Thursday, February 08, 2007

Tunku Abdul Rahman

Today February 8 is Tunku Abdul Rahman's 104th birthday.


He passed away on December 6, 1990 and left behind the legacy of independence for Malaysia and freedom to pursue our dreams for a better place under the sun. He was the self-declared "happiest prime minister of the world". (Correction: "happiest prime minister in the world")


Don't think any other Malaysian prime minister can lay claim to that title anymore. One continues to grumble while the other tends to fumble.


More than the man who led us to Independence and cried out Merdeka seven times in Stadium Merdeka on August 31, 1957, Tunku Abdul Rahman was humble and a regular person like us - the typical laid-back Malaysian with a great sense of right and wrong and a penchant for life's pleasures.


Is Malaysia where he thought it would be 50 years after independence?


Were the ideals of the young nation of Malaya metamorphising into Malaysia six years later the same ideals we cherish and pursue?


We wonder! And invite your thoughts on this matter as day turns to night and our thoughts turn to the Tunku and Merdeka.





3 comments:

Anonymous said...

He was the self-declared "happiest prime minister of the world".

...u forgot the last part..."because tun razak was his deputy."

tun razak subsequently plotted against him. crown prince syndrome evident throughout history the world over.

nice post btw.

Anonymous said...

What rubbish.

TAR enacted the Internal Security Act in August 1960, which saw mass detentions by the thousands, of Chinese accused of assisting or being Communists or the Left.

Mat Merah said...

freelunch2020, first a mistake on my part.. he was the self-declared "happiest prime minister in the world".

On that note, not because of Tun Abdul Razak Hussein being his deputy but the racial harmony generated then.

But of course, the Malaysian political landscape is littered with crown and clown princes plotting against the throne - though I would think that Tun Hussein Onn did not have the opportunity to do so with Tun Razak's untimely demise.

Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman's recent biography The Reluctant Politician is a good read on the subject.

anonymous, indeed TAR and his Alliance colleagues enacted the Internal Security Act in August 1960 that deprived thousands of their liberty and Malayans and now Malaysians the opportunity to participate in the Cultural Revolution of 1966.

We do have a responsibility of recycling rubbish, you know ;)