Ibu Zain

Tan Sri Hajjah Zainon bte Munshi Sulaiman or better known as Ibu Zain (22 January 1903 - 2 April 1989) was a pioneer for Malay women "(Srikandi)" in education, nationalist and politics in Malaysia.

Early life

Born in Nyalas, Malacca on 22 January, 1903. As a young girl, she had the opportunity to study medicine in the United States. But her mother wept buckets at the idea and she instead became a teacher and ended up as one of the pioneers of Malaya’s fledgling independence movement.

She was a founder member of UMNO in 1946 and by the early 1950s, became its Kaum Ibu chief, a post she held for four years. She became an MP, but only for a term perhaps because of her forthright tongue.

But her story really began half a lifetime earlier. At 16, after obtaining her junior Cambridge, she taught at her father’s private kindergarten in Pasuh Jayawaras, a new settlement along the Negeri Sembilan-Pahang border.

She became a government probationary teacher at 19, and later was confirmed as principal of the Sekolah Perempuan Bandar Maharani, Muar. When she was 24, she was promoted to superintendent of girls’ schools in Johor, whereupon she threw her efforts to achieve two goals: to open new schools for girls and to persuade parents to allow their daughters to become teachers.

On top of all this, she found time to wed Amin Sulaiman, who rose to become the State assistant treasurer of Johor. They had three children.

Her eldest daughter, columnist and novelist Adibah Amin, remembers “a very elegant lady in very crisp, white baju kurung and batek sarong, high heels, walking very fast through the house” to go to office.

Ibu Zain headed the Johor chapter of the Malay Women Teachers Association from 1930 to 1949.

She founded the Bulan Melayu, a Jawi publication for women teachers as a counterpart to Majalah Guru for men. As its manager and editor, she highlighted the position of women, their education and rights.

Thus UMNO’s early years saw a broad membership base of teachers, some of whom were her former students.

She helped UMNO president Dato Onn Jaafar a lot in the Pergerakan Melayu Semenanjung, the precursor to UMNO.

Death

She died on 2 April 1989 in Muar, Johor and he was buried in Mahmoodiah cemetery next to Makam Mahmoodiah in Johor Bahru, Johor.