Lady Meriam Chong Abdullah, also known as Chong Ah Mei or Mariam Abdullah, was the first wife of

Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ( ms, ‏تونكو عبد الرحمن ڤوترا الحاج ابن سلطان عبد الحميد حليم شاه, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 8 Febru ...

, who later became the founding father and the first

Prime Minister of Malaysia The prime minister of Malaysia ( ms, Perdana Menteri Malaysia; ms, ڤردان منتري مليسيا, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) is the head of government of Malaysia. The prime minister directs the executive branch of the fed ...

Early life

Lady Meriam was the daughter of a tin mining tycoon, Chong Ah Yong, who was also a friend of the Tunku. She was of

Thai Chinese Thai Chinese (also known as Chinese Thais, Sino-Thais), Thais of Chinese origin ( th, ชาวไทยเชื้อสายจีน; ''exonym and also domestically''), endonym Thai people ( th, ชาวไทย), are Chinese descenda ...

heritage but converted to Islam upon marriage to Tunku in 1933.

Marriage

met Meriam in

Kulim The Kulim District is a district and town in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. It is located on the southeast of Kedah, bordering Penang. The town of Kulim, a mere east of Penang's capital city, George Town, also forms part of Greater Penang, Ma ...

, where he had just been transferred as Assistant District Officer. Some historical reports state that Meriam was personally chosen by Tunku's mother, Che Menjalara who was of Thai descent herself. According to reports, Che Menjalara forced Tunku to marry her, despite Tunku's refusal to do so. However, in the end they were married according to royal customs at the Kedah palace. Other reports state that they were married by the local Kadi in Tunku's government quarters. Soon after Meriam's conversion to Islam she learnt to pray and when the fasting month began, she persuaded Tunku to do so too. Their marriage resulted in two children, Tunku Khadijah and Tunku Ahmad Nerang. In 1935, Tunku was promoted to be District Officer of

Padang Terap The Padang Terap District is a district in Kedah, Malaysia. It is governed by the Padang Terap District Council ( ms, Majlis Daerah Padang Terap). Etymology Padang Terap is named after the Terap tree (''Artocarpus elasticus'') which is a type o ...

. The post of District Officer Padang Terap was an unpopular one.

Kuala Nerang Kuala Nerang is the capital of Padang Terap District, Kedah, Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen state ...

was notorious for the prevalence of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. It was here that Meriam gave birth to their second child, Tunku Ahmad Nerang.

Death

A month after Meriam gave birth to her second child, she contracted a severe attack of malaria. Although Tunku gave her the best remedies that he could obtain from Penang, Meriam made little progress. A visiting English doctor from Alor Setar mistakenly gave her an injection of undiluted

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to '' Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal le ...

that killed her instantly. As it was a tragic misadventure, Tunku made no attempt to lodge an official report. Instead he wrote to the State Secretariat, asking that funds be made available to drain the swamp and to rid

of the main breeding place of the carriers of

. When he asked before, funds were denied but this time the money was provided and the work was carried out under Tunku's supervision.

References

* Putera Negara, 1987, Firma Publishing, Aziz Azarina Ahmad
50 years of Merdeka: 'Blackmail' forced Tunku's hand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meriam, Lady Spouses of prime ministers of Malaysia Malaysian people of Thai descent Malaysian people of Chinese descent Lady Meriam Malaysian Muslims Year of birth missing Year of death missing