TUANKU ABDUL RAHMAN
Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah II (Jawi: تونكوعبدالرحمن ڤوترا الهاج ابن المرحوم سلطان عبدالحميد حاليم شه ; DMN, AC, CH, 8 February 1903 – 6 December 1990) was a Malaysian politician who served as the first Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955 to 1957, before becoming Malaya's first Prime Minister after independence in 1957. He remained Prime Minister following the formation of Malaysia in 1963, when Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore joined the federation, until his retirement in 1970.
Commonly known simply as "Tunku" or "The Tunku" (a Malay royal title), Tunku Abdul Rahman is widely regarded, even by his critics, as Malaysia's founding father, the architect of Malayan independence and the formation of Malaysia. As such, he is often referred to as Bapa Kemerdekaan (Father of Independence) or Bapa Malaysia (Father of Malaysia).[1][2]
Tunku Abdul Rahman was born on 8 February 1903, at Istana Pelamin Palace in Alor Setar, Kedah,[3] the seventh son and one of 45 children of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, the twenty-fifth ruler of the Kedah Sultanate. Tunku's mother was Che Manjalara, a Thai, and the fourth wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid; she was the daughter of Luang Naborirak, a district officer in Thailand.[4] At that time, cholera and malaria were very common all over Kedah and at least two of Tunku's brothers and his older sister died from cholera while Tunku himself suffered from intermittent attacks of malaria until he left for London in 1920.
He received early education at the Alor Setar Malay Primary School before furthering his studies at the government English school, Sultan Abdul Hamid College. He and his fellow siblings were later sent by his parents to Debsurin School in Bangkok. He returned home in 1915 to continue his education at the Penang Free School.[5]