Violet Coulson

Violet Coulson was Tunku Abdul Rahman's second wife. After the death of his first Chinese wife named Meriam, he went to Singapore and met Violet Coulson his long-time friend from London. Coulson is actually his former landlady in England.

Biography

In 1933, when Tunku Abdul Rahman married Meriam, he brought Violet to visit Medan, Indonesia, which was considered cheating his first wife. The Kedah royal family strongly objected the royal families to marry with the English. When Meriam died from malaria, Tunku immediately married Violet in Geylang Serai, Singapore and witnessed by Syed Ahmad al Sagoff. They married silently according to the Islamic custom. After their marriage, Violet stayed in Penang, and Tunku stayed alone in Kuala Nerang in order to avoid public criticism. However, although their marriage eventually came to be known to the public, there were surprisingly few objections. As a result, Tunku and Violet happily lived together for a period in Langkawi.

Their happiness however came to an end when two years later Tunku was assigned to work in Sungai Petani as a Colonial Officer. While, like any other women, Violet often hanging with the British officers' wives. Tunku and Violet argued often, but in 1937, Violet sarcastically teased the Malay women were uncivilised and stupid, eventually provoked Tunku's furious and Violet decided returned to London in 1937.

In 1938, Tunku decided to study laws for the third time. His relationship with Violet became better although they never divorced officially. Tunku returned to Kedah in 1939 due to the war waged in Europe. According to official records, Tunku was ordered to divorce Violet by the Regent of Kedah. The couple divorced officially in 1946.

References

* "Putera Negara"; 1987, Firma Publishing, Aziz Zarina Ahmad.