The Only Female Student at MCKK

Not many know, and it is increasingly forgotten, about this unique event at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, Perak. The school is located in the Royal Town of Kuala Kangsar, Perak. The school's motto, Fiat Sapientia Virtus, is in Latin, meaning 'Let Wisdom be Virtue'. Everyone knows that the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) is a premier all-boys boarding school in Malaysia.

Has it maintained its premier status and all-male tradition since its establishment on January 2, 1905? Not entirely, because an interesting event was recorded in 1948 when the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) for the first and perhaps the only time admitted a female student to study there. Datin Hajah Zaharah Mokhtar is the female student in question.

The only female student at

Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK)

was placed in Form 6 at the beginning of 1953. Unfortunately, she did not stay long at MCKK because in August 1953, she received a scholarship to further her studies elsewhere and transferred from the all-male Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK).

Many assumptions were made at the time suggesting she transferred from the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) because she felt uncomfortable interacting with the male students at the college and had no peers of the same gender. Datin Hajah Zaharah Mokhtar later married a former Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) student named

Colonel Datuk Yeop Mahidin Mohd Shariff, who was the founder of Wataniah

and they had 7 children. She passed away at the age of 87 at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) due to heart complications and thyroid issues.

Besides being the first female student at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK), she was also the first Malay woman to enter the University of Malaya in Singapore, and

the late Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak

was one of her batchmates.