TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library

TRIBUTE TO TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN
occupation and Badlishah was Sultan. It was an open secret that the
two brothers did not see eye to eye. There is no need now to go into
their differences as they made it up over their father's grave when
Rahman was Chief Minister. But here again Tunku Abdul Rahman
showed the stuff of which he is made. When he felt there was no
room for him in his home state, he went back to London to complete
his examinations and be called to the Bar some twenty five years
after he enrolled as a student at Inner Temple. He then returned
to Malaya to take up a job as Deputy Public Prosecutor at Kuala
Lumpur.
Destiny, however, was knocking at his door. When Dato' Onn.
becoming impatient that the Malays would not keep pace with him
and change the name United Malay Nationalist Organisation to
United MALAYAN Nationalist Organisation, resigned from that
body, the Malays naturally turned to Tunku as their leader. Among
them was Dato' Abdul Razak, who was Secretary to Rahman's
President of the Malay Students' Association in London and well
knew his qualities of leadership. Tunku, who was merely kicking
his heels in his petty legal job, accepted the invitation to be President
of UMNO, and the evolution of the Alliance Party under his leadership
is recent history.
Rahman and 1 have always remained good friends. When he
introduces me to his new political and diplomatic friends, he says,
"This is Sara, the old scoundrel from Penang" and he immediately
turns it into a compliment by adding, "I was the biggest scoundrel in
Penang those days." Yes, the playboy Rahman of those Cambridge
dancing days and hectic Penang nights of Wembley and after has
today become to beloved leader of Malaya and a statesman of world
stature. Soon he will be Prime Minister of Malaysia - a new country
he has brought into being. May he be spared many years to guide
its destinies.
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