Sir Onn Jaafar | |
|---|---|
| عون جعفر | |
 Onn Jaafar, 1948. | |
| 7th Menteri Besar of Johor | |
| In office 1 June 1947 – 18 May 1950 | |
| Preceded by | Ungku Abdul Aziz Abdul Majid |
| Succeeded by | Syed Abdul Kadir Mohamed |
| 1stPresident of the United Malays National Organisation | |
| In office 11 May 1946 – 25 August 1951 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Tunku Abdul Rahman |
| 1st President ofIndependence of Malaya Party | |
| In office 16 September 1951 – 16 March 1954 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| 2nd President ofParti Negara | |
| In office 10 December 1955 – 19 January 1962 | |
| Preceded by | Hamzah Abdullah |
| Succeeded by | Baba Ludek |
| Member of theMalaysian Parliament forKuala Terengganu Selatan | |
| In office 11 September 1959 – 19 January 1962 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Ismail Kassim |
| Majority | 2,612 (1959) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Onn bin Jaafar 12 February 1895 |
| Died | 19 January 1962(1962-01-19) (aged 66) Johor Bahru, Johor,Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) |
| Resting place | Mahmoodiah Royal Mausoleum |
| Political party |
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| Relations |
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| Children | Hussein Onn |
| Parents |
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Onn bin Dato' Jaafar (Jawi:عون بن جعفر; 12 February 1895 – 19 January 1962) was aMalayan politician who served as the 7thMenteri Besar of Johor from 1947 to 1950. His organised opposition towards the creation of theMalayan Union (by the returningBritish colonial power after the end of theJapanese occupation of Malaya) led him to form theUnited Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 1946; he was UMNO's founder and its first president until his resignation in 1951. He was famously known as the pioneer of organisedanti-imperialism andearly Malay nationalism within Malaya, which eventually culminated with theMalayan independence from Britain. He was also responsible for the social and economic welfare of the Malays by setting up theRural Industrial Development Authority (RIDA).
Onn's father wasJaafar Muhammad, the former Chief Minister of Johor. His mother was Roquaiya Hanim (also spelled Rogayah Hanim or Rukiye Hanım; 1864–1904), who came from theCaucasus region of theOttoman Empire, and was either ofCircassian orGeorgian origin. She was likely presented as aconcubine by the Ottoman court to the Sultan of Johor.[1][2] His mother was married three times and the last time was with his father. As Onn Jaafar's family had close relations with the Johor palace,Sultan Ibrahim treated him as an adopted son. He started his education in a Malay school in Johor Bahru. In 1904, he went to England to attend Aldeburgh Lodge School, a private school inSuffolk, with the then Tunku Mahkota of Johor until 1910. He excelled in sports and captained the school's cricket and football teams.[3]
He returned to Malaya and was enrolled at theMalay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) where he studied there for two years from 1910 to 1911. According to biographer Ramlah Adam, one of the main reasons for him to enroll at MCKK was the need to improve his Malay language proficiency that had weakened considerably following his time in England.[3]
After graduating from MCKK, he worked as a trainee clerk at the Johor Government Secretary office and was made a permanent clerk a year later. He served in this capacity in several departments before joining theJohor Military Forces in 1917 with the rank of lieutenant. Two years later, he rejoined the civil service. Soon after, he found himself in trouble with the Johor palace after expressing his unhappiness over the sale of his family's ancestral home. The royal palace did not take the issue kindly and terminated his service in June 1920. He rejoined the service again in 1921 as an Assistant Collector of Land Revenue.[3]
Early Malay nationalism took root in Johor during the 1920s, he became a journalist and wrote articles on the welfare of theMalays. Some of Onn's articles were critical ofSultan Ibrahim's policies, which led to strained personal relations with the Sultan. In 1927,Sultan Ibrahim expelled Onn from Johor after he published an article in theSunday Mirror, a Singapore-based English tabloid, which criticised the Sultan's poor treatment of the Johor Military Forces personnel and the welfare of theOrang Asli. He went into exile in Singapore and became the editor of a Malay paper,Warta Malaya, in 1930. Over the next six years, he edited four other newspapers including theLembaga Malaya,Warta Ahad andLembaga. Onn became very popular after he continued to cover issues on Malay grievances, andSultan Ibrahim invited Onn to return to Johor in 1936.[3]
In 1941, following theJapanese occupation of Malaya, Onn was drafted into the administrative system and served as a food controller in Johor.
Onn, along with his companions,Haji Anwar bin Abdul Malik, Haji Syed Alwi bin Syed Sheikh al-Hadi andMohamed Noah Omar, founded theUnited Malays National Organisation (UMNO) as a means to rally the Malays against theMalayan Union, which was perceived as threatening Malay privileges and the position of the Malay rulers. Onn took up the role ofUMNO's president on 1 May 1946.
TheMalayan Union proposal provided that United Kingdom had full administrative powers over the Malay states except in areas pertaining spiritual andmoral authority of the Malay rulers, which the Malays held in high esteem. Communal tensions between the Malays andChinese were high, and the prospect of granting citizenship to non-Malays was deemed unacceptable to the Malays.[4] In particular, politicians in Johor were extremely unhappy with the willingness ofSultan Ibrahim to sign the treaties withHarold MacMichael, and voiced out that the Sultan had violated the terms in theJohor State Constitution which explicitly forbade any foreign powers to assume legitimate control over the state. Prior to February 1946, seven political dissidents led by Awang bin Hassan organised a rally to protest against the Sultan's decision to sign the treaties, and Onn Jaafar, who was then serving as a district officer inBatu Pahat, was invited to attend the rally.[5] The rally was held on 1 February 1946 at theSultan Abu Bakar State Mosque, and protesters shouted nationalistic slogans and called for the dethronement of Sultan Ibrahim and accused him for committing treason against theMalay race by signing the treaties.
News of the rally reached Sultan Ibrahim on 22 February, who was then residing atGrosvenor House Hotel in London. Sultan Ibrahim approached the colonial office and withdrew his support of the proposal, but this did not appease the political dissidents and Onn continued to organise more rallies in the other Malay states to muster further support for his calls against theMalayan Union, and formed theUnited Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in May.[6]
To appease the Malays and the UMNO leaders, including Onn himself,Sultan Ibrahim personally donated a lump sum of $5,000 toUMNO and Onn was appointed the Menteri Besar of Johor in 1946.[7]
The establishment of theFederation of Malaya did not go down well with the ethnic Chinese, as favourable conditions for obtaining citizenship for the Chinese and other non-Malays were withdrawn. TheMalaysian Chinese Association (MCA) was formed in 1949 under the leadership of aStraits Chinese businessman,Tan Cheng Lock who frequently raised grievances over the citizenship terms that were set when the Federation was established.[8] As a result, communal tensions between the Malays and Chinese surfaced, and Onn kept his distance from Tan. Tan encountered initial difficulties with meetingSultan Ibrahim, who was not accustomed to working with Chinese businessmen.
Sultan Ibrahim also became increasingly disappointed in Onn's work commitment, whom he saw as neglecting state affairs as a result of his commitments towardsUMNO. In early 1950,Sultan Ibrahim approached Onn, who was asked to choose between committing his efforts forUMNO and the state. Onn chose to the former, and resigned as the Menteri Besar of Johor in May.[9]
Onn became increasingly disillusioned and disgusted with what he considered to beUMNO's race-basedcommunalist policies, and called for party membership to be opened to all Malayans of all races, and forUMNO to be renamed as the United Malayans National Organisation. He left the party on 26 August 1951 after his recommendations went unheeded, and formed theIndependence of Malaya Party (IMP). However, the IMP failed to receive sufficient backing from Malayans, and eventually Onn left it to form theParti Negara, which placed membership restrictions on non-Malays in an attempt to appeal to Malays. He won theKuala Terengganu Selatan seat in the Malayan parliament in the 1959 elections under his new party.[10]
Neither party gained popular support againstTunku Abdul Rahman's newAlliance coalition and he was eventually eclipsed in Malayan political life.
| Year | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | P027Kuala Trengganu Selatan | Onn Jaafar (Negara) | 7,986 | 59.78% | Engku Muhsein Abdul Kadir (UMNO) | 5,374 | 40.22% | 13,360 | 2,612 | 70,09% | ||
Dato' Onn died at the age of 66, on 19 January 1962 at the Officers' Ward,General Hospital,Johor Bahru.[12] He was buried next to his fatherJaafar Muhammad's grave, at theMahmoodiah Royal Mausoleum inJohor Bahru.
His sonHussein Onn later became the thirdprime minister of Malaysia, his grandson,Hishammuddin Hussein is a seniorUMNO politician, and his great-grandsonOnn Hafiz Ghazi is the Johor State Chairman of UMNO who is serving as a member of theJohor State Legislative Assembly forLayang-Layang and as 19thmenteri besar of Johor.
Johor
Second Class of theRoyal Family Order of Johor (DK II) (1947)[14][15]
Knight Commander of theOrder of the Crown of Johor (DPMJ) –Dato' (1941)[16]
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Knight Grand Commander of theOrder of Cura Si Manja Kini (SPCM) –Dato' Seri (2015)[17]
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Honorary Knight Commander of theOrder of the British Empire (KBE) –Sir (1953)[18]{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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