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.