What kind of man does it take to tame a diva?

One who courts her long-distance with hundreds of faxed love poems and up to five calls a day, as Mr Mohamad Mahathir Abdullah, husband of regional singing superstar Anita Sarawak, will tell you.

And, perhaps, one who is fated to tame her.

'Let me tell you an interesting bit of fate about us,' Mr Mahathir says.

In 1982, almost two decades before they got married, they had a Moment. She was in London for a trip, shopping at department store Harrods. He, running late for an appointment, rushed through a revolving door and rammed right into her.

'I could tell she was a drama queen with her wild exclamations. I apologised and went on my way because I was late for a meeting, and that was that,' he recalls, chuckling at the memory.

After they got married, he chanced upon a photograph of her from back then.

She says, laughing: 'He asked me, 'Do you remember a tall guy in a blue coat bashing into you at Harrods? That was me!' I said, 'Oh my god, yes! How could I forget? It was a big bump.''

Fate or just creative story-telling - Mr Mahathir has written telemovies for Malaysian TV channel Astro - there is an undeniable chemistry between them.

The couple joke and have moments where they both blurt out the same response to a question simultaneously. He exhibits a smooth gentleman's charm, ever ready with a quip up his sleeve.

Arriving for this interview, the glamorous couple cruise, showbiz-style, into the foyer of Royal Plaza on Scotts hotel in a chauffeur-driven grey BMW.

A welcome party of about 10 hotel staff applauds and presents orchid garlands as they alight, all smiles behind matching sleek shades.

It is an entrance befitting a star like Singapore-born Sarawak, who achieved widespread fame in Asia in the 1970s for her music, outlandish costumes and electrifying stage presence.

In 1985, she moved to the famous hotel casino, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where she was a regular act for 18 years. That was also where she met her current Englishman husband.

Their long-time friend, Mr Patrick Fiat, 57, general manager of Royal Plaza on Scotts, says: 'They are a very close couple. You'll never spot one without the other.'

They were in town earlier this month for the singer to promote a duet concert here at the Max Pavilion Auditorium with her long-time collaborator, singer Ismail Haron, 61, in January.

Cutting a strapping figure at 1.93m tall and all decked out in a stylish red checked shirt, slim-fit white pants and spiffy sports shoes, the clean-cut Mr Mahathir, who is also Sarawak's manager, is every bit a match for his wife in the fashion department.

She looks vivacious in a sheer purple blouse worn over a black dress, with matching black pants and sleek high heels. That famous pout is still there, but gone is the short-cropped platinum blonde hair that fans are used to seeing. In its place, a chic Cleopatra cut.

Nestled in the plush sofa seats of a presidential suite for the interview, the duo exude the vibes of a couple with a charmed, immaculate life.

They are polite to a fault, all manners and class with no airs. And they both have had broken marriages.

Anita, 57, is tight-lipped about her three previous ones, but from past reports in the papers, she was married briefly to pianist Mohamad Abdul Samad in 1972. In 1981, she wed the late actor, singer, composer and songwriter Broery Marantika, a union that lasted four years.

Her third marriage in 1995 was to J.D. Nicholas from American funk band The Commodores. They divorced after about five years because she said they were constantly separated by work.

She has no children.

Mr Mahathir, 56, was married to an Englishwoman for 23 years. He has a son, Matthew, 24, a student at Bristol University in Britain, who gets along fine with his stepmother. In fact, the father says proudly, the young man will be flying over with his girlfriend to visit Sarawak and him 'on his own money'.

Sarawak coos: 'Matthew's now my son. He is adorable - so laid-back and much better than his father in temperament.'

So Mr Mahathir is actually the feisty one? She explains: 'When you're living with someone, you've got to make compromises. I put him before me all the time. It doesn't matter even if I'm down.'

He says: 'I can get grumpy but she gives me all her affection.'

Born Martin Cox, the name 'Mahathir' came about when he had to convert to Islam to marry her, and 'Mahathir was the closest thing I could think of to Martin', admits Sarawak sheepishly.

She had apparently forgotten that he could have used the similar-sounding Muslim name 'Matin'.

Mr Mahathir comes from Chelsea, London, and grew up living with his parents and younger sister in a working-class neighbourhood. His father had worked his way up from an office boy to a director at retail chain John Lewis, while his mother was a housewife.

Immaculate style, it seems, runs in the family as both his father and grandfather were always well-dressed even though they were never rich.

Sarawak interjects in mock exasperation: 'You know how hard it is for me just to tell him not to wear a jacket?'

He says: 'I was influenced mainly by my grandad who also lived in Chelsea and whom we visited often. Even though he was a dustman (rubbish collector), he always dressed like a million bucks - no dirty nails, a neat crease in his pants.'

Mr Mahathir studied in Britain at the former Farnborough College after grammar school, graduating with a degree in business studies.

He started out as an equipment buyer at Thorn EMI Company, a government- funded arm of the British recording powerhouse EMI. He moved on after four years to multinational giant 3M, and then did sales and marketing at a mobile phone company before setting up a similar outfit with a friend.

By the time he met Sarawak, his business, The Pocket Phone Shop, had grown to about 400 outlets in Britain.

The couple met in 1999 when he was in Las Vegas on a leisure trip. He caught the singer's performance at Caesars Palace, chatted her up and followed up with more than a year of long-distance courtship before proposing to her in style under the Eiffel Tower on a trip to Paris.

He is more than just a charming ladies' man. He has a rugged side. In his youth, he was a boxer who took part in many tournaments, winning some and also breaking his nose 'a few times'.

He displayed that toughness earlier this year when he and Sarawak were attacked by a gang of four armed robbers outside her stepmother's house in Kuala Lumpur. He suffered a parang slash on his head and was rushed to the hospital but remained calm throughout.

She says: 'Here I was freaking out and screaming. Our driver was trembling at the wheel and Mahathir just sat there calmly, his head bleeding all over, telling us to relax.'

He needed 10 stitches but makes light of the experience: 'They did a brain scan on me, but they didn't find one.'

For the past six years, their home has been a two-storey penthouse in Mont Kiara, an expatriate neighbourhood in Kuala Lumpur. Mr Mahathir is British and Sarawak is now a United States citizen. Both are Malaysian permanent residents.

Shortly after getting married in Las Vegas in 2001, the couple returned to Singapore for two years. He sold his mobile phone business to relocate and became her manager while she hosted TV talk shows such as Speak Of The Diva for MediaCorp.

They moved to Kuala Lumpur in 2003 and Sarawak signed on with Astro, where she has been ever since. Inseparable, they keep themselves busy with her shows, studio recordings and concert rehearsals.

An avid writer, Mr Mahathir has penned screenplays for telemovies in Malaysia, such as 2006's Topeng (Mask), a psychological thriller starring Sarawak.

He says: 'She is definitely my muse. I write my scripts with her in mind. I'll run them by her and a lot of times, she will tell me it won't work. She's honest.

'But I won't write love stories for her,' he jokes. 'If Anita's in it, I don't want any of that touchy-feely stuff. I cannot sit and watch another man making out with my wife. I'll get jealous.'

Also in the works is a biography of Sarawak, he reveals.

The couple have no plans to retire yet, but when they finally do, she says, she wants to live in the European countryside, growing her own herbs because 'actually I'm not a city girl'.

She is not much of a sports buff, either, so she cannot share his hardcore support of English football club Chelsea. Both, however, share common interests such as painting and food.

Coming from London where curry is a popular dish, he has no problems with spicy food. Her kitchen speciality which he can never get enough of - lamb's leg.

And cooking, he says, to peals of laughter from his wife, is where she gets her dance moves from.

He gets up and comically mimes her actions, saying: 'She'll be cooking something with her right hand and holding another dish with the other, maybe closing the oven with her right leg, and we've got a dance move right there.'

Having celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary on Nov 11, the couple act like they are 20-somethings still on their honeymoon.

Do they wish they had met earlier in life? 'No,' both chime in unison. They are thankful they met 'at a right time' in their lives and that is why everything clicks.

She reveals fondly: 'The most wonderful thing at night is when we find each other's hands to hold while asleep and wake up in the mornings like this.'

He leavens the mush with his smooth wit. Referring to her latest hairdo, he quips: 'There is always something new. She reinvents herself all the time. It's like waking up every morning next to a new woman.'

tanyihui@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times.