Малайзияның тұңғыш премьер-министрі Тунку Абдул Рахман

Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970

Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah (; 8 February 19036 December 1990) was a Malaysian statesman and lawyer who served as the first prime minister of Malaysia and the head of government of its predecessor states from 1955 to 1970. He was the first chief minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955 to 1957. He supervised the independence process that culminated on 31 August 1957. As an independent Malaysia's first prime minister, he dominated the country's politics for the next 13 years. In 1963, he successfully incorporated the Federation of Malaya, British North Borneo (renamed Sabah), Sarawak, and Singapore into the state of Malaysia. However, tensions between the Malay and Chinese communities resulted in Singapore's expulsion in 1965. His poor performance during race riots in Kuala Lumpur in 1969 led to his resignation in 1970. Commonly known simply as "Tunku" (a Malay royal title), Abdul Rahman is widely regarded, even by his critics, as Malaysia's "founding father", the architect of Malayan independence and of the formation of Malaysia. As such, he is often referred to as Father of Independence (Bapa Kemerdekaan) or Father of Malaysia (Bapa Malaysia).

Tunku Abdul Rahman was born on 8 February 1903, in Alor Setar, Kedah, the seventh son and one of 45 children of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, the 26th ruler of the Kedah Sultanate. Tunku's mother was Cik Menyelara (Nueang Nandanagara), a Thai, and the sixth wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah; she was the daughter of Luang Naraborirak (Kleb Nandanagara), a district officer in Thailand. Cholera and malaria were very common in Kedah at the time 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. 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 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.

When Tunku was 17, he won the Kedah State Government scholarship to further his studies at Cambridge University. After about a year, Tunku realised that he was making very little progress in his studies. After a meeting with Mr. Ezekiel, his guardian, in the office of the Crown Agents, Ezekiel arranged for Tunku to move to Cambridge and to be taught by and live with Basil Atkinson. Atkinson was an experienced tutor and he also prepared Tunku to sit in a university entrance examination known as "Little Go". The following year, he took the entrance exams and he obtained high marks for all his papers with a Pass for the whole examination. He was accepted as an undergraduate at St Catharine's College, one of the colleges of the University of Cambridge, and graduated with a bachelor's degree of Arts in Law and History in 1925. Five years after sailing from Singapore, at the age of 23, he sailed home. The Crown Agents secured Tunku a berth in a passenger ship, which stopped at Penang. Tunku Ibrahim, the Regent, and his eldest brother was unhappy with Tunku's choice of degrees and he ordered Tunku to return to England to be admitted to the English Bar. On Tunku's initiative, the Malay Society of Great Britain was formed, with Tuanku Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan (later the 1st Yang Di Pertuan Agong) as president and Tunku Abdul Rahman of Kedah as Honorary Secretary and the driving force.

In January 1931, Tunku was appointed a Cadet in the Kedah Civil Service. He was responsible for the Civil Defence preparations implemented by district officers. Tunku was appointed Deputy Director of Air Raid Precautions for South Kedah. Tunku recognised the need to prepare for the evacuation of civilians in the event of an invasion and in 1941 he gave orders for the construction of six "Long Houses" made of round timber and with attap roofs on a low hill about two miles away from the town. Funds for this work had been refused by the State Secretariat and Tunku, therefore, invited donations from local town dwellers who would benefit if evacuations became necessary. By October 1941, British troops had prepared defensive positions in North Kedah. On the morning of 8 December 1941, the Invasion by the Japanese army began. The attack was quickly followed by the advance of General Yamashita's army which had landed unopposed on beaches near Songkla the previous night. A second assault force came ashore, unopposed, on the coast of Petani and advanced towards Betong and Kroh. A third but smaller force landed close to Kota Bahru in Kelantan despite vigorous opposition. Unaware of the extent of the Japanese attack, Tunku went to his office and ordered a general alert for his air wardens. Later that morning, he met the leading shopkeepers and advised them to evacuate their families to the "Long House". Tunku's eldest surviving brother, Tunku Badlishah, had succeeded Tunku Mahmud as Regent in 1937 when the latter died. He was now in control, since Sultan Abdul Hamid, although still alive, was incapacitated. At about 9 o'clock on the night of the invasion, Syed Omar telephoned Tunku and told him that the Regent had decided to evacuate the 77 year old Sultan to Penang, and thence to Singapore. Tunku disagreed with this decision, feeling the need for the Sultan to remain with his people, he absconded with him during the journey. Soon after, the Japanese began bombing Penang.

With the Japanese's bombing Penang, the Regent and his family fled. They were given accommodation in Sidim when the second and more severe bombing of Penang town took place on 11 December 1941, which caused hundreds of civilians to be killed. Upon returning, to Kulim, Tunku found out that all the Police were no longer on duty. Tunku's first concern was to prevent looting and he called all members of the disbanded Kedah Volunteer Force in Kulim to come to his assistance. These men formed a vigilante corps and Tunku arranged for them to patrol the town at night. He was also responsible for the acquiring of emergency food stores from the Government Rice Mill at Bagan Serai in Perak. By 16 December 1941, the Japanese army had occupied the west coast of Kedah, including all the main towns. The Japanese Military Governor of Kedah an assuming office appointed another of Tunku's brothers, Tunku Mohamed Jewa, to be a temporary Regent until the Sultan returned to Alor Setar. After much persuasion, Tunku reluctantly accepted the nomination. The UMNO Assembly met on 23 August 1951, where Tunku received 57 votes and his nearest rival had 11. In his acceptance speech, Tunku demanded that independence should be granted to Malaya as soon as possible. Tunku was still President of the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur, with daily duties to perform drawing a government salary and living in government quarters. Tunku informed the Chief Justice of his intention to resign from government service. In the eyes of the average UMNO member, Tunku was first and foremost the brother of the Sultan of Kedah, and a member of a royal house, which carried some prestige within Malaya. Tunku had acquired a wealth of experience as a district officer in Kedah, which enables him to understand and sympathise with the problems of the rural population, who made up a large proportion of the UMNO membership.

At the time of Onn Jaafar's resignation from the presidency of UMNO, he had predicted that the party would disintegrate within three months. But even before the end of that period, it became clear that although influential Chinese and some prominent Indians and Ceylonese had become members of Onn Jaafar's new party, very few Malays had done so. Tunku held and expressed the view that Malayan communities could not be united within a single political party. He believed that each community needs its political party and its political leaders, and he was proven to be right. The first trial of strength between all the rival political parties took place in January 1952.

Tunku became vice president of the Kedah Football Association after his return from Cambridge in the late 1930's. In 1949, Tunku became president of the Selangor Football Association, and a few years later he became president of the Football Association of Malaysia, serving in the position for 20 years. During his presidency, he introduced a competition for those under 18 years old such as the Piala FAM (FAM Cup) and the Piala Rahman (Rahman Cup). Being an avid sportsman, Tunku 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. These included an international football tournament, the Merdeka Tournament, in 1957. In the following year, he was elected as the president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), a post he held until 1977. Tunku also loved horse racing and was a regular at the Selangor Turf Club. He claimed that his lucky number was 13 and that he would win horse races that were held on the 13th of the month, especially on Friday the 13th for him. Tunku's racing interests included the champion racehorse Think Big. After it won the 1974 Melbourne Cup, Think Big's owners, Malaysian businessman Dato Tan Chin Nam, and Australian property developer Rick O'Sullivan, invited Tunku to join them as a part owner of the horse. Think Big then won its second Melbourne Cup in 1975. In 1977, having acquired substantial shares in The Star, a Penang based newspaper, he became the newspaper's chairman. His columns, "Looking Back" and "As I See It", were critical of the government, and in 1987, Mahathir Mohamad banned the newspaper. This led to a split in UMNO, with Tunku himself and another former Prime Minister, Hussein Onn, setting up a new party called UMNO Malaysia, but its registration was quashed by Mahathir, who set up UMNO Baru in response. Tunku later supported Parti Melayu Semangat 46, a splinter group of UMNO led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. He campaigned actively for the latter in the 1990 Malaysian general election, but was already in very poor health. The well educated, visionary Tunku stood in contrast to Mahathir's brand of ethnic nationalism, which promised to help Malays as part of the Ketuanan Melayu ideology.

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. 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. On Meriam's death, Tunku wrote to his lady friend in England, Violet Coulson, who ran a coffee shop that Tunku had frequented as a student. When Tunku's letter 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 have divorced amicably in 1947. He then married Sharifah Rodziah Syed Alwi Barakbah, with whom he adopted four children, Sulaiman, Mariam, Sharifah Hanizah (granddaughter), and Faridah. He also secretly married Bibi Chong and was given two children, Tunku Noor Hayati and Tunku Mastura. Tunku's house, located at 1 Jalan Changkat Kia Peng in Kuala Lumpur, was acquired by the Government of the Philippines in 1987 and now serves as the chancery of the Philippine Embassy in Malaysia.

The shape as well as the design of the Merdeka 118 tower resembles the silhouette of Tunku with his hand raised while chanting “Merdeka!” during the proclamation of the independence of Malaya on 31 August 1957.