Malaysia. Tra Zehnder: Iban woman patriot of Sarawak. By Hew Cheng Sim and Rokiah Talib. Kuching: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Press, 2011. Pp. xi + 147. Illustrations, Map
| Autor: | Helen Ting |
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| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 43:550-551 |
| ISSN: | 1474-0680 0022-4634 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s0022463412000525 |
| Popis: | Tra Zehnder: Iban woman patriot of Sarawak By HEw CHENB SIM and ROKIAH TALIB Kuching: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Press, 2011. Pp. xi + 147. Illustrations, Map. Tra Zehnder: Iban woman patriot of Sarawak represents a worthy effort to document a female public personality in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. As noted by the authors in their preface, the biography is 'the first of its kind to be written about an Iban woman leader in Sarawak' (p. i). Divided broadly into two parts, the readable book presents the private life of Tra Zehnder (1926-2011) in three chapters followed by two more on her public roles in her community, and in politics. The short concluding chapter sums up the overall impression of the authors on Tra's perspective of her own life. During her lifetime, Tra Zehnder was arguably the highest profile Iban woman leader in the state of Sarawak. She was the first woman appointed to head the Sarawak Council for Customs and Traditions (1996-2002). The council advises the state government on matters related to native customary laws in Sarawak and makes recommendations to the government on their application, codification, publication and enforcement. Tra Zehnder was also the first woman to be appointed as the Temenggong or Paramount Chief for the Kuching Division Iban community (19881996). She was also one of the founding leaders and held various leadership positions of the Dayak Women's Association of Sarawak (Sarakup) founded in 1957, an association concerned with the socio-economic uplift of the Dayak community and the preservation of their cultural heritage. In 1960, Tra Zehnder was appointed as the first woman (nominated) member of the Sarawak State Legislature, till Sarawak attained independence from Britain within the framework of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. She also represented the Sarawak Dayak National Union in 1962 at the Cobbold Commission consultation for the formation of Malaysia. In 1966, the removal of Stephen Kalong Ningkan as the first chief minister of Sarawak by Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman led Tra Zehnder to join Ningkan's party, the Sarawak National Party (SNAP). She became the head of the women's wing of SNAP from 1969 to 1983. In 1983, she was part of the faction led by Leo Moggie which broke away from SNAP to form Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS). Subsequently, disenchanted by the betrayal of her PBDS male colleagues in the 1987 Ming Court Affair power struggle, Tra quit politics in 1988. Throughout her 22 years of involvement in party politics, she was never offered a chance to contest an election, however. Nonetheless, she remained a tireless and faithful grassroots party leader until she was disillusioned by her power-crazy male colleagues. The rewarding thing in reading the book is to get a vivid sense of who Tra was as a person. … |
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