http://www.malaysia-today.net/the-bone-of-my-contention/
Tunku Abdul Rahman, the First Malaysian Prime Minister,
by Raja Petra Kamarudin
.........the Tunku died almost penniless and the government actually sued him for unpaid taxes, which would have made him the first bankrupt Prime Minister in Malaysian history. You see, the Tunku was broke and could not even afford to pay what he owed the government. He was very rich before he became Prime Minister but had sold off all his property and spent all his money on the party.
In fact, the Tunku even took six months no-pay leave (and handed the country to his deputy) to campaign in the general elections. He felt it was immoral, although not illegal, for him to hit the campaign trail for six months while drawing a salary from the country. After all, this was party business and not government business. Even the opposition leaders and Members of Parliament, or even Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, did not do that. That was the type of person this man named Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj was — a Malay, a member of the Kedah Royal Family, a ‘Chinese lover’, and the man who cried and wished he had died when Malaysians of different races killed each other.
Malaysia was one of the first ‘Muslim’ countries to have a casino, the one up in Genting Highlands. And it was the Tunku who approved this. The Tunku would play cards with his Chinese friends and not miss a single horse race if he did not have to. He would travel to Penang and Ipoh to attend the horse races in those towns and my poor grandfather, who was the Governor of Penang, would be forced to accompany the Prime Minister on his ‘visit to Penang and endure the racing with the rosary beads (tasbih) in his hands. That must have look very odd indeed, like those Arabs in London with a glass of brandy in one hand and the tasbih in the other.
So what happened? What changed along the way over those 50 or 60 years? Well, let me tell you what happened. Politics is what happened.
Tunku Abdul Rahman, the First Malaysian Prime Minister,
by Raja Petra Kamarudin
.........the Tunku died almost penniless and the government actually sued him for unpaid taxes, which would have made him the first bankrupt Prime Minister in Malaysian history. You see, the Tunku was broke and could not even afford to pay what he owed the government. He was very rich before he became Prime Minister but had sold off all his property and spent all his money on the party.
In fact, the Tunku even took six months no-pay leave (and handed the country to his deputy) to campaign in the general elections. He felt it was immoral, although not illegal, for him to hit the campaign trail for six months while drawing a salary from the country. After all, this was party business and not government business. Even the opposition leaders and Members of Parliament, or even Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, did not do that. That was the type of person this man named Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj was — a Malay, a member of the Kedah Royal Family, a ‘Chinese lover’, and the man who cried and wished he had died when Malaysians of different races killed each other.
Malaysia was one of the first ‘Muslim’ countries to have a casino, the one up in Genting Highlands. And it was the Tunku who approved this. The Tunku would play cards with his Chinese friends and not miss a single horse race if he did not have to. He would travel to Penang and Ipoh to attend the horse races in those towns and my poor grandfather, who was the Governor of Penang, would be forced to accompany the Prime Minister on his ‘visit to Penang and endure the racing with the rosary beads (tasbih) in his hands. That must have look very odd indeed, like those Arabs in London with a glass of brandy in one hand and the tasbih in the other.
So what happened? What changed along the way over those 50 or 60 years? Well, let me tell you what happened. Politics is what happened.
