Husein Hasanally Abdoolcader


Sir Husein Hasanally Abdoolcader Mama, was a Dawoodi Bohra by faith 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.
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:
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.
He was awarded the George V Silver Jubilee Medal, 1935, and the George VI Coronation Medal, 1937. He was made a CBE in 1938 and knighted in 1948.
He also has a road named behind him in Penang.