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PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA
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d Tunku Abdul Rahman was born on February 8, 1903, in Alor Setar, Kedah.
d He was born in the "Istana Tiga Tingkat" of the Three-Storey Palace which
looked like a pagoda in the palace complex known as Dalam Kota.
d Tunku was the twentieth child of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, the
twenty-fourth ruler of Kedah.
d Tunku's mother was Che Manjalara, the fourth wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid.
d Tunku ran outside the palace enclosure to play with boys of his own age
who lived in the town.
d His mother strongly disapproved of it but she was too preoccupied with
caring for the Sultan and Tunku's nurses were unable to control him.
d At that time cholera and malaria were very common all over Kedah and at
least two of Tunku's brother and an elder sister died from cholera while
Tunku himself suffered from intermittent attacks of malaria until he left for
London in 1920.
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d Dhen Tunku was four years old, he was vaccinated.
Although he tried to elude his mother's servants, he
was finally caught and taken to his grandmother's
room where the painful inoculation took place.
d Dhen Tunku was nine years old, he was circumcised
together with seven other boys who were his
playmates from town.
d The event took place in a room in the palace complex.
The Royal Circumciser performed the minor
operations in only a few seconds but the healing was
slow.
d All the patients, including Tunku, remained in the
palace for three weeks. Malay and Javanese shadow
plays were performed nightly for their entertainment.
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d Tunku received his early education at the Debsurin School, Bangkok
and Penang Free School.
d On a Kedah Government scholarship, he went on to study at St.
Catherine's College, Cambridge University, where he received his
Bachelor of Arts in law and history in 1925.
d His leadership flair also unfolded in England. Realising the Malay
students there were not represented by any organisation, he
established the Kesatuan Melayu Great Britain (Malay Association
of Great Britain) and became its first secretary.
d He joined the Kedah Civil Service as a cadet in the Legal Advisor's
Office, and then district officer in several Kedah districts.
d His attempt at completing his law studies at the Inner Temple in
England in 1938 came to a halt due the outbreak of the Second
Dorld Dar. He resumed his studies eight years later and came home
with his legal qualifications in 1949.
 
d Abdul Rahman worked in the Kedah public service and was appointed as
District Officer of Kulim and Sungai Petani. In colonial Malaya, almost all
the District Officers were British. Abdul Rahman, who was the only Malay
District Officer at that time, had the people's interest at heart. This made
him cross swords with the British Administration many times.
d The British Administration in Kedah could not do anything as he was a
prince and the son of the Sultan. However, him angering the colonial
administration cost him many chances of promotion to higher offices.
d Some time later, he returned to England to complete his law studies at the
Inner Temple but was forced to stop in 1938. At the outbreak of Dorld
Dar II and he returned to Malaya.
d During the Japanese Occupation of Kedah, the Tunku was responsible for
saving many lives, both Malay and Chinese. He being of royal blood was
highly revered by the Japanese and could not be touched by them, and he
used this to his advantage. Many people from Kulim today lay claim to
owing their lives to the Tunku.
d He resumed his studies at the Inner Temple in 1947. And in 1949, he
qualified for the Bar. During this period, Abdul Rahman met Abdul Razak
Hussein . He was elected president of the Malay Society of Great Britain.

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d After his return to Malaya in 1949, Abdul Rahman was first
posted at the Legal Officer's office in Alor Star. He later asked to
be transferred to Kuala Lumpur, where he became a Deputy
Public Prosecutor. He was later appointed as president of the
Sessions Court.
d During this period, nationalism was running high among the
Malays, with Datuk Onn Jaafar leading the United Malays
National Organisation (UMNO) in the struggle against Britain's
Malayan Union
d Abdul Rahman joined UMNO and became active in Malayan
nationalist politics. He was popular and later became head of the
Kedah branch of UMNO.
d In August 1951 an internal crisis in UMNO forced Datuk Onn
Jaafar to resign as party president. Abdul Rahman was elected as
the new president, eventually holding the post for 20 years.
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d In 1954, Abdul Rahman led a delegation to London to seek independence for
Malaya. The British were reluctant to grant independence, using the excuse that
there needed to be evidence that the different races in Malaya were able to work
together and cooperate before independence could be obtained.
d Race relations was the cause of Onn Jaafar stepping down. He wanted UMNO to be
open to the Chinese and Indians but UMNO members were not ready to accept
this. His successor, Abdul Rahman saw a way around this by forming a political
alliance with the Malayan Chinese Association called the Alliance Party.
d The coalition proved to be popular among the people. The Alliance was later
joined by the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) in 1955, representing the Indian
community.
d In the same year, the first federal general election was held, and the Alliance Party
( Parti Perikatan) won fifty-one out of the fifty-two seats contested. Abdul Rahman
was selected as Malaya's first Chief Minister.
d Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaiming Malayan independence.
d Later in 1955 Abdul Rahman, along with Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock and Tun V. T.
Sambanthan, made a trip to London to negotiate Malayan independence, and 31
August 1957 was decided as the date for independence.
d Dhen the British flag was lowered in Kuala Lumpur on independence day, Abdul
Rahman led the crowd in announcing "Merdeka!" (Independence).
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d After making Islam the official religion in 1960, Abdul Rahman
established the Islamic Delfare Organisation (PERKIM), an
organisation to help Muslim converts adjust to new lives as
Muslims. He was President of PERKIM until a year before his
death.
d In 1961 Malaysia hosted the first International Qur'an Recital
Competition, an event that developed from Abdul Rahman's idea
when he organised the first state-level competition in Kedah in
1951.
d On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Abdul Rahman stated in the
9 February 1983 edition of the newspaper m
 that the
"country has a multi-racial population with various beliefs.
d Malaysia must continue as a secular State with Islam as the
official religion." In the same issue of m
, Abdul Rahman
was supported by the third Malaysian Prime Minister, Hussein
Onn, who stated that the "nation can still be functional as a
secular state with Islam as the official religion."

 

d Abdul Rahman dominated the politics of independent Malaya (which became Malaysia in
1963), and led the Alliance to landslide wins in the 1959, and 1964 general elections.
d In 1961 he made a speech at the Foreign Correspondents Association of Southeast Asia in
Singapore, proposing a federation Malaya, Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei. On 16
September 1963, with the federation of all these states except Brunei, Abdul Rahman was
formally restyled Prime Minister of Malaysia.
d The racial factor was worsened with the inclusion of Singapore, which increased the
Chinese proportion to more than 40%. Both UMNO and the MCA were nervous about the
possible appeal of Lee Kuan Yew's People's Action Party (PAP, then seen as a radical
socialist party) to voters in Malaya, and tried to organise a party in Singapore to challenge
Lee's position there. Lee in turn threatened to run PAP candidates in Malaya at the 1964
federal elections, despite an earlier agreement that he would not do so (see PAP-UMNO
relations). This provoked Abdul Rahman to demand that Singapore withdraw from
Malaysia.
d On 7 August 1965, Abdul Rahman announced to the Parliment of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur
that it should vote yes on the resolution to have Singapore leave the Federation,
Singapore's secession and independence became official on 9 August 1965.
d At the 1969 general election, the Alliance's majority was greatly reduced. Demonstrations
following the elections sparked the May 13 racial riots in Kuala Lumpur. Some UMNO
leaders led by Tun Abdul Razak were critical of Abdul Rahman's leadership during these
events, and an emergency committee MAGERAN took power and declared a state of
emergency.
 
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d Being an avid sportsman, Tunku Abdul Rahman was a firm
believer that sports can be a good catalyst in bringing about
greater social unity among Malaysians of various races and
religions. Therefore he supported and initiated many sports
events.
d One of the events Tunku initiated was an international
football tournament, the Pestabola Merdeka (Independence
Football Festival) in 1957.
d The following year, he was elected as the first president of
Asian Football Confederation (AFC), a post he held until
1976.
d Tunku also loved horse racing and was a regular at the
Selangor Turf Club. He claimed that his lucky number is 13,
and that he would win horse races that were held on the
13th of the month, especially on Friday the 13th for him.
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d In 1977, having acquired substantial shares in The Star, a Penang-based
newspaper, Abdul Rahman became the newspaper's Chairman. His columns,
"Looking Back" and "As I See It", were critical of the government.
d In 1987 Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad banned the newspaper. This led to a
split in UMNO, with Abdul Rahman and another former Prime Minister, Tun
Hussein Onn, setting up a new party called UMNO Malaysia, but its registration
was quashed by Mahathir Mohamad, who set up his own UMNO Baru ("New
UMNO").
d Abdul Rahman later supported Semangat 46, a splinter group of UMNO led by
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. He campaigned actively for the latter in the General
election of 1990, but was already in very poor health.
d The well-educated, visionary Tunku clashes with Mahathir's brand of nationalism
that was meant to help the economically and socially stunted Malays of Malaysia
(allegedly due to the effect of colonial British 'divide and rule' system).
 

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d Tunku Abdul Rahman was appointed to the Order of
the Companions of Honour (CH) by Queen Elizabeth II
in 1961.
d He was appointed an honorary Companion of the
Order of Australia in 1987.
d Tunku Abdul Rahman Stamp Issues: In 1991, he
adorned part of the collection of Past Prime Ministers
of Malaysia stamps issue.
d In 2003, stamps of Tunku Abdul Rahman were issued
to commemorate his 100th birthday anniversary and
to pay tribute to him as he was the first prime
minister of Malaysia since Malaysia became an
independent nation in 1957.
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d Tunku Abdul Rahman died on
6 December 1990 at the age
of eighty-seven, and was laid
to rest at the Langgar Royal
Mausoleum in Alor Star.
 


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