TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library

TRIBUTE TO TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN
the example of Thailand which had several hundred students in
the United Kingdom
At the same time he took up the question of an increase
in a student's allowance with the British Adviser and told him
bluntly that the amount given was not sufficient for a student
to move even in third-class English circles.
KEDAH CIVIL SERVICE
When he returned from England after his studies he joined
the Kedah Civil Service where he soon earned for himself the
soubriquet of "stormy petrel", because his views of what
constituted correct policy did not coincide with those of others
in higher places. His forthright manner of speaking, too, was
frowned upon.
Matters came to a head when he was District Officer at
Kuala Muda in Sungei Patani and took sides with the taxiowners
against the order from the Government for them to
amalgamate. He was on the verge of throwing up his post
and going off to England rather than go to Kulim at twentyfour
hours' notice, when wiser counsels prevailed. I was one of
those who made a special journey from Alor Star to see him
in his quarters at Sungei Patani, to dissuade him from leaving
for England. It was afternoon. The Tunku was resentful
and dejected, but I pointed out to him that those who opposed
him were in a position of strength and, what weighed with him
most, his Mother whom he loved dearly, was ill and would
feel his departure most deeply.
With the sweet reasonableness for which he is noted, the
Tunku decided to accept the transfer to Kulim which he afterwards
made into the happiest district in Kedah. "There is
nothing", he once remarked, "like a district". For him it
provided opportunities to meet people. To him they were
more important than the passing of minute-papers.
It was to Kulim too that he took his Father, the Sultan,
when the Japanese invaded Malaya. Anticipating that the
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