Ahmad Zaidi Adruce
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Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Datuk Patinggi (Dr.) Haji Ahmad Zaidi Adruce bin Muhammed Noor |
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| 5th Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak | |
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In office 2 April 1985 – 5 December 2000 |
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| Preceded by | Abdul Rahman Ya'kub |
| Succeeded by | Abang Muhammad Salahuddin |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
29 March 1924 Sibu, Kingdom of Sarawak |
| Died | 5 December 2000 (aged 76) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Nationality | Malaysian |
| Political party | Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Part of Barisan Nasional (1970s–1985) |
| Spouse(s) | Hjh Hamsiah Bte Hj Ismail (deceased), Toh Puan Datin Patinggi Hajjah Rosmiati Kendati |
| Mother | Siti Saadiah binte Haji Hassan |
| Father | Muhammad Noor |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Religion | Islam |
Tun Datuk Patinggi (Dr.) Haji Ahmad Zaidi Adruce bin Muhammed Noor was the fifth Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak (Governor of Sarawak). He was the longest-serving governor of Sarawak (in consecutive terms from a single appointment), from his inaugural in 1985, to his death in 2000. He was also remembered as the first Sarawakian Bumiputera to receive a MA Degree from a British university (University of Edinburgh).
Before being appointed as the Head-of-State of Sarawak in 1985, Ahmad Zaidi Adruce had a turbulent political career. His involvement in politics began in earnest while he was studying at Buitenzorg College in Bogor, then Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies (present-day Indonesia).
Adopted and brought up by Sharifah Mai, the daughter of the renowned Sharif Masahor who was glorified as the first nationalist of Sarawak. At 5 years old, he was sent to two schools, Chung Hua and also Abang Ali in Sibu, where he developed interest in poetry, gymnastic and acting. At age 12 he passed his standard seven exam with exemplary marks – which at the time was an achievement far beyond what was expected of a young man born and raised in Sarawak. Ahmad Zaidi was an exceptionally bright student, who was always either first or second in class throughout his primary and secondary education. After his standard seven exam, he moved to Kuching to further his studies and joined St. Thomas school in 1936, where he graduated with a Junior Cambridge qualification in 1938. Out of 63 students, he was among the seven who passed – and of the seven, Ahmad Zaidi was the only bumiputera. He joined an Anglo-Chinese school in Singapore in 1938 and graduated in 1939 at 15 years old with a Cambridge School Certificate, and was at the time the only bumiputera to have achieved such an honour.
In November 1940, Ahmad Zaidi joined the Sultan Idris College in Tanjung Malim, Perak, where he studied until the Japanese invasion in 1941, when he was forced to flee to Singapore. In 1942 he was sent to Java to study Veterinary Medicine at Buitenzorg College in Bogor. He did not complete his veterinary training when the war ended in 1945 and was instead pulled into fighting against the Dutch in Indonesia, where he witnessed first-hand the early days of the Indonesian National Revolution. In 1947, he returned to Sarawak where he was then appointed as a teacher at Batu Lintang Training Center. During that year he also set up the first Sea Scout movement in Borneo and took his students sailing as far as Tanjung Datu on the western tip of Borneo Island and as far north to the Saribas River, an enterprise that would later help him establish an intelligence and underground movement to assist the Republic of Indonesia in their guerilla warfare against the Dutch.
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