Tunku Abdul Rahman

Tunku Abdul Rahman (8 February 19036 December 1990), commonly referred to as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970. He previously served as the only chief minister of Malaya from 1955 to 1957, as President of UMNO from 1951 to 1971, and as leader of the Alliance Party from 1952 to 1971. Abdul Rahman was the second longest serving Malaysian prime minister and the first to hold the position. As prime minister, he supervised the Malayan independence process and the formation of Malaysia. As a result, he is widely regarded as Malaysia's "founding father".

Born a prince in the Kedah Sultanate, Tunku studied law in St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and became a civil servant and district officer. In 1949, he became a prosecutor. In 1951, he defeated C. M. Yusuf and Ahmad Fuad Hassan in the UMNO party leadership election to become President of UMNO. In 1952, he led UMNO into an electoral pact with MCA and MIC under the Alliance Party. He then led Alliance to a landslide victory during the 1955 general elections, and became chief minister of Malaya in a coalition government.

Upon becoming chief minister, Tunku sought to end the Emergency with the Malayan Communist Party in a series of peace talks, but failed. In 1956, he initiated negotiations for Malayan independence from the United Kingdom, which was secured in the Treaty of London. In 1957, he led the Malayan proclamation of independence, and became its first prime minister. He secured his second term in 1959, and was instrumental in the formation of Malaysia in 1963, where he remained as prime minister. He guided the Alliance to a third term in 1964, but was faced with domestic political instabilities, notably its relationship with Singapore, causing its expulsion from Malaysia in 1965. Although he ran for a fourth term in the 1969 general elections and won a narrow majority, post election demonstrations sparked racial riots nationwide, and he resigned in 1970, succeeded by Abdul Razak Hussein, his deputy prime minister.

After retiring from politics in 1971, Tunku remained active in sports and religious affairs, serving as the president of the Asian Football Confederation from 1958 to 1977, and as the first secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation from 1970 to 1973. He briefly returned to politics in the 1980s and opposed Mahathir Mohamad during the 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis, publicly endorsing Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Parti Melayu Semangat 46 in the 1990 general elections. In 1990, he died in Kuala Lumpur at the age of 87. Provided by Wikipedia