president on Feb 19, becoming the first indigenous Sarawakian to hold the post after taking over from Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
A trained lawyer, he came from the Lun Bawang tribe and was the brother of the late Judson Sakai Tagal, a former Sarawak assistant minister of communications and the first Ba Kelalan assemblyman.
Mutang, from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, served as Bukit Mas MP for two terms from 1982 to 1990.