I love you, Tunku, and I will never forget what you gave us.
A prince who lived for the common man.
Your vision, unwavering quest and steadfast pursuit for a free and independent nation and people.
Merdeka ! Merdeka! Merdeka!
Your legacy to us :
ONE NATION ONE PEOPLE
A free nation and a free people
given full hope of a life of peace, justice and equality.
Thank you, BAPA MERDEKA for
YOUR LEGACY.
Yet, it is in your
words of wisdom that you most inspire me.
About life
“I believe in living and being happy, otherwise what the hell do you want to live for?
How long do you expect to live for?
Only yesterday I was running and jumping about as a kid, then as a young man, then a grown up man, now I can’t even walk.
So why the hell do you want to make a nuisance of your life and make other people unhappy?”
Unpretentious zest for life
(Whilst watching TV) : “So many pretty girls. Dozens of them. Look! One more prettier than the next, eh? Amazing isn’t it? Sooo many of them! When I was a young man in London, you had to search hard all over London to find a pretty girl! And we were always on the lookout! Even with my sports car it was not easy! We were all students, all on the lookout for pretty girls to go dancing and so on.”
About good governance
“Your duty when you take over leadership of the country is to make the people happy that is the main thing”
“ …….If anything needs to be changed, there should be a review before changes are made so that the people will have an idea of what is happening”
NEP & Equality
“…it is going a bit too fast for people who have had no previous experience in business and economics and as a result, there is a certain section, and a very small section at that, who can take advantage of all these projects that are aimed at benefiting the Malays. The rest are still behind and cannot take advantage of it. In a sense, we can say that it is all going too fast”
Well-being For All
“Whatever happens, I feel that in the whole economic progress, you’ve got to take the whole country with you, you’ve got to pay more attention to those who have less and those who are a little inexperienced in this type of work. You have got to try and help them along. But you cannot so to speak, benefit one section of the people at the expense of another. That is the thing we must not do”
Equality
“I think on the whole, the Chinese and others are quite happy to help the Malays along and so we must not hurt their feelings or show discrimination in any sense in this matter, but try and bring them all along together and get them to try and help Malaysia. It is difficult I know, but that is the sort of policy I tried to carry out in those years of my term as Prime Minister”
About God, man & Islam
“All this fellows miss the point. Islam does not mean glory or saying that Muslims are superior. Islam only means submission to the will of Allah and doing good works”
“It’s a beautiful religion, it is not to be forced down people’s throats”
“People have to become Muslims. They have to declare themselves to be of the faith of their own free will. People must never be made into Muslims by any authority in the world…a man must choose for himself if he wishes to become Muslim, and submit to the will of Allah, and he must do so willingly with a pure heart”
“Yes, it is a sin in Islam to consume liquor, but it is a sin between me and God. I’m sure God will forgive human beings for little sins like this which are not so great as the sin of oppressing other people….”
“We all have our weaknesses. As long as you believe in God. And you pray. We cannot all be very good, ah, not all the time. It is not easy. But we must all pray. Eh?”
On the state of things
“As for Malaysia, there is no point in pretending she will become an Islamic state now or in the near future”
“There is no law, no justice, no freedom of speech. Anybody who speaks out goes to prison…what kind of politics are we having today?”
BAPA MERDEKA. BAPA MALAYSIA. BAPA BANGSA MALAYSIA.
Bapa Bangsa Malaysia, with all my heart, thank you.
I love you for what you were, for your legacy to us and the inspiration that you are.
PELITAR ( Penyayang Legasi & Inpsirasi Tunku Abdul Rahman )
An anak Bangsa Malaysia initiative to make the legacy and inspiration of Bapa Bangsa Malaysia a national reality.
Please help us in this initiative. We cannot do it without
YOU
If you would like to be involved in this initiative, or would like to share your ideas as to how the legacy and inspiration of Tunku may become a national reality, send us an e-mail at pelitar@gmail.com
Looks like this train is heading to the right station. The other train seems to be going nowhere , even after 50 years.
This is great initiative and one which will be important in getting this great nation back on the tracks laid out by TAR. In fact, today we still see some of the rakyat happily living out TAR’s dream of Bangsa Malaysia but more can be done.
Even in his last years before returning to God, he had noticed the dangerous trend and degenerating slide towards racial polarity and religious divides. And of course, he is Bapa Merdeka, the architect of this once, great nation.
He had the vision but sadly saw the distortion of the Constitution he had helped to craft. He also saw the transgressions of human rights, the greed and oppression by the vested political powers towards the rakyat. Without the delicate balance of love for her rakyat, regardless of race or religion, and equitable distribution of wealth, it is inconceivable how the nation can regain its past glory and grow from thence. If the rakyat, themselves, have to initiate and move on this Bangsa Malaysia mandate, then it does not reflect well on this government which should be promoting and safeguarding it according to the Constitution.
We need to know that this is our home, our nation. We need to know that this nation belongs to all Malaysians and will allow us to grow together. We must feel welcome and encouraged to contribute to nation development. We need to be one nation united in diversity where no racial supremacy agenda can be accepted. This is imperative for us to move forward. Instead an agenda of meritocracy should be adopted to instill a spirit of excellence.
The state of dependency should be left in the history books as a reminder and the rakyat will be liberated from such handicaps. In its place, a conscious national policy and action plans towards eradicating poverty should be implemented and directed to the less fortunate rakyat.
Bangsa Malaysia, as a nation, need to know that nation building is their responsibility and that they are empowered through national policy formulated and approved in Parliament to do this. The laws of this nation cannot be amended or changed without a regard for its rakyat. They also need to know support and resources are offered equitably to all Malaysians from the treasury of Malaysia’s wealth. Then all Malaysians will take ownership and be accountable for rise or fall of this nation.
Well, it certainly looks like we have degenerated after 50 years of independence. The fear the Tengku had of oppression of a few on the majority is happening. How sad! The vision of a united Malaysia is being eroded. Can we still shout Merdeka together and mean it. Very hard.
Haris,
I agree with Malik Imtiaz – PELITAR IS BREATHTAKING!
Thank you for recognising how vital the children are in what we have set out to do.
If children are racists, it is because adults have shown them how to be racists. If children hate, it is because adults have not taught them to love.
Let us put into place initiatives for the young that will run parallel with what we are doing now.
I offer myself to love and nurture them into a future that is safe, just and fulfilling.
Count me in.
farida
Check this out, people
http://theonlytrain.wordpress.com/
Haris,
The formation of PELITAR marks the official beginning of the endeavours of Malaysians from all walks of life and ethnic origins to blaze the trail of creating a truly united Bangsa Malaysia – thinking and acting as Malaysians with a shared destiny based upon the fundamental principles of mutual respect for another, common good, fair and equitable treatment tempered with some affirmative action if necessary and meritocracy. We need to create a new generation of Malaysians who are achievement oriented, self-reliant, open-minded and have genuine love for the country based upon a sense of belonging – truly believing there is a place for everyone under the Malaysian sun.
I salute you for this initiative and you can count on my solid support. I pledge to conduct free workshops on self-esteem and employability skills to empower Malaysian youth to function productively in society.
The words of wisdom brings me in tears.Am sure Tungku would be very proud of you.
Terima kasih… Bangsa Malaysia!!
Undoubetedly and without hesitation, I am PELITAR-ed!
Yes, your initiative deserve the unconditional and unwavering support of all Malaysian who truely love his country. I am in.
This site seems to be running out of steam. Started off with great effort and inspiration but is now almost ‘dead’ with lack of new info and communication.
Please keep the ‘Anak Bangsa Malaysia ‘ alive.