تونكوعبد الرحمن پوترا الحاج بن المرحوم سلطان عبد الحميد حليم شاه, CH (8 فبراير 1903 -ستة ديسمبر 1990) ويـُعرَف عموماً بلقب "التونكو" (لقب لأمراء في ماليزيا), وكذلك يـُدعى باپا كـِمـِردِكآن (أبوالإستقلال) أوباپا ماليزيا (أبوماليزيا), كان كبير الوزراء لاتحاد ماليزيا من 1955, وأول رئيس وزراء للبلاد منذ الإستقلال في 1957. وقد ظل رئيساً للوزراء بعد انضمام جميع من صباح وسرواك وسنغافورة في 1963 ليشكلوا ماليزيا.

المولد

وُلِد في إستانا پلامين, ألور ستار، قدح، عبد الرحمن كان الابن الرابع عشر والطفل العشرين للسلطان عبد الحميد حليم شاه, سلطان قدح الرابع وعشرين. أمه, چيك منجالارا, كانت الزوجة السادسة للسلطان وابنة النبيل السيامي, لوانگ نارابوريراك (كـْلـِب), وهوضابط إقليمي أثناء حكم الملك راما الخامس من تايلاند.

ومن جميع رؤساء الوزراء, يتميز تونكوبسيرة ولادة هي الأكثر إثارة. ففي عام 1902, تم الكشف عن حتى حامل الختم السلطاني أساء استخدام الثقة التي انيطت به وباع أراضي الدولة لمصلحته الشخصية. لذا كان على السلطان حتى يفكر في العقاب الملائم، فقرر إعدامه، كما قرر حتى يـُبتر إبهام جميع من زوجة المختلس وكل طفل من أطفاله، حتى يـُنبذوا بقية حياتهم.

أسرعت زوجة حامل الختم إلى منجالارا, الزوجة المحظية للسلطان وتوسلت لها حتى تشفع لها. منجالارا, متبعة غريزة الأمومة, وافقت على التدخل. فطلبت لقاءً مع زوجها السلطان وأبلغته أنها حامل مرة أخرى, إلا أنها تخاف حتى يلحق بوليدها سوءاً إذا ما نفذ السلطان العقوبة بحامل الختم وأسرته.

منجالارا كانت امرأة ذكية ماهرة. وهناك تطير لدى الملايومن قيام الزوج بأي شرور أثناء حمل الزوجة, خوفاً من حتى تحل روح شريرة جسد الجنين في رحم أمه.

السلطان عبد الحميد غمرته السعادة بأن زوجته ستهديه طفلاً آخر، وكان مهتماً بألا يحيق بالوليد أي ضرر أوسوء طالع، لذا فقد أمر بحبس حامل الختم بدلاً من إعدامه وألغى عقوبة الأسرة.

إلا حتى الحقيقة, كانت حتى منجالارا لم تكن حاملاً في ذلك الوقت. ولكنها حملت بعد ذلك بفترة قصيرة, والوليد كان هوعبد الرحمن الذي كان يحب حتى يقول طيلة حياته أنه “وُلـِد بكذبة”.

التعليم

التحق بالمدرسة الوطنية في بلدته ألور ستار، ثم بالمدرسة الإنجليزية بماليزيا، ثم بجامعة كامبريدج في بريطانيا عام 1342 هـ، 1923م حيث حصل على شهادة البكالوريوس في القانون والتاريخ. وفي عام 1368هـ، 1948م، حصل على درجة بكالوريوس في القانون من بريطانيا. وفي عام 1387هـ، 1967م حصل على درجة الامتياز في القانون من كلية إينز شامبل، كما حصل على الكثير من درجات الدكتوراه الفخرية.

العمل

• عُيِّن عام 1380هـ، 1960م رئيسًا لجامعة الملايو، واستمرّ في هذا المنصب حتى عام 1390هـ، 1970م.
• وشغل منصب رئيس وزراء ماليزيا لمدة 13 عامًا من 1957 إلى 1970م.
• انتخب عام 1371هـ، 1951م رئيسًا لحزب منظمة الملايوالوطنية المتّحدة (حزب أمنو). قاد الحزب في كفاح دستوريّ مرير للحصول على الاستقلال عن بريطانيا. تم إعلان الاستقلال في الحادي والعشرين من أغسطس عام 1376هـ، 1957م.
• كان أول أمين عام لمنظمة المؤتمر الإسلامي.
• اقترح إنشاء البنك الإسلامي للتنمية الخيرية الإسلامية في ماليزيا بركيم، فقام بأنشطة إسلامية أدّت إلى دخول غير المسلمين في الإسلام على نطاق واسع.
• وبمبادرة منه، تم في كوالا لامبور إنشاء المجلس الإقليميّ للدعوة الإسلامية لمنطقة جنوب شرقي آسيا والمحيط الهندي بالتعاون مع رابطة العالم الإسلامي بمكة المكرمة عام 1401هـ، 1980م.

الإنخراط في السياسة

After his return to Malaya in 1949, Abdul Rahman was first posted at the Legal Officer's office in Alor Star. He later asked to be transferred to Kuala Lumpur, where he became a Deputy Public Prosecutor. He was later appointed as president of the Sessions Court.

الطريق إلى الإستقلال

In 1954 Abdul Rahman led a delegation to لندن to seek independence for Malaya, but the trip proved to be unfruitful. The British were reluctant to grant independence unless there was evidence that the different races in Malaya were able to work together and cooperate in a new and independent country.

Race relations was the cause of Onn Jaafar stepping down. He wanted UMNO to be open to the Chinese and Indians but UMNO members were not ready to accept this. His successor, Abdul Rahman saw a way around this by forming a political alliance with the Malayan Chinese Association called the Alliance Party. The coalition proved to be popular among the people. The Alliance was later joined by the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) in 1955, representing the Indian community.

In the same year, the first federal general election was held, and the Alliance Party (Perikatan) won fifty-one out of the fifty-two seats contested. Abdul Rahman was elected as Malaya's first Chief Minister.

Later in 1955 Abdul Rahman made another trip to لندن to negotiate Malayan independence, and 31 August, 1957 was decided as the date for independence. When the British flag was lowered in Kuala Lumpur on independence day, Abdul Rahman led the crowd in announcing "Merdeka!" (independence). Photographs of Abdul Rahman raising his hand, and recordings of his emotional but determined voice leading the cheers, have become familiar icons of Malaysian independence.

رئاسته للوزراء

هيمن عبد الرحمن على سياسة اتحاد الملايا حديث الاستقلال (والذي أصبح لاحقاً ماليزيا في 1963)، and led the Alliance to landslide wins in the 1959, and 1964 general elections.

The formation of Malaysia was one of Abdul Rahman's greatest achievements. In 1961 he made a speech at the Foreign Correspondents Association of Southeast Asia in Singapore, proposing a federation Malaya, Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei. On 16 September 1963, with the federation of all these states except Brunei, Abdul Rahman was formally restyled رئيس وزراء ماليزيا.

However, the racial factor was worsened with the inclusion of Singapore, which increased the Chinese proportion to close to 40%. Both UMNO and the MCA were nervous about the possible appeal of Lee Kuan Yew's People's Action Party (PAP, then seen as a radical socialist party) to voters in Malaya, and tried to organise a party in Singapore to challenge Lee's position there. Lee in turn threatened to run PAP candidates in Malaya at the 1964 federal elections, despite an earlier agreement that he would not do so (see PAP-UMNO relations). This provoked Abdul Rahman to demand that Singapore withdraw from Malaysia.

Onسبعة August 1965, Abdul Rahman announced to the Parliament of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur that it should vote yes on the resolution to have Singapore leave the Federation, choosing to "sever all ties with a State Government that showed no measure of loyalty to its Central Government" as opposed to the undesirable method of repressing the PAP for its actions. Singapore's secession and independence became official onتسعة أغسطس 1965.

At the 1969 general election, the Alliance's majority was greatly reduced. Demonstrations following the elections sparked the May 13 racial riots in Kuala Lumpur. Some UMNO leaders led by Tun Abdul Razak were critical of Abdul Rahman's leadership during these events, and an emergency committee MAGERAN took power and declared a state of emergency.

Abdul Rahman's powers as Prime Minister were severely curtailed, and on 22 September 1970, he was forced to resign as Prime Minister in favour of Abdul Razak. He subsequently resigned as UMNO President in June 1971, in the midst of severe opposition of the 'Young Turks' comprising party rebels such as Mahathir Mohammad and Musa Hitam. The duo later became Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia respectively.

السياسة الخارجية

Abdul Rahman initiated the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) in 1961, grouping Malaya, تايلند and الفلپين. This grouping was later replaced by a larger grouping, the (ASEAN) التي تكونت فيثمانية أغسطس 1967.

إنخراطه في الإسلام

After making Islam the official religion in 1960, Abdul Rahman established the Islamic Welfare Organisation (PERKIM), an organisation to help Muslim converts adjust to new lives as Muslims. He was President of PERKIM until a year before his death. In 1961 Malaysia hosted the first International Qur'an Recital Competition, an event that developed from Abdul Rahman's idea when he organised the first state-level competition in Kedah in 1951.

In 1969 Abdul Rahman helped to set up the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), of which he was the first Secretary-General. Subsequently, he initiated the setting up of the Islamic Development Bank as a specialised institution within the OIC. He was also President of the Regional Islamic Da'wah Council of South East Asia and the Pacific (RISEAP) من 1982 إلى 1988.

Abdul Rahman upheld the independence social contract of a secular Malaysia with Islam as its official religion. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Abdul Rahman stated in the The Star newspaper ofتسعة February 1983 that the "country has a multi-racial population with various beliefs. Malaysia must continue as a secular State with Islam as the official religion." In the same issue of The Star, Abdul Rahman was supported by the third Malaysian Prime Minister, Hussein Onn, who stated that the "nation can still be functional as a secular state with Islam as the official religion."

آخر العمر

في 1977, having acquired substantial shares in The Star, a Penang-based newspaper, Abdul Rahman became the newspaper's Chairman. His columns, "Looking Back" and "As I See It", were critical of the government, and in 1987 Prime Minister مهاتير محمد banned the newspaper. This led to a split in UMNO, with Abdul Rahman and another former Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn, setting up a new party called UMNO Malaysia, but its registration was quashed by Mahathir Mohamad, who set up his own UMNO Baru ("New UMNO"). Abdul Rahman later supported Semangat 46, a splinter group of UMNO led by تنگكورزالي حمزة. He campaigned actively for the latter in the General election of 1990, but was already in very poor health. The well-educated, visionary Tunku could barely contain his contempt for Mahathir's brash nationalism (i.e. Ketuanan Melayu) that went totally against the Rukun Negara and brought about serious racial segregation. He was a pillar of staunch opposition until his death in 1990.

وفاته

في أعوامه الأخيرة, استقر عبد الرحمن في منزله في پنانگ. وقد توفي التونكوفيستة ديسمبر 1990 عن عمر يناهز السابعة والثمانين, وقد دُفـِن في الضريح الملكي بقدح في ألور ستار.

العائلة

Abdul Rahman married at least four times. By his first wife, a Chinese woman named Meriam Chong, he had Tunku Khadijah and Tunku Ahmad Nerang. On Meriam's death, he married his former landlady in England, Violet Coulson. He was ordered to divorce her by the Regent of Kedah.

ثم تزوج بعد ذلك الشريفة رضية سيد علوي بارقبة, with whom he adopted four children, Sulaiman, Mariam, Sharifah Hanizah (granddaughter) and Faridah. Sharifah Rodziah served as First Lady of Malaysia during Tunku's prime ministership.

Wanting to have more children of his own, he secretly married another Chinese lady named Bibi Chong who converted upon marriage. He had two daughters with her, Tunku Noor Hayati and Tunku Mastura.^{[بحاجة لمصدر]}

الجوائز والتكريم

• In 1961, Tunku Abdul Rahman was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) by Queen Elizabeth II.

• Tunku Abdul Rahman Stamp Issues: In 1991, he adorned part of the collection of Past Prime Ministers of Malaysia stamps issue. In 2003, stamps of Tunku Abdul Rahman were issued to commemorate his 100th birthday anniversary and to pay tribute to him as he was the first prime minister of Malaysia since Malaysia became an independent nation in 1957.

• جائزة الملك فيصل العالمية لخدمة الإسلام عام 1403هـ ، 1983م.

المصادر

• From playbody to Prime Minister of Malaya, The Straits Times, August 31, 1957. (Reprinted on August 31, 2007 by the New Straits Times)