[1][2] Born in Malacca, the sixth of eight children, she received a good education through the efforts of her father, Munshi Sulaiman.
By the age of seventeen, she was running her own informal kindergarten at Pasuh Jaya Waras in Negeri Sembilan.
[1] She was a founder member of UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) which was formed in 1946 and became an independence campaigner.
In 1950, she became a member of the UMNO General Assembly as leader of the Kaum Ibu or Women's Wing of the party.
They also had another daughter, Fadzilah, who became a university lecturer and a son, Sulaiman Shakib, who worked in a bank.