Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah II was a Malaysian politician who served as the first Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955 to 1957, before becoming Malaya's first Prime Minister after independence in 1957.
Background
Tunku Abdul Rahman was born on 8 February 1903, at Istana Pelamin Palace in Alor Setar, Kedah, the seventh son and one of 45 children of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, the twenty-fifth ruler of the Kedah Sultanate.
Tunku's mother was Che Manjalara (Nueang Nandanagara), a Thai, and the fourth wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid; she was the daughter of Luang Naraborirak (Kleb Nandanagara), a district officer in Thailand. At that time, cholera and malaria were very common all over Kedah and at least two of Tunku's brothers and his older sister died from cholera while Tunku himself suffered from intermittent attacks of malaria until he left for London in 1920.
Education
He received early education at the Alor Setar Malay Primary School before furthering his studies at the government English school, Sultan Abdul Hamid College. He and his fellow siblings were later sent by his parents to Debsirin School in Bangkok. He returned home in 1915 to continue his education at the Penang Free School.
In furtherance of their objective of developing tin mines and rubber plantations, the British encouraged immigration of laborers from China and India while protecting the indigenous Malay culture and institutions. This paternalistic policy made it possible for Tunku Abdul Rahman to study at Cambridge for the better part of 12 years, beginning when he was 16 years old
Career
Tunku Abdul Rahman was 54 years old when, on August 31, 1957, he accepted from the Queen's representative documents which formally granted independence and sovereignty to the Federation of Malaya. His life up to that point had prepared him well for a position of national leadership.
Kedah is one of nine Malay states which Great Britain had controlled, along with the "Straits of Settlements" of Singapore, Malacca, and Penang, since early in the 19th century.
This experience, and his subsequent tenure with the Kedah state civil service, foretold his participation in the slowly developing and moderate Malayan nationalist movement.
Upon returning in 1949 from another stay in England, during which he completed his legal studies, Tunku Abdul Rahman became chairman of the Kedah Branch of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the political party which served as the major vehicle of anti-colonial sentiment.
When the Tunku accepted the national presidency of the UMNO in 1951 he became the leading exponent of Malayan nationalism. Communal Tensions a Persistent Problem Malaya's large Chinese and Indian populations were not assimilated into Malay culture, and the uneasy relations among Malays, Chinese, and Indians have been a fundamental and persistent societal problem.
The fact that the Malayan Communist Party, which abandoned guerrilla tactics in the early 1966, had a predominantly Chinese membership aggravated interethnic tensions. In 1969 the simmering communal conflict boiled over when, in the aftermath of parliamentary elections, bands of armed Malays and Chinese attacked one another and generally caused considerable property damage and some loss of life. It was the most severe crisis of the Tunku's tenure as prime minister, and he described the anguish it caused him in his book May 13: Before and After.
Although neither he nor any other person could engineer racial harmony and prevent violence, Tunku Abdul Rahman strove for conciliation. As one authoritative account put it, he was "liked and respected by members of all communities and considered honest, fair, and tolerant. "
Foreign Affairs a Major Activity Once Malaya became independent the British sought to disengage from other colonial territories in the region. By 1963 it had been determined that this would be achieved through the concept of Malaysia, which by then was strongly supported by Tunku Abdul Rahman.
In September 1963 Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah were joined together in the new nation-state of Malaysia. In that form it was short-lived, for the UMNO leadership felt that Singapore's well-organized political elite was excessively ambitious.
In August 1965 the Tunku informed first Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister of Singapore, and then the Malaysian Parliament that Singapore was being separated from Malaysia and would become an independent nation-state. Neither the separation of Singapore nor the bitterly anti-Malaysia position adopted by Indonesia's President Sukarno prevented Tunku Abdul Rahman from pursuing a policy of regional cooperation.
Having participated in the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asia in 1961, the Tunku supported the expansion of the association in 1967 to include Singapore and Indonesia. The organization thus formed, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, joined those two countries with Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and, later, Brunei in a vigorous and durable regional grouping. In addition, the Tunku's commitment to constructive participation in the British Commonwealth as well as his active interest in international Islamic affairs established the basic parameters of Malaysian foreign policy.
In 1970 Tunku Abdul Rahman relinquished the leadership of UMNO, and with it the position of prime minister, to his close associate, Tun Abdul Razak. After his retirement the Tunku's ability to enjoy certain of his favorite forms of recreation, such as golf and travel, was impaired by physical problems, but he took conspicuous pleasure in time spent with his family.
As the "grand old man" of Malaysian public affairs, he also made occasional public appearances, such as his speech dedicating the new Malaysian Chinese Association headquarters building in early 1983.
He also wrote a weekly newspaper column under the title "As I See It" and thus continued to add to his enormous influence on political and social life in Malaysia. Tunku, who led Malaysia in winning independence from Britain in 1957 and served 13 years as its first prime minister, died December 6, 1990. He was 87.
Achievements
He was the first prime minister of the Federation of Malaya, and later of Malaysia. He was considered the "father of the nation. " For decades Malaysians have referred to their country's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, simply as "the Tunku. " The title, literally meaning "my lord, " is shared by several other Malay aristocrats; but it is a clear indication of his stature as "father of the nation" that only Tunku Abdul Rahman is "the Tunku. "
While in England the Tunku helped establish and became secretary of the Malay Society of Great Britain.
Foreign Affairs a Major Activity Once Malaya became independent the British sought to disengage from other colonial territories in the region.
Politics
Upon returning in 1949 from another stay in England, during which he completed his legal studies, Tunku Abdul Rahman became chairman of the Kedah Branch of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the political party which served as the major vehicle of anti-colonial sentiment.
The Tunku is credited with devising the formula whereby political organizations representing the Chinese and Indian communities joined with UMNO to constitute the Alliance Party. The Alliance, or, as it came to be called after other parties were invited to join it in the early 1976, the National Front, was the government party after independence.
Its most one-sided electoral victory occurred in 1955 in the first federal elections, when 51 of 52 elected representatives were Alliance candidates. In the years leading up to independence the Tunku was involved in government efforts to suppress a Communist insurgency known as "the emergency. "
Views
Quotations:
On 9 August, Tunku made his first broadcast to the nation from an old wooden structure at Young Road, Kuala Lumpur. During the broadcast, he said:
“I am very determined to strive for self-government and Independence as soon as possible by constitutional means. Others have been obliged to fight the colonial power before they achieved their freedom and this will not be necessary in Malaya.
The Alliance has proved that they have the support of at least 80 per cent of adult population, and that the three principal communities worked closely together at all levels to win the election. I will take the opportunity to ask the new Secretary of State for the Colonies to arrange for constitutional talks in London as soon as possible since the present Federal Constitution is now workable during his visit to Kuala Lumpur.
The Malayan Emergency continues to obstruct progress and swallow up funds that should be used for development and I will try my best to end the Emergency through a fresh initiative. Finally, I assure government officers who belong to other political parties that they have no reason to fear official disfavor. "
Membership
While in England the Tunku helped establish and became secretary of the Malay Society of Great Britain.
Connections
Tunku married at least four times. It was in Kulim that Tunku married his first wife, Meriam Chong who was the daughter of his friend, Chong Ah Yong, a Thai Chinese. Soon after Meriam's conversion to Islam, she learnt to pray, and when the fasting month began, she persuaded Tunku to do so too. A year after their marriage, Tunku's daughter Tunku Khadijah was born. A year later, a son Tunku Ahmad Nerang was born. A month after Meriam gave birth to her second child, she contracted a severe attack of malaria and died from a medical blunder, an injection of undiluted quinine.
On Meriam's death, Tunku wrote a letter to his former landlady in England, Violet Coulson. When the news of Meriam's death reached Violet, she dropped everything and turned up in Singapore. They were secretly married by the Kadi in the Malay mosque in Arab Street according to Muslim rites. After conversion, Violet's Muslim name was Puteh Bte Abdullah. Violet went to live in Penang because they had no approval of the Ruler or Regent. Tunku Ibrahim, the Regent, was strongly opposed to mixed marriages, but when he died unexpectedly in 1934 and was succeeded as Regent by Tunku Mahmud, the Sultan's younger brother, he consented to the marriage. Though their marriage went well, Tunku's responsibilities in the public service were all-consuming and after a separation where Violet returned to London, they were divorced amicably in 1947.
He then married Sharifah Rodziah Syed Alwi Barakbah, with whom he had no children but they adopted four, Sulaiman, Mariam, Sharifah Hanizah (granddaughter) and Faridah.
Wanting to have more children of his own, he secretly married another Chinese woman named Bibi Chong, who converted upon marriage. He had two daughters with her, Tunku Noor Hayati and Tunku Mastura.
