TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library
TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library
TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library
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FRANCIS COORAY<br />
If the Tunku were an ambitious man, these two achievements<br />
alone would have already earned for him praise and glory sufficient<br />
to satisfy him. But he is made of sterner stuff and dominating all<br />
his political thinking is the fixed idea that the path along which he<br />
is leading Malaya shall lead nowhere but to the ultimate peace and<br />
prosperity of the Malayan nation. Therefore T am certain he will<br />
not want to rest from his labours until he feels sure in his own mind<br />
that the happiness and peace of the people whom he has sought to<br />
serve are firmly established on foundations which cannot easily be<br />
undermined by their enemies. Who those enemies are the Tunku<br />
has repeatedly and unequivocally announced for all the world<br />
to hear.<br />
This is not a biographical record but an appreciation of the<br />
achievements which are already to the Tunku's credit and a realistic<br />
survey of the tasks which lie ahead. For a proper appreciation of<br />
those tasks and the Tunku's ability to overcome the many problems<br />
connected with them it is necessary to hark back to the days when<br />
he appeared in the unaccustomed and unfamiliar role of a British<br />
government servant. It was also unpalatable to him because he<br />
came from Kedah where the British Civil Service was not always<br />
persona grata. In those days he might have, even occasionally,<br />
puzzled over the curious spectacle of the British in the Federated<br />
Malay States struggling to create a national movement. For at<br />
that time it was only in the F.M.S. that one saw the extraordinary<br />
sight of British officials more interested in the spread of the national<br />
flag, national anthem, a national army, a national police force<br />
and national schools than the people of the country themselves.<br />
At a critical moment in the history of their political evolution<br />
the Malay people needed the right leader. The Tunku stepped<br />
into the situation when they were almost on the brink of taking the<br />
wrong turning. If they had done so they would still be bogged<br />
down in a morass of inter-racial conflict.<br />
The Tunku took up the leadership at the moment when the<br />
minds of the Malays were confused and when realities faded away<br />
in the glittering illusions with which they were presented. Having