Chapter Five

Summary

When Dato Onn left the party, the leadership fell into the hands of Tunku Abdul Rahman who, it is commonly believed, was persuaded by Tun Razak to accept the leadership.

The first time I met the Tunku was in Kuala Lumpur when my wife and I were on our way to Penang for our honeymoon. On one of the evenings when we were in Kuala Lumpur, we were invited by my friend, Mr Eugene Seow, who was an architectural student with me in Australia, to his flat. When we arrived, we saw a man drinking gin in the corner. We were introduced to him and I was struck by his friendliness, charm, and unassuming ways. Without hesitation, he invited all of us to spend the evening with him at the Kuala Lumpur Flying Club. He kept us there until he was told that we were on honeymoon. In typical fashion he bundled us off telling us that we had no business being on the dance floor so late when we should be in bed enjoying our honeymoon.

When the Tunku took over the leadership of UMNO, the Malay Graduates’ Association received a message from him asking it to nominate a member to serve on the Central Executive Committee of the party and he mentioned his preference for me. I was at this time an established medical practitioner in Johor Bahru and a member of the Johor State Council, the only one who was not an UMNO member: I was nominated a member of the Council on the establishment of the Federation of Malaya in 1948. One of the first things I did in the Council was to oppose the establishment of the Federation because it was constitutionally illegal, especially with regard to the Johor Constitution and I pointed out that I wanted my objection recorded in the proceedings of the Council. It was also while I was a member of the Council that Dato Onn tried to persuade me to join UMNO and said that if I agreed to do so, he would nominate me as a member of the Federal Legislative Council. I tried to reject him at first by politely stating that I was not prepared to sacrifice my medical practice to become a full-time politician.