Zainah Anwar
Encyclopedia
Zainah Anwar is a prominent Malaysian non-governmental organisation leader, activist and Muslim
feminist. She was the head of Sisters in Islam
for over two decades before stepping down.
, to her father, Tan Sri Haji Anwar bin Abdul Malik
and mother, Saodah bte Abdullah, a housewife. Her father was credited as the man who gave the United Malays National Organisation
or UMNO its name – initially United Malays Organisation. This was at a meeting in Batu Pahat
when seven Umno founders from Johor Baru met Datuk Onn Jaafar
to call for a unification of all the disparate Malay nationalist groups at the time. He later became Onn’s private secretary when Onn became Johor’s Mentri Besar.
Her elder sister is Tan Sri Datuk Zarinah Anwar, the chairman of the Malaysian Securities Commission. Her younger brother is Ahmad Zakii Anwar
, a well-known Malaysian artist.
Zainah was educated in Sultan Ibrahim Girls’ School in Johor Bahru
. Her favourite subjects were English and English literature. She told the Star in a interview that she was not a born leader, she was a born rebel.
One day, she discovered on a chance visit to the school staff room that, against her name, a frowning teacher had scribbled: “Too high spirited, too playful, too talkative, too naughty.” With these four strikes against her, she never made prefect.
She told The Star
:
Instead, she was persuaded to join the pioneer batch of aspiring journalists at the then Mara Institute of Technology in Shah Alam
in 1972 (now Universiti Teknologi Mara
, UiTM).
After making a name for herself as a hard-nosed journalist at the New Straits Times
, Zainah went on to do her Masters at Boston University
in the United States
in 1978 and read International Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy, Tufts University
(also in the US), until 1986.
Upon her return, she joined the Institute of Strategic and International Studies think-tank from 1986 to 1991, before becoming chief programme officer with the Political Affairs division of the Commonwealth Secretariat
in London
, where she launched her global networking and enhanced her political maturity. She rejoined ISIS from 1994–1996, left, and freelanced for two years.
for two decades as its leader. She was responsible for building the NGO from a small organisation to a global one and is invited to give talks all over the world.
In 1987, a clutch of women lawyers and a journalist friend including Zainah jointly founded a fledgling movement to look into the problems Muslim women had with the courts. In 1990, the movement formally became known as SIS. Its focus was to challenge laws and policy made in the name of Islam that discriminate against women. Eventually, SIS areas of work expanded to emcompass larger issues of democracy, human rights and constitutionalism.
Said Zainah in an interview with The Star
:
Aghast at what was being taught in the ceramahs, the founding sisters turned to the Quran to find out for themselves what the verses say, as opposed to various interpretations. What they discovered was a revelation. On polygamy, the Quran says: “If you cannot treat them the same, then marry just the one.”
SIS has been at the forefront of NGOs influencing amendments to Islamic Family Law. It has espoused equality and justice for women, discussed dress and modesty, the right to guardianship, women as judges, fundamental liberties in Islam, and apostasy and freedom of religion.
The organisation has exposed the diversity of interpretations of Islam
, and through its research and discussions with local and international authorities, sifted through these to determine “which opinions we want to follow and codify”.
She stood her ground when the voices of Muslim officialdom, from the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to state religious bodies to PAS
, berated her organisation’s lack of formal Islamic credentials. On the plus side, some of the more liberal mufti
(chief clergy in respective states) have addressed SIS seminars.
At one point, SIS was taken more seriously abroad than at home in Malaysia. Purdah
-clad women from Iran
who listened incredulously to Malaysian Muslim officialdom defend polygamy
, found common ground with SIS on this issue.
recently she was criticized by state religious government body such Majlis Agama Islam Johore for SIS view about Islamic punishment toward Kartika
or Suhakam. However, she left because she felt that as a movement, it was not making a difference.
Zainah has addressed prestigious overseas forums such as the World Economic Forum
in Davos
, Switzerland
and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
annual lecture series in Singapore
. She has delivered the keynote address on Islam, Human Rights, and Activism at Harvard University
on April 8, 2008. She has also given an address discussing "What Islam, Whose Islam? From Misogyny to Equality" at The College of William & Mary
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
feminist. She was the head of Sisters in Islam
Sisters in Islam
Sisters in Islam is an organization of Muslim women in Malaysia which seeks to articulate women's rights in Islam by emphasising the need to interpret the Qur'an and the hadith in their proper historical and cultural contexts. It also advocates for the right of women to hold public office...
for over two decades before stepping down.
Background
Zainah was born in JohorJohor
Johor is a Malaysian state, located in the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia. It is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The state capital city and royal city of Johor is Johor Bahru, formerly known as Tanjung Puteri...
, to her father, Tan Sri Haji Anwar bin Abdul Malik
Haji Anwar bin Abdul Malik
Tan Sri Haji Dato' Anwar bin Abdul Malik was a Malaysian Politician .-Political career:He was the man credited with giving United Malays National Organisation its name. After the second world war, the Malayan Union was formed by the British and it was strongly opposed by the Malays...
and mother, Saodah bte Abdullah, a housewife. Her father was credited as the man who gave the United Malays National Organisation
United Malays National Organisation
The United Malays National Organisation, is Malaysia's largest political party; a founding member of the National Front coalition, which has played a dominant role in Malaysian politics since independence....
or UMNO its name – initially United Malays Organisation. This was at a meeting in Batu Pahat
Batu Pahat
Batu Pahat is a district in the state of Johor, Malaysia. It lies south-east of Muar, south-west of Kluang, north-west of Pontian, and south of Segamat and the new Ledang district. The capital of the district is Bandar Penggaram, Batu Pahat....
when seven Umno founders from Johor Baru met Datuk Onn Jaafar
Onn Jaafar
Dato' Sir Onn bin Ja'afar, KBE was a Malay politician and a Menteri Besar of Johore in Malaysia, then Malaya. He was the founder of United Malays National Organization and was also responsible for the social economic welfare of the Malays by setting up the Rural Industrial Development Authority...
to call for a unification of all the disparate Malay nationalist groups at the time. He later became Onn’s private secretary when Onn became Johor’s Mentri Besar.
Family
In 1997, her father died two weeks before his 100th birthday followed by her mother a year later.Her elder sister is Tan Sri Datuk Zarinah Anwar, the chairman of the Malaysian Securities Commission. Her younger brother is Ahmad Zakii Anwar
Ahmad Zakii Anwar
Ahmad Zakii Anwar is a well-known Malaysian artist.thumb|right|Zakii in his studio-Solo exhibitions:*Jakarta*Manila*Bangkok*Hong Kong*Singapore*New York*Kuala Lumpur-Group Exhibitions:*Kuala Lumpur...
, a well-known Malaysian artist.
Zainah was educated in Sultan Ibrahim Girls’ School in Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland...
. Her favourite subjects were English and English literature. She told the Star in a interview that she was not a born leader, she was a born rebel.
One day, she discovered on a chance visit to the school staff room that, against her name, a frowning teacher had scribbled: “Too high spirited, too playful, too talkative, too naughty.” With these four strikes against her, she never made prefect.
She told The Star
The Star (Malaysia)
The Star is an English-language, tabloid-format newspaper in Malaysia. It is the largest in terms of circulation in Malaysia, according to the . It has a daily circulation of between 290,000 to 300,000...
:
Instead, she was persuaded to join the pioneer batch of aspiring journalists at the then Mara Institute of Technology in Shah Alam
Shah Alam
Shah Alam is the state capital of Selangor, Malaysia situated within the Petaling District and a small portion of the neighboring Klang District. It is located about west of the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur. Shah Alam replaced Kuala Lumpur as the capital city of the state of Selangor in 1978...
in 1972 (now Universiti Teknologi Mara
Universiti Teknologi MARA
Universiti Teknologi MARA is a coeducational public university with its main campus located in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.It is the flagship institution of the Universiti Teknologi MARA...
, UiTM).
After making a name for herself as a hard-nosed journalist at the New Straits Times
New Straits Times
The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print , having been founded as The Straits Times in 1845, and was reestablished as the "New Straits Times" in 1965. The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English...
, Zainah went on to do her Masters at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1978 and read International Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy, Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
(also in the US), until 1986.
Upon her return, she joined the Institute of Strategic and International Studies think-tank from 1986 to 1991, before becoming chief programme officer with the Political Affairs division of the Commonwealth Secretariat
Commonwealth Secretariat
The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating cooperation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings ; assisting and advising on policy...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where she launched her global networking and enhanced her political maturity. She rejoined ISIS from 1994–1996, left, and freelanced for two years.
Sisters in Islam
Zainah was involved with Sisters in IslamSisters in Islam
Sisters in Islam is an organization of Muslim women in Malaysia which seeks to articulate women's rights in Islam by emphasising the need to interpret the Qur'an and the hadith in their proper historical and cultural contexts. It also advocates for the right of women to hold public office...
for two decades as its leader. She was responsible for building the NGO from a small organisation to a global one and is invited to give talks all over the world.
In 1987, a clutch of women lawyers and a journalist friend including Zainah jointly founded a fledgling movement to look into the problems Muslim women had with the courts. In 1990, the movement formally became known as SIS. Its focus was to challenge laws and policy made in the name of Islam that discriminate against women. Eventually, SIS areas of work expanded to emcompass larger issues of democracy, human rights and constitutionalism.
Said Zainah in an interview with The Star
The Star (Malaysia)
The Star is an English-language, tabloid-format newspaper in Malaysia. It is the largest in terms of circulation in Malaysia, according to the . It has a daily circulation of between 290,000 to 300,000...
:
Aghast at what was being taught in the ceramahs, the founding sisters turned to the Quran to find out for themselves what the verses say, as opposed to various interpretations. What they discovered was a revelation. On polygamy, the Quran says: “If you cannot treat them the same, then marry just the one.”
Contributions
Zainah is most proud that SIS has opened public space for debate and given a public voice to women to air their concerns about their rights under Syariah law. Through its fora and education programmes, SIS has shown that the concerns of Muslim women are “not the monopoly of religious scholars. Everyone has the right to speak”.SIS has been at the forefront of NGOs influencing amendments to Islamic Family Law. It has espoused equality and justice for women, discussed dress and modesty, the right to guardianship, women as judges, fundamental liberties in Islam, and apostasy and freedom of religion.
The organisation has exposed the diversity of interpretations of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, and through its research and discussions with local and international authorities, sifted through these to determine “which opinions we want to follow and codify”.
Criticisms
Through the years, Zainah drew barbs because she is atypical of the image of the “good Malay-Muslim lady”. Being single did not help.She stood her ground when the voices of Muslim officialdom, from the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to state religious bodies to PAS
PAS (political party)
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party commonly known as PAS or Pas, is an Islamist political party in Malaysia and is currently headed by Dato' Seri Abdul Hadi Awang...
, berated her organisation’s lack of formal Islamic credentials. On the plus side, some of the more liberal mufti
Mufti
A mufti is a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law . In religious administrative terms, a mufti is roughly equivalent to a deacon to a Sunni population...
(chief clergy in respective states) have addressed SIS seminars.
At one point, SIS was taken more seriously abroad than at home in Malaysia. Purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
-clad women from Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
who listened incredulously to Malaysian Muslim officialdom defend polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
, found common ground with SIS on this issue.
Current involvement
Though Zainah has stepped down as head of SIS, she remains on the board of directors. She concurrently serves as project director for the SIS-initiated global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family.recently she was criticized by state religious government body such Majlis Agama Islam Johore for SIS view about Islamic punishment toward Kartika
Social Contributions
Zainah was appointed a commissioner with the Human Rights Commission of MalaysiaHuman Rights Commission of Malaysia
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia better known locally as Suhakam is a national human rights institution in Malaysia. It was established by the Malaysian Parliament using the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999, Act 597, with a mandate to promote human rights education, advise on...
or Suhakam. However, she left because she felt that as a movement, it was not making a difference.
Zainah has addressed prestigious overseas forums such as the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
in Davos
Davos
Davos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy is a school of the National University of Singapore . It was established in 1992 as the Master of Public Policy Programme under the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of National University of Singapore in collaboration with the Kennedy School of Government...
annual lecture series in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. She has delivered the keynote address on Islam, Human Rights, and Activism at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
on April 8, 2008. She has also given an address discussing "What Islam, Whose Islam? From Misogyny to Equality" at The College of William & Mary