HAPPY 85th BIRTHDAY TUN RAHAH! THE FIRST AND ONLY WOMAN IN MALAYSIA WHO MARRIED A PRIME MINISTER, PRODUCED A PRIME MINISTER AND LIVED TO SEE THE FOUNDING OF BARISAN NAIONAL BY HER HUSBAND AND DESTRUCTION OF BARISAN NAISONAL BY HER SON! AND EVEN MORE INCREDIBLE, BARISAN'S FOUNDING IN 1970 WAS UNDER THE REIGN OF SULTAN OF KELANTAN AND DOWNFALL OF BARISAN IN 2018 WAS ALSO UNDER THE REIGN OF SULTAN OF KELANTAN!

KEE@FSWMAG.COM

HAPPY 85^th BIRTHDAY TUN RAHAH! THE FIRST AND ONLY WOMAN IN MALAYSIA TO MARRY A PRIME MINISTER AND PRODUCE A PRIME MINISTER!

AS IF THIS IS NOT ENOUGH, HER SISTER ALSO MARRIED A PRIME MINISTER! BUT TUN RAHAH IS NOT HOSTING A GRAND BIRTHDAY PARTY AT STADIUM BUKIT JALIL FOR 50,000 GUESTS AS SHE IS THE MOTHER OF DEPOSED, BELEAGUERED EX-PRIME MINISTER DATO SRI NAJIB TUN RAZAK!

Imagine being the first and only woman probably in the entire wide world to hold such an accolade!

Who else you know still alive married a Prime Minister when the Agong was Sultan of Kelantan, delivered a son who grew to be Prime Minister when the Agong was also Sultan of Kelantan, had a sister who also married a Prime Minister and witnessed the founding of Barisan Nasional by her husband and destruction of Barisan Nasional by her son? Excuse me while I go take Panadol.

Tun Rahah Tan Sri Mohammad Noah married Malaysia’s second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and was First Lady of Malaysia from 1970 to 1976 when the King of Malaysia the Yang DiPertuan Agong was Sultan Yahya Petra who was my Sultan of Kelantan (the best Malaysians all come from Kelantan, remember, from the Agong down to me).

Eeriely by the weirdest of coincidences, Tun Rahah is celebrating her 85^th birthday under the reign of another Sultan of Kelantan who is Sultan Muhammad V the current King of Malaysia! Sultan Muhammad V the reigning Yang DiPertuan Agong and King of Malaysia is of course the eldest grandson of Sultan Yahya Petra!

Tun Rahah has thus lived under this unique situation---her husband Tun Abdul Razak served under a King of Malaysia who was the Sultan of Kelantan and her son Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak also served under a King of Malaysia who is also the Sultan of Kelantan!

This is the advantage of living a long life! Tun Rahah became a widow at the youngish age of 43 when Tun Razak died in office in 1976.

Tun Rahah is the Chancellor of UTAR or Universiti Tun Abdul Razak named after her husband. As Tun Razak established relations with China, it is the norm for all new Chinese ambassadors to pay her a courtesy call upon arriving in Kuala Lumpur.

Dato Sri Najib is eldest son of Tun Rahah and the one who single-handedly brought down UMNO founded by Dato Sir Onn Jaafar whose son Tun Hussein Onn is the brother-in-law of Tun Abdul Razak, the father of Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak!

So many Tuns in this clan but I bet the new Government is not bestowing a Tun title on either Najib or Rosmah so again Dato Sri Najib is the first former Prime Minister to be Tun-less upon forced retirement. At least Dato Sri Najib will enter history as the richest Prime Minister! Never mind how he got the billions but for sure Najib will be the richest Prime Minister ever as no other Prime Minister before him was so rich and definitely no Prime Minisiter AFTER him would dare to be so rich!

Tun Rahah’s elder sister is also a Tun as she is Tun Suhaila. Tun Suhaila was married to Tun Hussein Onn the third Prime Minsiter of Malaysia right after Tun Abdul Razak. So Tun Hussein Onn is the brother-in-law of Tun Abdul Razak the father of Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak!

Even more ironic (gosh, this is better than any Hollywood script) and painful like plunging a dagger into the heart which is already suffering from cardiac arrest, is the fact it is Dato Sri Najib’s own father Tun Abdul Razak who founded Barisan Nasional!

Yes, can you believe it? Father founded Barisan Nasional and son destroyed it within 1 generation! See, even the most lurid imagination cannot come up with this scenario! Kerwei laiping!

Tun Abdul Razak founded Barisan Nasional or National Front to replace the ruling Alliance Party on 1 January 1970. 

Tun Razak’s son Dato Sri Najib then brought it crumbling down on 9 May 2018 some 48 years later! All within one generation and witnessed sadly (must be lah as Tun Rahah cannot be jumping for joy right?) by Tun Rahah who has lived to see the founding of Barisan Nasional by her husband and destruction of Barisan Nasional by her son? 

Is this a world record or what?

Still not confused? Wa so geng. Ok one more cunning conundrum.

Tun Razak’s full name is Tun Abdul Razak bin Hussein which the uninformed might assume Tun Razak is the son of Tun Hussein Onn.

But this is of course impossible as both Tun Razak Hussein and Tun Hussein Onn were both born (again by coincidence) in 1922 with Tun Hussein older by a month! Tun Hussein Onn was born on 12 Feb 1922 and Tun Razak Hussein was born on 11 March 1922. Dato Sri Najib’s grandfather Dato Hussein Mohd Taib was not related to Tun Hussein Onn and only shared the same name. 

Dato Hussein Mihd Taib was the 9^th Orang Kaya Indera Shah Bandar Pahang so Dato Najib is as aristocratic as they come.

And guess what?

It was Tun Abdul Razak who brought in a young politician who was left out in the cold for the wolves and sorta mentored him until this person became Prime Minister! Tun Razak’s protégé of sorts became Prime Minister after Tun Hussein Onn and this person also brought the downfall and destruction of Tun Razak’s son Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak! Of course lah this person is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed our current Prime Minister!

Remember in 1969 Dr Mahathir Mohd was expelled from UMNO for calling for Tunku Abdul Rahman Al-Haj our first Prime Minister to resign after the May 13 racial riots and Tunku Abdul Rahman had to be persuaded not to ask the police to arrest Dr Mahathir. 

Tun Hussein Onn the successor of Tun Abdul Razak was never close to Dr Mahathir who assumed his political career was as good as being put in deep freeze. But as Tun Mahathir said, “I thought Tun Razak’s death would be the end of my career but Tun Razak put in a good word for me to Tun Hussein Onn and so I became Prime Minister."

In an interview in 2016 to mark the 40^th death anniversary of Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Mahathir said “I owed everything to him” and Tun Razak’s death was “a personal loss”.

Is Tun Razak turning in his grave now that Tun Mahathir his “blue-eyed boy which angered many UMNO stalwarts” (as expressed by Tun Mahathir) had overthrown and deposed his son Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak? Hmm, maybe not.

Just because the father is great does not guarantee the son has no choice but be great too. Ditto for the son whose father is imprisoned for murder, mayhem and mutilation! The father’s sin cannot be imposed on the son and vice versa as each can start his own sin independently! The sins of the father cannot be visited upon his son and the sins of the son have nothing to do with his righteous father!

As it was, Tun Mahathir selected Dato Sri Najib as Deputy Prime Minister so that debt was repaid. In 2015 Tun Mahathir said he chose Najib as deputy PM in honour of Najib’s father Tun Razak who was Tun Mahathir’s mentor. Of course Dato Sri Najib as PM was supposed to carry on the good name of his country, UMNO and family but apparently he was given the wrong script hand-written by his wife.

Ah yes, we can only guess at Tun Rahah’s feelings as we cannot blame her and Tun Razak for faulty genes as Najib’s siblings are practically perfection personified but perhaps Tun Rahah should have selected a better daughter-in-law.

Like they said, Tun Mahathir and Dato Sri Anwar Ibrahim would not have succeeded without their wives but Dato Sri Najib would HAVE succeeded if not for his wife.