Zainal Abidin Ahmad (writer)

The book contained guidelines in modernising the structure of classical Malay, transforming it into the language that is in use today: the most significant change was the switch from the conventional passive to the modern active form of syntax.

Zainal Abidin was born on 16 September 1895 in Kampung Bukit Kerdas, Batu Kikir, Jempol in the state of Negeri Sembilan; the eldest of three children.

His mother, Intan Awaluddin (1877–1907) was of Minangkabau descent, while his father Ahmad Ibrahim (1862–1927) was a Buginese from a well-off family in the Riau Islands — the latter being the only literate person in the village.

His father transferred him to a nearby school in Linggi in 1909, in the hopes that his son would become an ulama and learn the fields of Arabic and Islamic jurisprudence, among other things.

Za'aba wrote a lot of essays that were social criticisms against the ills affecting contemporary Malay society and against British colonial rule at the time.