KUCHING: Former Sarawak Governor and Chief Minister Tun Abdul Rahman Ya'kub passed away on Friday after a long illness. He was 87.

His son-in-law, Datuk Justine Jinggut, said family members, including children and grandchildren, were at his bedside when he breathed his last at the Normah Medical Specialist Centre here at about 9.35pm.

Rahman, a lawyer by training, was Sarawak's third Chief Minister from 1970 to 1981.

Prior to that he was Deputy Lands and Mines Minister in the 1960s and for a year as Education Minister in the Federal Cabinet before returning to Sarawak in 1970.

Rahman stepped down as Chief Minister on March 26, 1981, to be succeeded by his nephew Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, and was subsequently appointed Yang di-Pertua Negeri on April 2.

He served four years as Governor until April 2, 1985, when he stepped down for health reasons.