Tun Abdul Razak Bin Hussein was the only child of Dato’ Hussein Bin Mohd Taid and Hajah The Fatimah Binti Daud. He was descended from a long line of Pahang chieftains and was born in Pulau Keladi, Pahang, on 11 March 1922. Abdul Razak’s eldest son, Najib Tun Razak, became the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia under Abdullah Badawi in 2004. He has four other sons, Datuk Ahmad Johari Razak, Mohamed Nizam, Mohamed Nazim and Mohamed Nazir. Abdul Razak studied at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar. After joining the Malay Administrative Service in 1939, he was awarded a scholarship to study at Raffles College in Singapore in 1940. His studies at the college ceased with the onset of the Second World War. During the war he helped organize the Wataniah resistance movement in Pahang. After World War II, Tun Abdul Razak managed to get a scholarship to study law in Britain in the year of 1947 and received a Degree of an Utter Barrister from Lincoln’s Inn.
He returned back to Malaysia to pursue his ambition of being a lawyer, but he ventured out into politics joined the Malayan Civil Service. In 1950 he was the Youth Chief for United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). He then worked as the Assistant State Secretary of Pahang. At the age of 33, he became the Pahang’s Chief Minister. He won the first election in July 1955 and was appointed as the Education Minister. He was also the Minister of Rural Development, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense in 1959. His achievements include formulating the development policy known as the Red Book. He was later appointed as the Second Prime Minter of Malaysia in September 1970, overthrowing Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra after the May 13th incident in 1969 by his faction in UMNO and imposed a State of Emergency, ruling by decree until 1970.
On the 1st of January 1973, Tunku Abdul Razak made a National Front (Barisan National) to replace the Alliance Party. The number of membership of the party increased, establishing the National Strength through political stability. Tunku Abdul Razak and the “ second generation” of politicians realized that they should improved rapidly on their economic and social disparities which caused the racial antagonism. He then launched the Malaysian New Economic Policy (MNEP) in 1971. The two main goals was to reduce and eventually eradicate poverty and to reduce and eventually eradicate identification of the economic function with race.
At the time of Seperation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965, Tunku Abdul Razak realized that UMNO needed more young leaders in the party, who is grounded in their own faith and culture and be able to speak in both English and Malay language for debate. He also wanted young men and women of different races to mix with one another with peace because what’s important to him was the question whether or not the younger generation could do the job because they would have to be subject to scrutiny and be accountable to the voters. He also understood that power was sided in the Malay community and for this power to be wielded effectively, the elite among the Malays had to be an elite determined by ability, aptitude and commitment to the nation as a whole.
Class, birth and money were secondary in his calculations. He died of leukemia in January 1976. His death was a great loss to the nation. Tun Abdul Razak was remembered as a leader who was known as the Father of Development who had brought further development and progress to Malaysia. There are now several roads and highways in Malaysia named after Tun Razak as an award such as Tun Razak Highway (Federal Route JKR| 12 connecting Segamat, Johor to Gambang, Pahang), Jalan Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur (part of Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1), Jalan Tun Abdul Razak in Johor Bahru (part of Skudai Highway) and Jalan Tun Abdul Razak in Melaka City (street name for Melaka Bypass). Bandar Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur and Bandar Tun Abdul Razak, Pahang are the towns named after Tun Razak.
