Zainal Abidin Ahmad (writer)

Tan Sri Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad or better known by the moniker Za'aba, was a Malaysian writer and linguist. He modernised the Malay language with the publication of a series of grammar books entitled Pelita Bahasa in 1936 at the Sultan Idris Training College. The book contained guidelines in modernising the structure of classical Malay, transforming it into the language that is in use today: the most significant change was the switch from the conventional passive to the modern active form of syntax. ^{Zainal Abidin Ahmad, Malaysian author and scholar (d. 1973)}

16 September 1895

Born on the same birth day (16 September): Aaron Gordon • Alessandro Nunziati • Andy Irvine (rugby union) • Colin Newman • Esther Vilar • Gabriel Christie (British Army officer) • Graham Haynes • James J. Hill • Karl Dönitz • Legedu Naanee • Mike Reynolds (Australian politician) • Robert Schuller • Ryan Thomson (footballer, born 1982) • Susan Ruttan • Wang Houjun

Born in the same month (September 1895): Engelbert Zaschka • Jacques Vaché • Joseph Banks Rhine • Magda Lupescu • Miron Merzhanov • Morris Kirksey • Paul Muni • Viswanatha Satyanarayana • Walter Koch (astrologer)