70s pop diva Anita Sarawak is well, says half-sister

Singer Anita Sarawak in 2011. Anita, who was reportedly uncontactable since March, is well, according to her half-sister Noor Kumalasari Mohd Taib. -- PHOTO: ST FILE
Singer Anita Sarawak in 2011. Anita, who was reportedly uncontactable since March, is well, according to her half-sister Noor Kumalasari Mohd Taib. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Anita Sarawak, who was reportedly uncontactable since March, is well, according to her half-sister Noor Kumalasari Mohd Taib.

Singer-actress Noor Kumalasari, 59, said that her youngest sister received a call from Anita on Tuesday.

Anita had called her to wish her a happy birthday.

"My sister informed me that Anita called, that she is healthy and that all is well," she said in a telephone interview with The New Paper from her home in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

She said the call was a relief, as Anita had not been in touch with the family since March this year.

Text messages and calls from Noor Kumalasari's other siblings went unanswered.

Singapore-born Anita, 63, lives in Las Vegas with her British husband, Mohamad Mahathir Abdullah.

When she last spoke to Noor Kumalasari in March, Anita said she wanted to avoid the spotlight, and asked her to decline interview requests, appearances and invitations to perform at Singapore's Jubilee Year celebrations on her behalf.

She has not contacted her friends in the entertainment industry here since 2013.

Local host Najib Ali, 50, told TNP: "We are past the 'worry' stage now because if anything were to happen to her, her sister would be the first to know. Anita just wants some down time."

A diva of the 1970s, Anita was a household name in Singapore and Malaysia and had a career spanning four decades.

She performed in Las Vegas in the US from 1985 to 2001, and was last based in Kuala Lumpur, where she had hosted television shows from 2003.

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