Tales of Ibu ...... Childhood

Ibu Zain was born as the sixth of eight children on the 22nd January 1903 in Kg. Nyalas, Jasin, Melaka. Her father, Munsyi Sulaiman, a teacher from Riau in Maktab Melayu Melaka 1900 - 1915 (Malay Training College) was hoping for a boy and planned to name him Zainal Abidin, while keeping his hopes high that his boy would be able to be a fighter for his nation and a contributor in driving the colonists off his country. Nevertheless, when he was bestowed a baby girl, he and his wife, Siti Shahariah Haji Khamis from Negeri Sembilan were thankful and named their newborn; Zainun, and lullabies of patriotic songs accompanied her throughout her childhood.

Ibu Zain was a tough lass and her playmates were mostly boys, which lead her to be called Nal, short for Zainal Abidin. She was also called Seribanun and Zainatun Nadzarah. Nonetheless, Ibu Zain remained the most affectionate name of hers. In 1908, Ibu Zain started her preschool and further obtained her primary education in Methodist Girl School, Holland Village, Tranquerah, Melaka. The purpose of her father for sending her there was to enable her to get as much as knowledge as she can from the colonists which could be used later to force them out from the country. This resembled a vow for Ibu Zain to fulfil. Her teacher, Mrs. Shellabear tried to influence Ibu Zain to be a Christian. However, her father was wise enough to teach Ibu Zain to read al-Quran, Islam and Arabian nightly. He wanted Ibu Zain to differentiate Christianity and Islam herself. She had chosen Islam, as It was the way of Truth to her. Ibu Zain could not further her studies as the society during those days had the perception that it would be a disgrace for family should their daughters be disrespectful towards the elderly later and following an English education would ultimately lead their children into Christianity.

Tales of Ibu ...... Teenager to Youth

The knowledge that she gained had not gone down the drain. In 1916, she moved to Kampung Pasuh Jaya, Waras, the border of Pahang and Negeri Sembilan, where she started her teaching journey. She set up her own school and taught the children of the villagers to read and write. It was also the first preschool which was being run by the Malays. She only managed to teach there for a short while as in 1921, she followed her father and shifted to Muar as his service was needed by the Commissioner of Johor in Muar District – Datuk Abdullah Jaafar. Six months later, through her perseverance and dedication as an educator, Ibu Zain was appointed as a probationary teacher in Bandar Maharani Girl School. Six months later, she was appointed as the Principal of that school, and further, she became the visiting teacher of Girl Schools in the district of Muar and Batu Pahat in 1925. As the supervisor of Girl Schools in the state of Johor, Ibu Zain established more girl schools in the districts of Kluang, Segamat, Mersing, Kota Tinggi and Pontian. She also set up evening religion schools for Muslims in Johor and in 1929, she pioneered the Federation of Johor Malay Women Teachers. (Persekutuan Guru-guru Perempuan Melayu Johor)

In 1930, she realized the importance of educating women, Ibu Zain produced Majalah Bulan Melayu, a magazine which became the official ‘voice’ for Ibu Zain to inspire and give ideas to women in terms of education and morale. The magazine was also a medium as an opposition to Hikayat Hanum or Asyik Mashok, authored by Syed Sheikh Al Hadi which was regarded as obscene and immoral. A long debate was held which concluded in Syed Sheikh Al Hadi apologized to Ibu Zain.

In 1934, after she fulfilled her Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), she married Haji Amin Taib, a former Religion Teacher. They were bestowed three children; two daughters Khalida Adiba and Khalida Fadzillah and a son, Sulaiman Shakib.

Tales of Ibu ...... The War

IN 1941, Japan conquered Malaya. Nevertheless, Ibu Zain was not shaken as she was still accepted as a supervisor and teacher. With strong determination, she learned to speak in Japanese with the intention that the knowledge will be a weapon for her to drive Japan out of her land. She continued to question the ruling of Japan through her articles in Warta and Melayu Raya. Her soft criticism was meant to bring Malays to wake and develop the nation. She urged that Malay Language and Islam to be taught in Japanese schools.

The sufferings of women who were tormented, raped and kept by the Japanese became a solemn promise in her heart to build a special school for women, which she planned to name as Sekolah Merdeka (Independence School). It will be a centre for them to mend their moral values and behaviours. She started religion and language classes at her home. That realization lead to her appointment as a Preacher for the Religion Department which enabled her to visit the whole Johor State and she visited all the villages and established Ibu Sepakat, an association for housewives and provides guides for them to lead family life and also helped women who suffered the lost of morale during the Japanese invasion.

In 1945, her husband fell ill. The difficulty of life during Japanese invasion makes it difficult to treat his diseases and at the same time he also had to provide for his first wife. He had limited income and even needed to farm in order to provide. The death of her husband made her an even stronger person.

Tales of Ibu ...... Political Journey

British introduced the Malayan Union in 1946, and the incidence sparkled Ibu Zain’s serious involvement in politics. Datuk Onn wrote to urge her to join Pergerakan Melayu Semenanjung (PMS) in Johor Bahru. Soon, the community of PMS Mothers was formed and leaded by Dato Onn’s sister, Azizah Jaafar. Ibu Zain was entrusted to be the communication officer. PMS later joined UMNO and she worked hard in aiding UMNO to revoke Malayan Union. At the same time, Datin Halimah Husein, the wife of Dato Onn also held daily markets to collect funds and donations for PMS and UMNO. Ibu Zain also helped in seeking funds to defray political and welfare activities. Her closeness with the communities enabled her to get the supports from the people.

Ibu Zain was discontinued from her service as a supervisor of girl schools and as a visiting teacher as she didn’t have the paper qualification for the position. Her appointment was based only on experience. She accepted it well and in 17th September the same year, she was awarded Pingat Sultan Ismail from the Sultan of Johor.

While Dato Onn was the Chief Minister in 1948, based on her assistance to PMS under the flagship of Dato Onn, she was appointed as a member in Majlis Mesyuarat Negeri Johor. (Johor State Meeting Council). Indirectly, she was involved in the administration of Johor State.

She almost lost her life while the train she was in from Johor Bahru to Tanjung Malim was attacked by communists in Labis. The purpose of her journey was to discuss on the demonstration of the students in Tanjung Malim Teaching College. She was shot on her thigh and was admitted in the hospital for 44 days. It was then the giant assembly in Bukit Timbalan Johor, 15th July 1950 happened, which opposed the resignation of Dato Onn as the leader of UMNO. Ungku Abdullah Omar who organized the meeting requested Ibu Zain to give a speech to persuade Dato Onn to reconsider his decision. Ibu Zain who has not fully recovered was shocked to see the people wearing UMNO badges reversely and also mounting the UMNO flags upside down. There were banners which says, “Dato Onn quits – UMNO dies”. Ibu Zain questioned if it was UMNO’s call to fights for the glory of their leader? Could a figure cause the people to give up and lose in spirit? The battle of UMNO is to bring back the independence of the land and not for the organizer or leader. She asked, “Should Dato Onn is summoned by Allah would you all want to follow suit? Would you all want to be buried together with him?” The assembly caused Dato Onn to delay his resignation.

In 1950, Ibu Zain was appointed as the National UMNO Women Chief, replacing Puteh Maria, the first chief. At that moment, UMNO was facing some problems in unity and Ibu Zain was regarded as the best person to convince women so that they do not leave the party due to Dato Onn. She was able to convince them and even increased the number of members through her visits across the states, giving speeches to women.

Her leadership also brought her to India as she was being invited by Sorojini Naidu, the Chairperson for World Affairs to attend the Inter Asia Conference in New Delhi, 1952. The invitation was based on her personal charisma and ability to discuss on the situations of pre-independence countries. Together with her was Dr. Burhanuddin al Helmi. Their presence in India was later accused as the two was having an affair. To clear the situation, Ibu Zain meet Sultan Ibrahim of Johor to clarify on the event. The accusation was caused by the seven acres of land in Bukit Sri Lalang and Tengku Ampuan Mariam’s Mastika Embun Palace which was entrusted to Ibu Zain to build a higher learning centre for girls. However, she had plans to use it as the headquarter of UMNO.

Ibu Zain caught some strange diseases later on and her doctors advised her to rest overseas. While she was away, Raja Perempuan Perlis, Tuanku Budriah replaced her as the leader of Mothers of UMNO for three months. Ibu Zain went to Colombo with 14 others to attend the Jamboree there. 1952 marked her role in establishing the Language Congress. In 1954, she went overseas again and became the sole woman representative in the Bahasa Melayu-Indonesia Congress in Medan, and she became a permanent committee member of the 3rd Congress of Malay Language and Writing, until the establishment of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in 1958.

Upon her return from overseas, her position as the Women Chief of UMNO has slipped to Khadijah Sidek, a refugee from Indonesia who was a fluent orator. Prior to this, Khadijah Sidek was only the Secretary of UMNO women in Johor Bahru. Ibu Zain was appointed as the women committee member of Johor Bahru division and only in 1955, she was appointed as the Women Chief of UMNO of South division. She rejected the offer to be the Women Chief of UMNO Malaya as she was busy establishing Kolej Ampuan Mariam.

Ibu Zain was awarded of Pingat Johan Mangku Negara on 30th August 1958 from the Sultan of Johor. The Bukit Timbalan giant assembly has gained her much attention from the women of Malaya towards her as a leader. She was chosen as one of the representative for Mothers of UMNO in Johor state to the General Meeting of Malaya UMNO in Iskandariah Palace, Kuala Kangsar. This was the meeting where Ibu Zain requested to be called only Ibu to ease her work in education and politics.

The same year marked the height of her political career when she was chosen as the only woman representative in Johor to compete in Pontian for the parliamentary seat. She won and became a council member of parliament till 1964. Due to her experience in teaching, she was selected as a Committee Member in Education Department of Parliament. One of a major issue which was debated in the parliament was about the outlook of Malay race. Dato Onn, from Parti Negara stated the federation race as Malays, while for Ibu Zain, the position of Malays is in accordance of the special allocation in Federal Constitution 1957, Clause 153 and will be open to other races. The incidence may cause the disposition of Malays to be shaken in the future. Her view was accepted by the members of Perikatan Government to oppose Dato Onn. This resulted in the 13 Malays opposition from PAS and Parti Negara to be easily defeated by Perikatan. After two semesters as a member of council, Ibu Zain retired from the politics world. Nevertheless, she was still actively involved in Johor UMNO. She was invited to be the advisor and patron of divisions and Women Committee of UMNO in Johor.

In 1964, Ibu Zain proposed for women army to be established. In the same year, she began her quest and with 150 women, she started Barisan Tentera Sukarelawati (a women voluntary army force) in Johor with the collaboration with Johor State Women UMNO workforce under the leadership of Datin Paduka Fatimah Abdul Majid. She continued to strive her best to educate Malay Muslim ladies.

Though busy with politics, her interest in the education for women never ceased. She had strong hopes to build a school for girls with trustworthy syllabus to develop ideal women later. For her, both academic education and religion must come hand in hand and be conveyed to the women communities. Not only women must be a good Muslim and worker, but what’s more important is that they would be flawless mothers who would be able to bring up their children to be useful citizen. For that, in 1958, she continued her halted dreams since 1946 and renovated Tengku Ampuan Mariam’s Palace with the help of Community Welfare Department on 10th March 1963 and built Puteri Ampuan Mariam College. The college took in ladies who failed Sijil Rendah Pelajaran and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia to prepare them for Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan which may gain them entry to varsities. The private college managed by her was taken over by the Ministry of Education. This marked her personal memento for her lifetime achievement.

Tales of Ibu ...... The Honour

As a person who has contributed much in the world of politics, she was given the honour to write lyrics for the song Bendera Berkibar, and raised the flag of UMNO in Merdeka Stadium during the 21st UMNO anniversary. She received the Tun Fatimah medal during the National Women Organizations meeting in 1974. She was also awarded the Tokoh Guru Award in 1975. Lady of Burma from the government of Burma crowned her an Honour in Bachelor Degree of Literature, Malaya University. In 1979, she was bestowed Darjah Panglima Setia Mahkota (P.S.M) by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang DiPertuan Agong, which carried the title Tan Sri. In 1980, she was awarded Suluh Budiman in recognition to her contributions in the field of education.

She passed away on the 2nd of April, 1989 due to stomach cancer.