- Jeanne Abdullah
Infobox Person
name = Jeanne Abdullah
image_size =
caption =
birth_name = Jeanne Danker
birth_date = Birth date and age|1953|7|29|df=y
birth_place =Kuala Lumpur ,Malaysia
education =
occupation = Hotel management
home_town =
title = Wife Of The Prime Minister of Malaysia
term = June 9, 2007 -
predecessor = Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood Ambak
successor =
religion =Islam
spouse = Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
children = Nadiah Kimie, Nadene Kimie
parents =
relatives =
website =
footnotes =Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah nee Danker daughter of Matthew Danker is the wife of the current
Prime Minister of Malaysia , Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.Early life
Born Jeanne Danker on
29 July 1953 inKuala Lumpur to aRoman Catholic Portuguese-Eurasian family, [ [http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20080810-81553.html Jeanne Abdullah: I am proud to be a Muslim] ] she was the eldest of four siblings. She is an alumnus of Assunta Secondary School inPetaling Jaya ,Selangor .Jeanne later converted to
Islam at the age of 25, when she married her first husband, Othman Mahmood, who was the younger brother of Abdullah's first wife,Endon Mahmood .Jeanne worked in the hotel management field at major hotels including Kuala Lumpur Hilton and the Pan Pacific Hotel. At one point, she was supervisor of the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister's official residence while Abdullah Badawi was Deputy Prime Minister, and became the manager of
Seri Perdana , the Prime Minister's residence, when Abdullah assumed the premiership. [cite news|url=http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=265927|title=Prime Minister To Wed Jeanne Abdullah Saturday|publisher=Bernama|date=2007-06-06 ] cite news|url=http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/?itemid=5258|title=Abdullah's bride-to-be no stranger to his family|publisher=The Straits Times|date=2007-06-07 |first=Hong|last=Carolyn|coauthors=Chow, Kum Hor]Family
Jeanne has two daughters, Nadiah Kimie, 29 and Nadene Kimie, 27 from her previous marriage. Nadiah runs a visual communications company in
Kuala Lumpur . Nadene is involved in the fashion industry, dealing with fashion-related and lifestyle projects.Marriage with Abdullah
On
9 June 2007 she was escorted in a Proton Chancellor car bearing the Prime Minister’s favourite license number 13, by police from her home in Damansara Perdana to be married to Abdullah Badawi at a private ceremony attended by close family members at the Prime Minister's official residence, "Seri Perdana " in Putrajaya. The bride-to-be arrived at around 2.20 pm. Among the wedding guests which included some 50 relatives were Abdullah’s daughter, Nori, daughter-in-law Azrene Abdullah, his four grandchildren, Jeanne’s two daughters, her father Mathew Danker and Endon’s nine surviving brothers and sisters. Also present at the private wedding were Yayasan Budi Penyayang executive officer Leela Mohd Ali, Abdullah’s private secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab, his brother-in-law Telekom Malaysia Bhd chairman Tan Sri Muhammad Radzi Mansor and wife Puan Sri Aizah Mahmood.The marriage was solemnised in the "surau" of Seri Perdana by the Imam from the
Putra Mosque ofPutrajaya , Haji Abd Manaf Mat, at 2.50pm and was witnessed by the prime minister's son, Kamaluddin, and son-in-law,Khairy Jamaluddin . Abdullah slipped a solitaire diamond ring onto Jeanne's left ring finger and kissed her on the cheek. Jeanne then slipped a wedding band on Abdullah’s finger before taking his hands together into hers and kissing them. Upon marriage, she was referred to by the female version of her husband's honorific title, "Dato' Seri", which is "Datin Seri".Later in the evening, Abdullah and Jeanne visited Endon's grave which is located at the
Taman Selatan Muslim cemetery in Precinct 20 of Putrajaya.Her first official engagement as the wife of the Prime Minister was when she accompanied Abdullah to Brunei on 11 June 2007 to attend a banquet hosted by
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah ofBrunei in conjunction with the wedding of the Sultan’s fourth daughter Anak Puteri Hajah Majeedah Nuurul Bulqiah to Pengiran Khairul Khalil Pengiran Syed Haji JaafarAt a press conference after the engagement was announced, Abdullah stated he had known her for about two decades, as she had been his sister-in-law; Jeanne had been married to Othman Mahmood, who was the younger brother of Abdullah's first wife,
Endon Mahmood . Abdullah also denied that Endon had asked him to marry Jeanne, but said Endon had loved her as "Otherwise she would not have asked her to manage our official residence". [cite news|url=http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/?itemid=5260|title=PM speaks to reporters about his weekend marriage and bride-to-be|publisher=The Star|date=2007-06-07 |first=Izatun|last=Shari] Abdullah also said that there would be no "bersanding " ceremony or "hantaran" (exchange of wedding gifts) as this was not his first marriage.Public life
Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah was recently made Open University Malaysia's second chancellor. The first was Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood Ambak, the Prime Minister's first wife before passing away.
Notes and references
* [http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/12/8/nation/20071208180201&sec=nation Jeanne is OUM's second chancellor] , The Star, December 8, 2007.
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