TOKOH NEGARA

SEKOLAH JENIS KEBANGSAAN (TAMIL) MASAI,
JOHOR BAHRU, JOHOR

TOKOH NEGARA

TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

STUDENT DETAILS
NAME : MEGHNA CHAKRAVARTHY
CLASS : 6 VALLUVAR

TOKOH NEGARA

TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PUTRA AL-HAJ IBNI ALMARHUM SULTAN
ABDUL HAMID HALIM SHAH

FATHER OF INDEPENDENCE & FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA

BIOGRAPHY

 Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj was born on February 8, 1903 in Alor Star,
Kedah.

 Tunku was the 20th son of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halimshah, the 24th Sultan of
Kedah and his wife, the mother of Tunku Abdul Rahman named Nearng or better
known as Makche Menjalara. The beloved grandmother was a descendant of
Thai descent to Luang Nara Borirak (Kleb), a descendant of Chao Phya Maha
Kota, Head of Mataban State in the Siamese colony of Northern Shan Thailand.

 Tunku lived in the Old City Palace known as the 'Three Stair Palace'. Tunku's
nickname is 'Awang' due to his sweet black skin due to hot play while his father
called him by the name 'Putra'. He was the Prince of Kings who had many
brothers and sisters and a large number of relatives, but was not in the circle
who would inherit the throne of the state government.

 God has ordained him to be the leader of the people of the whole nation. His rule
was not based on heritage but on the people's choice.

 At the age of six years of study at one of the schools Melayu in Alor Star and
later school Government Bahasa Inggeris School.

 In 1913, when Tunku was ten years old, his mother sent him to Bangkok to live
with his eldest brother Tunku Yusuf who was working there. He was admitted to
Debsurin School.

 Later Tunku returned to Kedah and continued his studies at the Malay School in
1916, before entering the Penang Free School.

 When Tunku was seventeen years old, he was sent by his family overseas to
study at St. Catherine's College, University of Cambridge, England.

 Although not an academic record to be proud of, he was the first Malay from
Kedah who graduated from an English University in 1925 with a Bachelor's
degree in Law and History from the University of Cambridge.

 In 1926 he returned to Malaya, but four months later, Tunku Ibrahim's elder
brother, Raja Muda of Kedah when it was sent back to England to study law at
the Inner Temple, enabling her to qualify to become a lawyer or magistrate.

 Unfortunately Tunku was unable to focus his interest in law and failed to obtain
any qualifications and returned home five years later.

 In 1933, Tunku married a Chinese girl who converted to Islam and took the
name Meriam. They were blessed with two children, Tunku Khadijah and Tunku
Nerang.

CAREER

 Tunku began his career by serving as an Assistant District Officer, then District
Officer in several Districts in Kedah.

 In 1935, when Tunku was on duty in Kuala Nerang, he fought for the health and
medical conditions there to be improved, as the district was a hotbed of malaria.
Unfortunately, Tunku's wife herself contracted the disease and later died.

 As long as Tunku continued his law studies in England, in 1938, but during the
Second World War he had to return home and he was appointed District Officer
of Sungai Petani and then Kulim.

 Before that Tunku had married Violet Coulsan from England, but the match was
not long. In 1939 Sharifah Rodziah Binti Syed Alwi Barakhah. Their marriage
was happy, lasting until the end of Tunku's life.

 In 1940 Tunku was appointed Deputy Director of Civil Defense, South
Kedah. When Japan handed over Kedah to Thailand in 1941, Tunku was
appointed Supervisor of Education. He held this position until the British
regained power in Kedah and throughout the country.

 Driven by Tunku’s strong determination to go to England in 1947 to finish his
studies at the Inns of Court. Here he met Tun Abdul Razak who was much
younger than him. Tunku became the President of the French Union of the
United Kingdom and Tun Razak became the secretary.

 At the age of 46 Tunku managed to become a Barrister which is a relatively old
stage. He joked that he was the only student in the Inner Temple accepted to the
Bar after studying for 25 years.

 After the end of the world war the Second Tunku also joined politics against the
Malayan Union and raised awareness towards independence. Along with other
leaders in Umno, he tried to unite the power of the Malays.

 UMNO has been established led by Datuk Onn Jaafar to meet the requirements
of Malay nationalism, but in some cases the policies, Tunku did not agree with
the opinion that there is.

 Returning home, he moved to Kuala Lumpur to become Deputy Public
Prosecutor under the Federal Law Department and later President of the
Session Court. But political developments within UMNO and beyond are very
rapid as if waiting for a certain leader to lead it.

 In August 1951 there was a crisis in UMNO which caused Datuk Onn to resign
as Yang Dipertua.

 At that time there were several UMNO figures who could take Datuk Onn's place,
but the existing party leaders agreed on Tunku's body. With that, be the Tunku
Yang Dipertua. The 2nd UMNO arrived 20 years later.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND STRUGGLES

 At the beginning of Tunku's leadership, the most important task was to foster
cooperation between the races and reach agreement on the basic matters for
the governance of an independent country.

 Tunku working with confidence, patience and resignation to unite the clans in
addition to maintaining the integrity of the Malays and the Malaysian Chinese
Association (Malayan Chinese Association) which was established in 1952 in the
areas of non-Malay majority. As a result, the UMNO-MCA "Alliance" has given
victory to both.

 Ahead of the 1955 elections the Alliance is accompanied by the MIC (Malaysian
Indian Congress) as representing the Indians.

 With the organization of this Alliance all the important races were represented in
one of the largest political bodies moving towards independence.

 A consensus that was once difficult to reach because the parties did not have a
common opinion, can now be resolved by consensus within the Alliance. Posed
the question of citizenship of non-Malays which require greater flexibility while
Malays maintain strict conditions.

 Other issues include the privileges of the Malays, the acceptance of Malay as
the national language and national basic education policy and Islam as the
official religion.

 Having reached an agreement on how to run the country, the Alliance leaders
submitted to the British Government. The Alliance's first expedition to London
was made in 1954 but was unsuccessful.

 In July 1955 the first general election was held in which the Alliance achieved a
resounding success by winning 51 of the 52 seats contested. With the majority
gained, the alliance brought another delegation to London, led by Tunku Abdul
Rahman as Chief Minister and Home Minister.

 As Chief Minister, Tunku did his best to end communist terrorism peacefully. On
September 9, 1955, he declared amnesty for surrendered communist terrorists.

 Following them, the Baling Talks held on 28 and 29 December 1955 between the
Communist Party of Malaya, was represented by Chin Peng Chin Tien and Pelita
Harapan University; with the Government represented by Tun Tan Cheng Lock
and Tunku.

 This negotiation failed. Chin Peng rejected Tunku's proposal for the communists
to lay down their arms unconditionally. The stronger Tunku's resolve to defeat
the communist terrorists.

 Five years later, the joint efforts of the entire people have succeeded in ending
the Emergency caused by communist terrorism.

 In 1956, Tunku led a delegation to London to negotiate with the British
Government on the Independence of Malaya, which consists of four
representatives of the Malay Rulers and four representatives of the Alliance, can
persuade the British Government to set a date of August 31, 1957 independence.

 On August 30, 1957, at the Selangor Club field, when the clock strikes 12
midnight, Malayan flag was raised, takes the place of the Union Jack. Early the
next morning, 31 August, at the Merdeka Stadium, Tunku read the Declaration of
Independence. In both cases, shouting "Merdeka!" from Tunku resounded
happily by thousands of people there and millions more who followed the radio
broadcast.

 After the country became independent in 1957 and Tunku Abdul Rahman
became the first Prime Minister, efforts were made to strengthen the country's
governance through people's unity and economic progress.

 The first Malaya Plan, started in 1956, was aimed at filling independence with
development.

 In 1960, a state of emergency that had been running for 12 months was declared
over. Earlier, in December, 1955, negotiations were held between Tunku and
others with the leaders of the Malayan Communist Party to resolve the
hostilities.

 When the communists did not agree to dissolve their party, the Alliance refused
to negotiate with them altogether.

 In terms of foreign relations, the Alliance Government under the leadership of
Tunku tried to make peace with all countries but rejected friendship with
Communist countries looking at the Communist threat inside the country.

 Malaya participate actively in international politics, sucah as member of United
Nations and member of the British Commonwealth, take a stand against
apartheid South Africa, to support the Palestinian cause and sent troops into
Congo when the civil war broke out there.

 For regional friendship, Tunku founded the ASA or Southeast Asian Organization
in 1961 with members from Malaya, the Philippines and Thailand. Later the
organization was dissolved to pave the way for the Establishment of ASEAN in
1967. In later years as well, relations with the communist bloc countries began to
be established.

 In September 1963, the country's territory was expanded with the Establishment
of Malaysia following Tunku's proposal that all the states under British rule in
Southeast Asia be merged into one Federation along with the already
independent Malaya. For his services, Tunku was given the title "Father of
Malaysia".

 In the establishment of Malaysia, there was unexpected opposition from the
Sukarno regime. Thus took place the Confrontation between the two allied
countries and ended only when the Sukarno regime was overthrown in October
1965 by the military. In addition, Malaysia faces claims over the Territory of
Sabah by the Philippine government that continue to this day.

 In a situation where the country faced threats from outside, there was a great
political upheaval in the country, involving the federal government under the
leadership of the Alliance with the Singapore government led by the PAP.

 The PAP leadership waged extensive campaigns at home and abroad to
discredit the central government. As a result of hostilities between the Malays
and the Chinese people increasingly damn can reach dangerous levels. Tunku
decided to get rid of Singapore from Malaysia.

 By 1969, this racial tension, Tunku had reluctantly pardoned 11 young men (9 of
Chinese descent) who had been sentenced to death by the court for abetting the
enemy during the earlier Indonesian Confrontation. But Tunku's generosity has
been misunderstood by opposition parties as a weakness.

 The racist atmosphere erupted to its peak and erupted in the events of 13 May
1969.

 To restore the tense situation in the country, Parliament was suspended and on
it was established the National Movement Council,NMC.

 Tunku is still the Prime Minister but the director of NMC has been handed over to
Tun Abdul Razak.

 On 22 September 1970, Tunku resigned as Prime Minister, after receiving
assurance from the new leadership that the country would return to democracy
and Mageran was dissolved once peace was restored.

 In February 1971, Tunku no longer contested for the UMNO post.

 After retiring from the country's politics, Tunku left for Jeddah to hold the post of
the first Secretary General of the Islamic Secretariat.

 During his tenure, many efforts were made by Tunku to foster cooperation and
brotherhood between Islamic countries. Recommendations are made for the
progress of Muslims in the economic field such as the establishment of Islamic
banks, activities in the field of religion and culture.

 Tunku's interest in the advancement of Muslims and the religion of Islam is not
new. During his tenure as Prime Minister, he inspired Al-Quran competitions at
the state and international levels that made Malaysia famous.

 Back home, Tunku continued to be active in the field of propaganda to help the
non-Malays to Islam. Now Tunku leads PERKIM or the Malaysian Islamic
Welfare Organization.

 In the field of sports, Tunku is responsible for reviving the spirit of sports in the
country. He is the founder of the Merdeka Football Festival which is so popular
and well received by other countries in Asia.

 He was the President of the Football Association of Malaysia and the President
of the Asian Football Confederation. He himself loved to play football in his youth,
and before independence was President of the Football Association of Indonesia
and President of the Football Association of Selangor.

 In short, Tunku is a special person born to lead people in challenging situations
like in Malaysia.

 Leaders with extensive academic knowledge or eloquence may not be able to
navigate this country through the twists and turns of racism that require a lot of
wisdom and patience.

 Tunku does not have much knowledge, but his personality cultivates a sense of
confidence in those who accompany him. .

 Tunku resigned as Prime Minister on 22 September 1970 and as UMNO
President was announced on 24 January 1971 in the UMNO General Assembly.

 Tunku Abdul Rahman died on 6 December 1990 at the age of 87

 Among those who witnessed his last breath were Chief Secretary Tun Ahmad
Sarji, Prime Minister Mahathir, and a few others. The PM later ordered the Chief
Secretary to announce the death of Tunku.

 He was buried at the Langgar Royal Mausoleum in Alor Setar according to his
wish signed a day before his death.

THANK YOU