TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library

TRIBUTE TO TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN
wild in those days. He used to write letters to the Straits Echo
under the pseudonym of "Tunku Putra" and his present assumption
of "Putra" in his name was due to his bring known by that pet name
when he was a boy. My first direct impact with this independent
spirit was in connection with his nephew, the late Tunku Ozair,
a son of Tunku Ibrahim.
Tunku Ibrahim's sons were all high-spirited young men and their
father's independence was in them enhanced by the rebellious spirit
of modern youth. This involved them in frequent clashes with
Europeans in Kedah, some of whom were unable to shed the "Tuan
Besar" complex. As a result the Kedah Europeans resented the
pranks of the Ibrahim boys who, they felt, were unnecessarily
throwing their weight about. The climax came when Tunku Ozair
was involved in a fight with some Indians culminating in the shooting
of one of them in a coffee-shop. The C.P.O. and others made much
of the case and, in the outcome, Ozair was sentenced to a term of
imprisonment. Rahman was very upset as Ozair was one of his
favourite nephews and on his next visit to Penang, he told me about
it when we met. To me the answer was simple. I advised Rahman
to get on the next train to Singapore - there were no planes in those
days - and go and see the High Commissioner, Sir Shenton Thomas.
[ suggested to him that he should ask Sir Shenton a simple question,
namely whether if the grandson of the ruling sovereign of Great
Britain had been guilty of the same offence, he would have been sentenced
to imprisonment in a common gaol. Rahman did not sec
Sir Shenton Thomas but instead saw the lawyer, Sir Roland Bradell,
and in the appeal which followed, the sentence was confirmed.
Rahman then saw the Regent of Kedah and the gaol sentence was
amended to one of banishment, and Ozair left for Denmark, his
wife's home country.
Tunku Muhammud, who had succeeded Tunku Ibrahim as
Regent, was a mild personage with little of the fighting spirit of his
elder brother and it was left to the youngest of the old Sultan's sons
to show that spirit on behalf of his nephew. This, to my mind, was
an outstanding early sign of the make-up that blossomed as the
Prime Minister of independent Malaya. The then Mentri Besar of
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