GOOGLE Doodle today honoured one of Malaysia’s pioneering women journalists and a local cultural icon the late Azah Aziz on what would have been her 94th birthday. 

Google, in a statement, said Azah is remembered for her lifelong work towards the preservation of Malay culture, textiles and traditional attire for generations to come, and had been named as Tokoh Budayawan Melayu.

The Johor-born Azah was married to Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid. Former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz is her daughter.

Zeti attributed her own success to the strong support given by her mother.

“I grew up with a very close relationship with my mother. All throughout my career, she was very supportive. Without her support, I would have never been able to have the career that I did,” she said.

“Growing up, she was very liberal in her thinking on many issues and wrote passionately about it for women’s rights, children’s rights, but I wouldn’t describe her as a feminist, but rather more, as an advocate of women’s issues and those issues relating to children.”

Zeti said her mother had written about textiles, costumes and how they would be worn, and about cultural heritage. 

“Her book is so meaningful, and what is unique about her work is, although many people had written about textiles and costumes of the region, but none of them had integrated the classics and poetry that were written hundreds of years ago, that have made reference to these textiles and costumes, giving us a very deep insight into the beauty and special distinct element relating to these exquisite and resplendent textiles,” she said. 

“I want the world to know about the Malay cultural heritage embodied in the textiles and costumes, so I had the book translated into English. It will be soon published, and the intention is for it to be widely distributed.”

Azah’s interest in writing and literature was developed when she took up secretarial work at the Malay Studies Department, working under the department head, Zainal Abidin Ahmad, more popularly known as Pendeta Za’ba.

In 1957, Azah was offered a job as a secretary to the Straits Times’ then editor-in-chief Leslie Hoffman, three months after it introduced its first romanised Malay newspaper, the Berita Harian. 

She then began her career as a journalist when she was tasked to manage the women’s section, taking over duties originally handled by her mother, Azizah Jaafar, for two years. 

Azah was a pioneer in many ways. She founded the Malaysian Women Journalists Association (Pertama) and became its first president (1971-1978) and later its adviser.

She was also one of the founders of the Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam (Pertiwi), a charitable organisation dedicated towards addressing the welfare and needs of women and children. 

She also championed salary equality, separate taxes for working wives, Muslim family law amendments and later founded the Islamic Women’s Action Organisation. – August 21, 2022.