Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al - Haj
Father of Independence
Merdeka Special "Tunku Abdul Rahman: A Man of Compassion"
So much has been written about the Tunku, Malaysia's Father of Independence, as being very affable and compassionate with the rakyat. But there are still many more untold events and stories about him. Here is one told to Junior Statesman by Mr. Prabakaran Nair, Director of National Heroes Gallery, National Archives.
Tunku Abdul Rahman was the first Prime Minister of our country. He hailed from the Kedah royal household. His father was Sultan Abdul Hamid, and his mother was Menjelara. Tunku will always be remembered as the prince who won Independence for our nation in August 1957.
Many people were attracted to Tunku because of his many fine qualities, such as a great sense of compassion for his fellow human beings. Indeed, his name Rahman means compassion in the Arabic language. Menjelara believed that Tunku's compassionate nature was due to the strange circumstances in which he was born. She used to tell the story of how before Tunku was born, an official of the Palace had wrongfully sold off land belonging to the Kedah government, and kept the money for himself. Sultan Abdul Hamid came to know of this, and was very angry. He sentenced the official to death, and ordered that the right thumbs of his wife and all his children should be chopped off.
The official's wife was in a state of great sorrow. The official's wife ran to Menjelara, and begged her to change the Sultan's mind. At first Menjelara did not listen to her. She scolded the official's wife, saying that her husband deserved the punishment. But the poor wife pleaded in tears for her innocent children to be spared. She could not bear to imagine the pain and suffering that her innocent children would have to undergo. Being a loving mother herself, Menjelara could feel the pain and sorrow of a mother. She promised to speak to the Sultan.
Menjelara thought of an idea. She lied to the Sultan that she was pregnant, and that something harmful might happen to the child in her womb if the Sultan proceeded with his punishment. She expressed her fear that their own child might be born without a thumb, or perhaps without a limb if he went ahead with his plans. Her arguments were helped by an old belief in those days that the husband should do no evil during his wife's pregnancy, otherwise something bad might happen to the child.
Menjelara believed that Tunku's compassionate nature was due to the strange circumstances in which he was born.
Menjelara's news had a double effect. The Sultan was overjoyed that he was going to have another child; and also anxious at the same time that no harm should come upon his child. He immediately stopped the punishment from being carried out. He ordered the dishonest official to be imprisoned instead of being put to death, and did not punish the rest of the family.
It was now Menjalara's turn to be worried. She had lied to the Sultan that she was pregnant, and was worried that the Sultan would be very angry with her if he found out the truth. She prayed hard. Fortunately, she became pregnant soon after. The child who was born was named Abdul Rahman. Many people in Kedah believed that Menjelara's sense of compassion made her pregnant and that her own qualities of compassion were passed on to her child.