Cultural icon

Azah Aziz will be remembered for her lifelong work in promoting and preserving Malay culture and customs.

IN HER youth, her stunning good looks – a result of her Malay, Turkish and Arab parentage – turned heads, and she was known as the Malaysian Elizabeth Taylor.

Even in her later years, Sharifah Azah Mohammad Alsagoff or Azah Aziz as she was popularly known, still captured one’s attention with her quiet elegance.

The soft-spoken Azah – the mother of Bank Negara Governor, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz and wife of Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid – passed away from a stroke early last week at the age of 84.

Azah is, however, best known for her passion in preserving Malay culture, as well as her work in championing women’s causes. She is considered the foremost authority on national culture; her knowledge of Malay textile and costumes were extensive and she published books to preserve the Malay cultural heritage.

In Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s condolence message to Azah’s family, he referred to Azah as a cultural icon, saying: “Her perseverance to dignify the field of culture and arts will be remembered.”

Born on Aug 21, 1928, in Singapore to Syed Mohammad Omar Alsagoff and Azizah Jaafar, Azah is also the niece of the late Datuk Onn Jaafar – founder of the United Malay National Association (Umno) who was also the first Chief Minister of Johor.

Azah’s father passed away when she was two years old, so she and her brother, Syed Omar, were brought up by their mother, Azizah. They lived in Katong, Singapore before settling down in Johor Baru.

Azah was in her teens during the Japanese Occupation. She attended the Convent Girls’ School in Johor Baru, but life was not easy for her family. The war disrupted her studies and she didn’t return to school after the war.

At the tender age of 17, she married Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid who was 24 then.

At 19, Azah gave birth to Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, who is the couple’s only child.

Encouraged by her husband, Azah took up her first job in 1949 as a field officer with the Social Welfare department in Johor Baru.

In 1951, she and her husband moved to Singapore when Ungku Abdul Aziz became a lecturer at the University of Malaya there. She then took up a secretarial job at the Malay Studies department. It was reported that Azah developed an interest in writing and literature while working at the university. It was also during this period that her lifelong passion for traditional costumes and jewellery began.

They eventually moved to Kuala Lumpur when her husband became the university’s vice-chancellor.

Foray into journalism

Azah was introduced to the world of journalism when she became the secretary to the then New Straits Times editor-in-chief, Leslie Hoffman. She eventually moved to the editorial floor, and dedicated more than two decades of her career to journalism. She interviewed personalities such as the former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi and boxing legend Muhammad Ali. Azah headed the Women’s column in Berita Harian – a position which was previously held by her mother.

In 1973, she joined Utusan Melayu as editor and later became a consultant to a women’s magazine, Wanita.

Azah was also the president of the Women Journalists Association of Malaysia (Pertama) from 1971 until 1978.

In her quest to champion women’s causes, from equal pay to legal rights, she founded Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam.

Through Akaz, her own publishing company, Azah was one of the first women in Malaysia to publish books on poetry, games and songs for children. Some of these include Adik Sayang; Puisi Kanak-Kanak; Marilah Bermain on traditional games; Di Taman Seni, an introduction to Malay handicraft for children; and Dendang Dan Dondang Kanak-Kanak, on traditional Malay songs for children, which she co-wrote with Dr Ariff Ahmad.

Throughout the years, Azah would be elegantly clad in her signature look – the baju kurung, so much so it was deemed her official outfit. Her passion for the preservation of Malay culture and traditional Malay attire culminated in two of her books, Selayang Kenangan and Rupa Dan Gaya: Busana Melayu.

Selayang Kenangan is a collection of essays on women’s issues, traditional dresses and Malay handicraft, published in 1990. Rupa Dan Gaya: Busana Melayu, published in 2006, was on the heritage of Malay attire.

“Anyone working on Malaysian heritage and had the good fortune to meet Azah will tell you that she is very generous with her time and knowledge,” says Dr Neil Khor, a senior fellow at Think City, an urban regeneration agency based in the George Town World Heritage site.

Dr Khor, who is also a writer and publisher, had helped Azah on her latest book, Rupa Dan Gaya: Busana Melayu, and he remembers that a visit to her home was a rare honour.

He says that Azah was always immaculately dressed and she would serve tea with traditional Malay cakes and sweetmeats.

“I assisted her to find relevant photographs especially of a Mak Yong performer. For her, the costumes were not merely dresses but markers of a way of life. My involvement was really marginal, but the few times I met her, I learned so much.

“She was not Azah Aziz, the famous journalist or subject expert, but someone who took time to find out what a young researcher was interested in. She had a fabulous collection of Malay world costumes. Each piece has a personal story attached to it,” says Dr Khor.

He adds that Azah’s enthusiasm for the refined and elegant aspect of Malay culture is what he will always remember about her.

Antique collection

Being an avid collector of textiles and garments from the early days, Azah is said to have the best private collection of antique garments and fabrics from the old Malay world.

Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said that with Azah’s passing, “the country had lost a budayawan (cultural icon), and we will not forget her contributions in promoting culture, Bahasa Melayu and embroidery.”

Dancer and choreographer, Dr Zulkifli bin Mohamad, or better known as Dr Zubin Mohamad, always felt that Azah was like a mother giving advice about Malay ethics and how to behave in the modern world.

He was so inspired by Azah’s books and ideas that he became a collector of Nusantara textiles in early 1990.

“I remember her saying that it is so important to collect new pieces, too, as it could be a marker of time as well as to acknowledge new designers. It is through Azah’s advice – which I am very thankful for – that I now collect old and new Nusantara textiles. Sarongs and textiles are also used in my dance,” says Dr Zubin who is also a writer and educator.

“As a speaker on costumes during the South-East Asia Production Design workshop which I organised in KL in 1999, Azah talked about how sarong could be used as costumes in modern production, whether a normal or long sarong. She also talked about pelikat and batik, weaving, songket, limar and telepok textiles, the different types of sarong,” he recollects.

He specifically remembers her talking about telepok textile, some of which are very rare and what we have lost in our society, and added that “she has done all these promotion on her own, without any help from anyone or any agencies”.

“As she was such a passionate Malaysian textile and costume collector and promoter of Malay culture such as pantun and greetings, I’d like to remember her as the ‘Mother of Sarong’ and ‘Mother of Pantun’,” Dr Zubin says.

Azah also served on several government advisory councils, such as the Malaysian Handicraft Development Board and the National Film Development Board, and was a board member of the Tun Abdul Razak Foundation.

In 1992, Azah was awarded the Tokoh Wanita Johor title. In 1994, she was chosen as Karyawan by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and was one of the five women conferred the Avon-Tan Sri Fatimah Malaysian Women of Distinction Award 1994.

While Azah will be greatly missed, she will continue to touch many lives through the work she had done in promoting the arts, literature and our national culture.