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1. Family and Childhood
Mahani Zainal Abidin was born on 11 April 1954 in Johor Bahru, the second of five children (Azmil, Mahani, Faizah, Zaidah and Adnan) to Zainal Abidin bin Haji Ahmad and Mahyon binti Haji Mohd. Amin. Mahani's family could trace their origins over several generations to their roots in Indonesia. Mahani's mother traced roots back to Sumatra, her father, who was a Bugis, to Sulawesi. Her paternal grandmother Hajah Rafeah binti Haji Jaafar, was of Chinese blood. Thus Mahani inherited a rich genetic mix, as is usual in the Malay Archipelago. In later years, Mahani was often taken to be other than Malay, generally as Japanese or Chinese.
The family had a long history of service to the state administration. Her maternal grandfather, Haji Mohd. Amin bin Amran, was Secretary to the Johor State Religious Department. Upon his retirement, he was appointed as the Head of the Melaka State Religious Department. Her father had passed the Senior Cambridge examinations, a significant feat in those days, and so was well positioned to serve the British Administration. Unlike the rest of the Federation which shared a common Civil Service, headed by the Chief Secretary to the Government, Johor was unique in that it had its own civil service whose officers could be posted to serve anywhere within the state of Johor, and were answerable to HRH Sultan of Johor. Zainal Abidin commenced his career as an Assistant District Officer in the Johor state civil service. His postings included Batu Pahat, Gelang Patah, Johor Bahru, Mersing, Muar, Pontian, Masai and Segamat. He held posts such as Administrative Officer (AO), Assistant District Officer (ADO), Collector of Land Revenue, District Officer (DO), as well as serving a year as Head of the Johor State Religious Department. He retired in 1977, as the District Officer of Batu Pahat. He was honoured with the award of Dato' Paduka Mahkota Johor (DPMJ) in 1970 for his services to the state.
Mahani did not always follow her parents as her father was posted to different places within the state. She only followed them to Segamat and Mersing. For the better part of her school life, she remained in Johor Bahru at the house of her paternal grandmother in Kampong Bahru....