Dato' Onn bin Jaafar
Dato' Onn resigning from UMNo at the Roof Garden, Majestic Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, 25 August 1951.
As the leading Malay politician of his time, Dato' Onn bin Jaafar did much to forge the Malays of the Peninsula into a unified community. The Malay newspaper Utusan Melayu called him the ‘new Hang Tuah', after the legendary Malay hero. A talented administrator with experience of journalism, Onn seemed destined to lead Malaya to independence and become its first Prime Minister. However, he was also a man of mercurial personality, tinged with impatience and perhaps over-confidence, and this ultimately cost him the opportunity of becoming the nation's leader.
- Information in the full article includes
- Member of the Malay aristocracy
- Journalist and government servant
- Moving towards Independence
- The end of a career