Lily Eberwein

Lily Eberwein Abdullah (1900–1980) was a Sarawakian nationalist and a women's right activist. She was politically active in the anti-cession movement of Sarawak, a nationalist movement in the 1940s attempted to retrieve Sarawak's independence from takeover by Britain. This movement had helped in politicising local people besides cultivating national spirit in people of Sarawak.

Lily Eberwein Abdullah was a Eurasian by birth, having European and Malay ancestry. She was born in 1900 and died in 1980. Her father, John Eberwein, a Eurasian of Dutch and Scottish descent from Cocos Islands, was a relative of the Clunies-Ross family, rulers of that island. Lily's father captained the ship Rajah Brooke for the Straits Steamship Company. Her mother is a local Malay woman, Maznah bt. Ali bin Alang of Simanggang. They lived in Singapore where they had two children, Lily and Edward. Maznah was a practising Muslim, but Lily and Edward had a Christian upbringing. Lily had her early education at St. Mary’s Mission School in Kuching, Sarawak until she was eight years old and continued her study at Raffles Girls’ School in Singapore.

After her father's death, Lily returned to Kuching with her mother and continued her study until Standard Seven (equivalent to Form Three, age 15) at St. Mary’s Mission School. Her father's death completely changed her family's lifestyle. Lily had to adjust to a Muslim Malay upbringing, denoted by the addition of Abdullah to her name. In an interview, her daughter, Hafsah Harun, explained that her mother’s upbringing was different from that of other Malay girls. Having had a European lifestyle in Singapore, when she returned to Kuching she missed her previous freedom and found it difficult to start covering her head and be confined to the house. She had been accustomed to having male servants to serve her when her father was still alive in Singapore, but back in Kuching she had to serve her uncles. Furthermore, being an educated woman she was very outspoken and independent. Lily converted to Islam in 1913. Her knowledge about her new religion impressed her neighbours, to the extent that many people in the village sent their sons to Lily to learn to read the Quran. This gesture showed that the people in the village trusted her and respected her highly as women were rarely consulted for religious teaching in that era. She had become accepted, and identified herself, as a Muslim Malay.

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