Husein Hasanally Abdoolcader

Sir Husein Hasanally Abdoolcader Mama[1], CBE (10 September 1890 – 16 June 1974) was a Dawoodi Bohra by faith[2] and a barrister and politician by profession in Malaya born in Surat, Bombay Presidency, British India. His eldest son Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader was also a prominent figure in Malaya and was a judge at the Supreme Court of Malaysia.[3]

He was educated first in Malaya, at Raffles Institution, Singapore and Penang Free School, Penang. He was sent to England and went to Ilford County High School and Christ's College, Cambridge, then joined Lincoln's Inn.

Career

He was:

  • an Indian Member of the Straits Settlements Legislative Council from 1928 until the outbreak of the war with Japan;
  • a member of the Advisory Council of the Governor of The Malayan Union;
  • a member of the Indian Immigration Committee, 1935–1953;
  • President of the Third All Malaya Indian Conference, 1929–1930;
  • Indian Member of the Municipal Commission, Georgetown, Penang, 1925–1951;
  • President of the Penang Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals;
  • President of the Mohammedan Football Association of Malaya.
  • A J.P and officiated as the Imam of the Dawoodi Bohra Community in Penang[4]

He is the first Indian in Malaya to receive a knighthood and was once threatened with execution by the Japanese. Throughout the Japanese occupation in Singapore during WW2, Sir Husein was under suspicion for his pro-allied sympathies. The Kempeitai eventually arrested him and soon announced that he was to be beheaded. They blindfolded him, made him kneel, then brought out a sword. Sir Husein made one request: he asked to see his family again. But the Japanese did not execute him, they spared him to see liberation, and to receive a knighthood.[5] He was awarded the George V Silver Jubilee Medal, 1935, and the George VI Coronation Medal, 1937. He was made a CBE in 1938[6] and knighted in 1948.[7]

He also has a road named after him in Penang.

References
  1. The Strait Times, 18 November 1925, Page 8
  2. The Strait Times, 18 November 1925, page 8
  3. Abdoolcader, Eusofee (December 10, 2017). The Legal Lion of the Commonwealth. Akasaa Publishing & Avec. p. 2. ISBN 978-9675764035
  4. The Strait Times, 18 November 1925, page 8
  5. The Strait Times, 7 January 1948, Page 4
  6. "No. 34469". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1937. p. 15.
  7. "No. 38161". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1947. p. 2.


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