He attended Berakas Malay School for his early primary education and obtained his Sarawak Junior Certificate at the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien College in 1956, alongside Ali Mohammad Daud[3] In 1965, he was admitted to the bar at the Middle Temple in London after completing his legal studies at the University of Birmingham in England.

[7] In 1966, he participated as a representative and team trustee in Brunei's delegation to the first Asian Industrial Development Council's conference in Bangkok, Thailand, alongside Assistant Minister of Agriculture Pengiran Damit.

[9] Othman Chua Kwong Soon and Zakaria from the state secretary's office attended the Inter-Governmental Consultation Conference on Regional and District Economic Planning and Cooperation Coordination, which took place from 16 November 1967, for 10 days.

[12] As the acting minister of foreign affairs, he signed the Agreement on ASEAN Energy Co-operation in Manila on 24 June 1986.

[15] During the 2003 World Summit on Information Society, he announced that Brunei had set up a wide-ranging broadband backbone optical network that spans the entire nation.

On the morning of 2 November 2011, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah paid his respects to Zakaria, who died early on the evening of the day prior after succumbing to a terminal illness at the Jerudong Park Medical Centre.

[6][17] Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, Princess Masna, and Pengiran Anak Abdul Aziz were there to pay their final respects earlier in the morning at the late former minister's residence in Jalan Terunjing, Kampong Lambak.