Mohd Khir Johari

Tan Sri Mohamed Khir Johari (born January 29, 1923 in Alor Setar , Kedah , † November 19, 2006 in Kuala Lumpur ) was a Malaysian politician and long-time minister of education.

biography

Second World War

After attending school, he began to study English at Sultan Abdul Hamid College, which he graduated with a diploma in 1939 . He could not take up the subsequently planned teacher training course at Raffles College in Singapore because the Second World War had begun .

When, after the defeat of the Japanese army by the Allied forces in 1945, the communist rebel organization "The Three Stars" (Bintang Tiga) tried to come to power in what would become the state of Kedah , he joined a small group of young men around Tunku Abdul Rahman , whom it was possible without arms to prevent this takeover and to defend Kedah against the communists until the arrival of the British occupation troops. He saw Rahman as the "man of the hour", with whom he ultimately had a lifelong friendship until Rahman's death in 1990.

Then the two founded an aid movement for the victims of the so-called Death Railway , a railway connection that the Japanese army had forced laborers and prisoners of war build between what was then Burma and Thailand during World War II from June 1942 to October 1943 , and which involved around 94,000 Asian (forced -) Workers and about 14,000 Allied prisoners lost their lives. After World War II, many of the victims settled in Indonesia and Malaysia , where they found themselves in dire conditions and in need of medical care and protection. In addition to Rahman and Khir, a few volunteers built a poor house (Rumah Miskin), whose head was Rahman and secretary Khir. He then worked as a teacher at Sultan Abdul Hamid College.

Malaysia's independence

Khir Johari began his political career in 1955 as Secretary General of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and with the election to the first House of Representatives ( Dewan Rakyat ), of which he was a representative of the UMNO until 1982. After Malaysia's independence from Great Britain on August 31, 1957, he was appointed Minister of Education by his friend and then Prime Minister , Tunku Abdul Rahman. He then held this office under his successors, Abdul Razak and Hussein Onn, until 1975. From 1975 to 1976 he was minister without portfolio and furthermore Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations (UN) and was also as such as Ambassador to the United States , Brazil and Mexico accredited . In addition, he was also minister of health, minister for cooperatives, minister for trade and industry (1959 to 1962) and minister of agriculture.

After his resignation, he held offices in several organizations and was, among other things, from 1972 to 2006 chairman of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) of Malaysia and the bodybuilding association . As chairman of the Badminton Association , he led Malaysia to its first victory in the Thomas Cup in 1967. He was also a member of the Executive Committee, since 1982 also Vice-President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia , of the Malaysian National Olympic Committee and from 1961 to 1985 President of the Badminton Association of Malaysia .

For his political and social services he was awarded the honorary title "Tan Sri" by the government.

swell

• "Umno Veteran Khir Johari Dies Of Heart Attack" , obituary Malaysian National News Agency November 19, 2006
• "A simple, no-frills leader who served quietly" , obituary THE STAR November 20, 2006

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Man of the hour"
2. ↑ Malaysia's Political Leadership, 1967-1977 ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations
4. ^ List of Malaysian Trade Ministers
5. ↑ The New Economic Policy and the United Malays National Organization , 1997, p. 224 ( Memento of April 10, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 158 kB)
6. ↑ Homepayge of the OCM
7. ↑ Malaysia and Olympism, Olympic Review (PDF; 310 kB)