Tun Fatimah

Tun Fatimah was a well-known Malaysian heroine and daughter to the Malaccan Bendahara who lived during the 16th century. She was married to Malacca's Sultan Mahmud Shah.

She belongs to Tamil Muslim ancestry and her father was Tun Mutahir, a Bendahara (Prime Minister) in Sultan Mahmud's time. Tun Mutahir was the descendant of Tun Kudu and Tun Ali's marriage (Both are prominent figures in the times of Sultan Muzzafar Shah, the 5th Sultan of Malacca).

Tun Fatimah was already married when the Sultan set his sights on her to become his new and latest wife. Tun Fatimah refused to divorce her husband when the Pembesar (Courtiers) urged her, this was her ultimate undoing because it led to the execution of all of her male relatives in her family, including the Bendehara Tun Mutahir and also her husband.

Tun Fatimah finally complied with the Sultan's wishes, she became his third wife and she bore him two Princes and two princesses. The younger of the second Prince, Raja Raden Ali would in a few years become the second ruler of Johor Sultanate as Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah for 36 years.

Her role in Malay politics

She was the first Malay woman to lead her people like a charismatic sovereign queen. It is said that the Portuguese were more afraid of the Queen than her reigning Sultan husband. She was known to help Tun Perak, a Malaccan bendahara, to lead the Malays in their fight against the invading Portuguese forces in the early 16th century. Unfortunately, the Malays had later lost the war to the more technologically powerful Portuguese army. According to Malaysian historians it was a sly foreign Datuk of Malacca who gave out the secrets to them to conquer the city, and thus had eventually made the Malays lost their control of it. Perhaps the fall of Malacca is also partly due to the Sultan's cruelty. When Malacca fell to Portugal in 1511, it seemed that it was mainly Tun Fatimah's work that expanded the new Malay Johor-Riau from Johore and the Riau islands to parts of Sumatra and Borneo. The Malaccan Sultan's power was almost restricted to a figurehead. Tun Fatimah created an alliance with neighbouring kingdoms by letting her children marry the royal families of Aceh, Minangkabau and Borneo.

No one knew how long she had lived for, as well as when and where she died. However, fellow historians of the Malay Archipelago suggested that her tombstone is located in Kampar, Riau on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Tun Fatimah in Popular Culture

In 1962. Cathay Organisation produced a classic film Tun Fatimah

Tun Fatimah was portrayed by Fasha Sandha in 2004 Rosdeen Suboh's theatre production of Bangsawan Tun Fatimah in Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur.

In 2005, The Dance drama Lagenda Tun Fatimah which choreographed by Som Said was played in Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, Singapore

Balada Tun Fatimah (The Ballad of Tun Fatimah) is presented by Teater Kami at the Singapore Esplanade during the Pesta Raya (Malay Festival of Arts 7-16 Sep 2012). All tickets were sold out by 6 September for the two shows.

Places and things named after Tun Fatimah

• In Johor Bahru there is a school called Sekolah Tun Fatimah
• Kolej Tun Fatimah in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
• Stadium Tun Fatimah in Malacca
• Jalan Tun Fatimah in Batu Berendam, Malacca
• School Of Nursing Hospital Tun Fatimah in Ipoh.

Notes

• N.B. the terms "Raja" and "Sultan" are used interchangeably to refer to the Malaccan monarch.