TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library

G. H. KIAT
and once that he must help make his country his own. This may be
the dominant factor that rules his life when he takes up the rein
of UMNO.
There are three poignant, vital, important and outstanding
events in the history of this country that will ever be remembered
by this and many generations to come and with each of these, the
Tunku has played a leading and an important part. The accomplishment
of such events of tremendous value were not thought possible
at one time and none could conjecture that they could be realised
so quickly and in such a short space of time.
Where Dato Onn failed, the Tunku succeeded in linking together
loosely the different communal parties and formed in 1952 the
Alliance of UMNO, the Malayan Chinese Association and the
Malayan Indian Congress. This was, undoubtedly, a real, hard and
tough task, but with true leadership and diplomacy, it became an
accomplished fact. Having done this, he led the Alliance and won
a sweeping election victory by capturing fifiy-one out of fifty-two
seats in the Federal Legislative Assembly - a world record by any
standard. After having gained power and recongnition in the
Federal Government, he worked with might and main to resolve,
as far as possible, the various conflicts of interest between the Malays
and the Chinese by demanding Mcrdeka, thus providing a common
objective to all parties. In his quiet, simple and modest way, he
succeeded in accomplishing what his fiery predecessor, Dato Onn
failed to do - the Federation of Malaya.
Then came the long-drawn struggle with the men in the jungle,
commonly known as the Communists. These were long years of
despair, with great loss of lives on the side of or those serving the
Government, the disrupt of trade and business and the ordinary
run of life of the people. It was considered and thought in certain
quarters that, in order to alleviate the sufferings of the people and
to bring life to normalcy, the Government should seek peace or come
to terms with the enemies in the jungle at any price, if necessary.
The meeting of the Tunku and Chin Peng is still fresh in our memory
and also the term and strong stand that the Tunku took in the
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