Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, AC,

CH (February 8, 1903 – December 6, 1990) was Chief Minister of the Federation of

Malaya from 1955, and the country's first Prime Minister from independence in 1957. He

remained as the Prime Minister after Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore joined the

federation in 1963 to form Malaysia. He is widely known simply as "Tunku" (a princely

title in Malaysia) and also called Bapa Kemerdekaan (Father of Independence) or Bapa

Malaysia (Father of Malaysia),

Tunku Abdul Rahman was born on February 8 , 1903, in Alor Setar, Kedah. He was

born in a building known as the "Istana Tiga Tingkat" of the Three-Storey Palace which

looked like a pagoda in the palace complex known as Dalam Kota. Tunku was the

twentieth child of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, the twenty-fourth ruler of Kedah.

Tunku's mother was Che Manjalara, the fourth wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid. Together

with his mother and her other children, Tunku lived in the pagoda. As soon as he was

old enough, Tunku ran outside the palace enclosure to play with boys of his own age

who lived in the town. 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.

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.

When 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 innoculation took place. When Tunku was six years old , one day , as he was

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toasting keropok (fish fritters) in his mother's kitchen , a lit fragment of firewood fell on

his left ankle and burnt him. It was extremely painful. Tunku, wishing to conceal the

accident from his mother, wrapped a cloth around his ankle and hoped that it would

heal. But the wound turned septic and it was three years before it healed completely

and Tunku was able to resume his football games outside the palace. When Tunku was

nine years old, he was circumcised together with seven other boys who were his

playmates from town. 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. All the patients, including Tunku, remained in the palace for three weeks. Malay

and Javanese shadow plays were performed nightly for their entertainment.

Tunku's formal education started when he was about six years old at the only Malay

elementary school in Alor Setar. His mother had hoped that the school would keep him

out of mischief but he often ran away from class. When a small English medium school

was opened by a teacher named Mohamad Iskandar, Tunku's mother sent him there

instead. In the afternoon, Tunku was taught to read the Quran. When Tunku's eldest

brother. Tunku Yusuf returned to Alor Setar from England, he realized that Tunku was

not making any progress in his studies. He decided to take Tunku with him to Bangkok

by sea from Singapore in 1913. In Bangkok, Tunku was admitted to the Debsurin

School, where lessons were taught in Siamese. Tunku was never lonely because he

possessed an unrivaled capacity for making friends with people of all communities. His

best friend was Tavil Guptarak. They attended the same school and were inseparable.

Tunku Yusuf spent his time on military operations againts bandits. In 1915 , he

contracted pneumonia in the jungle and died on his return to the Siamese capital. Tunku

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then returned to Kedah accompanied by his brother's widow. His mother then sent him

to study in the Penang Free School. It was that Tunku began to developed a keen

interest in his studies and twice obtained a double promotion.

When Tunku was 16, he was awarded a scholarship which allowed him to further his

studies at Cambridge University. He managed to get a seat onboard an old 9,000-ton

cargo ship which carried only 12 people. Tunku boarded the vessel in Singapore. When

the ship loaded cargo in the Klang River, Tunku contracted a fresh infection of malaria.

He had high fever during the voyage and barely recovered when the ship arrived at

Tillbury on June 1 , 1920. Here , a representative named Eccles met him to take him to

his temporary new home in Little Stukeley near Huntingdon. The Rev. Edgar Vigers, the

elderly Rector of the parish, lived in a brick Recotry which was three storeys high. He

supplemented his income by tutoring teenage boys who needed coaching before they

sat for a variety of minor examinations. He had registered his name with his Crown

Agents, and they sent him some students, including Tunku. Most of the boys were

English but when Tunku arrived, there were three siamese boys.

Abdul Rahman married at least four times. By his first wife, a Thai Chinese woman

named Meriam Chong, he had Tunku Khadijah and Tunku Ahmad Nerang. On Meriam's

death, he married his former landlady in England, Violet Coulson. He was ordered to

divorce her by the Regent of Kedah.

He then married Sharifah Rodziah Syed Alwi Barakbah, with whom he adopted four

children, Sulaiman, Mariam, Sharifah Hanizah (granddaughter) and Faridah.

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Wanting to have more children of his own, he secretly married another Chinese lady

named Bibi Chong who converted upon marriage. He had two daughters with her,

Tunku Noor Hayati and Tunku Mastura. [

Upon his return home, 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.

However, 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.

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 World War II, he returned to Malaya.

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.

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 (later known as Datuk

and Tun). He was elected president of the Malay Society of Great Britain, and Abdul

Razak, then twenty-six, was his secretary.

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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.

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 (see History of Malaysia). Abdul Rahman joined UMNO and

became active in Malayan nationalist politics. He was popular and later became head of

the Kedah branch of UMNO.

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.

In 1954, Abdul Rahman led a delegation to London to seek independence for Malaya,

but the trip proved to be unfruitful. 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.

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. 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.

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In the same year, the first federal general election was held, and the Alliance Party

(Perikatan) won fifty-one out of the fifty-two seats contested. Abdul Rahman was

selected as Malaya's first Chief Minister. Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaiming Malayan

independence.

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. When the British flag was

lowered in Kuala Lumpur on independence day, Abdul Rahman led the crowd in

announcing "Merdeka!" (independence). Photographs of Abdul Rahman raising his

hand, and recordings of his emotional but determined voice leading the cheers, have

become familiar icons of Malaysian independence.

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.

The formation of Malaysia was one of Abdul Rahman's greatest achievements. 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.

However, 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

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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.

On 7 August 1965, Abdul Rahman announced to the Parliament of Malaysia in Kuala

Lumpur that it should vote yes on the resolution to have Singapore leave the

Federation, choosing to "sever all ties with a State Government that showed no

measure of loyalty to its Central Government" as opposed to the undesirable method of

repressing the PAP for its actions. Singapore's secession and independence became

official on 9 August 1965.

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.

Abdul Rahman's powers as Prime Minister were severely curtailed, and on 22

September 1970, he was forced to resign as Prime Minister in favour of Abdul Razak.

He subsequently resigned as UMNO President in June 1971, in the midst of severe

opposition of the 'Young Turks' comprising party rebels such as Mahathir Mohammad

and Musa Hitam. The duo later became Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of

Malaysia respectively.

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After making Islam the official religion in 1960, Abdul Rahman established the Islamic

Welfare 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. 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.

On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Abdul Rahman stated in the The Star newspaper

of 9 February 1983 that the "country has a multi-racial population with various beliefs.

Malaysia must continue as a secular State with Islam as the official religion." In the

same issue of The Star, 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."[1]

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.

One of the events Tunku initiated was an international football tournament, the

Pestabola Merdeka (Independence Football Festival) in 1957. The following year, he

was elected as the first president of Asian Football Confederation (AFC), a post he held

until 1976.

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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.

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, and 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"). 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. 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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CONCLUSION

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. His Political Involvement bring a lot of

changes in our country. He is the one “Bapa Merdeka”. His challenging life must be a

good lesson to the future youngest generation.

Awards and recognition

 In 1961, Tunku Abdul Rahman was appointed to the Order of the Companions of

Honour (CH) by Queen Elizabeth II, and was appointed an honorary Companion

of the Order of Australia in 1987.

 Tunku Abdul Rahman Stamp Issues: In 1991, he adorned part of the collection

of Past Prime Ministers of Malaysia stamps issue. 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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