The Tunku past the historical past books

For Tengku Nur Qistina Petri, that was the curious actuality of being the granddaughter of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s first prime minister and Father of Independence.

“It was always a bit hard – you’re trying to figure out who this person is. It’s not easy,” Qistina instructed FMT Lifestyle.

“Given how much my mum shared stories about him while I was growing up, you realise behind every statesman is also a father, a grandfather and a family member.”

It is thru these household tales that Tunku, whom Qistina by no means received to know personally, started to look slightly totally different from the person in historical past books.

There had been, as an illustration, the instances he returned with new additions to the household’s “mini zoo”.

“When we went to different villages, people would give us chickens, ducks, and there was one peacock and sometimes a goat. He would bring everything back,” his daughter, Tunku Noor Hayati, recalled.

The animals weren’t meant to spend their days behind cages: Tunku most well-liked to allow them to roam, even when the household’s flowers and fruit timber turned honest sport.

“He enjoyed life and he’d be laughing about it,” she added.

For Noor Hayati, who was 22 when Tunku died, these recollections are reminders of a father who remained remarkably current regardless of the calls for of public life, together with his character typically revealing itself in essentially the most abnormal moments.

“He liked mangoes for breakfast. So, as soon as, we went grocery purchasing and he mentioned, ‘OK, go and get my mango.’ So I did. I weighed the mango and he requested, ‘How much?’

“I think it was more than RM10, which was quite a lot of value at the time,” Noor Hayati fondly recalled. “He said, ‘Put it back, put it back. I’m eating alone. With this money, it could feed one whole family for a week.’”

She additionally remembers him shopping for sweets and snacks for kids who got here to the home, whereas different particulars of his every day life reveal a person who was comfy with simplicity.

Then there was his boat. Tunku liked taking it out in Penang within the afternoons, and one explicit outing turned memorable for causes no one on board had deliberate.

“He was driving so fast because the boat had just come up from the dockyard. He was enjoying his ride – and then water came through from the toilet,” Noor Hayati shared.

“Every one in every of us needed to scoop out the water with something and the whole lot we had. Tun Sharifah Rodziah (his spouse) instructed him, ‘You should help us.’ He mentioned, ‘No. Then who’s going to hope?’

“So that’s what he did. He was up there alone, and he was praying.”

For Qistina, tales resembling these are reminders that Tunku can’t be understood solely via the general public picture Malaysians have come to know.

“He was a simple man. He blended very well with different classes of people. He was willing to bring himself down to that level,” mentioned her father, Tengku Mohamad Rizam.

“And I think because of that, he was able to win the hearts of the people.”

This Merdeka, Qistina and her household hope Malaysians bear in mind not solely the chief who secured independence, but in addition the person whose heat, humility and perception in a rustic for everybody formed his management.

“When he had to make decisions for himself, it was different. But when he made decisions for the country, he had to consider the others as well,” mentioned Noor Hayati.

“Remember my father’s words and how he fought for Malaysia to maintain unity, harmony and goodwill.”