Mustapha bin Harun

Malay name : The part of the name "bin Datu Harun" is a patronymic and not a family name ; the person is called Mustapha .

Tun Mustapha's tomb

Tun Datu Haji Mustapha bin Datu Harun SPDK , SMN , OBE (born July 31, 1918 in Kudat ; † January 2, 1995 in Kota Kinabalu ), commonly known as Tun Mustapha , was the first Yang di-Pertua Negeri and the third Prime Minister of the State of Sabah in Malaysia and President of the United Sabah National Organization (USNO) party . His tenure as Prime Minister lasted from 1967 to 1975. Due to his leading role in the negotiations for the accession of British North Borneo to the Malaya Federation , he is counted among the founding fathers of the state of Sabah.

Tun Mustapha was among the proponents of mass conversions in Sabah, in which a significant number of Sabah's non-Muslim indigenous people were converted to Islam. The mass events offered financial and other benefits to those who publicly embraced Islam.

Life

Tun Mustapha was born on July 31, 1918 in Kampung Limau-Limauan in the Kudat district. He was the eldest of nine siblings of the married couple Datu Harun Datu Nasaruddin and Norani Hj. Abdul Rahim, who both belonged to the indigenous group of the Bajau-Suluk. He also had five other siblings from his father's second marriage to Hajah Janzarah.

Mustapha's birth name was originally Datu Badiozaman and indicates his relationship with Sultan Badiozaman, an early Sultan of Sulu. Because of his poor health, however, his parents were of the opinion that the child was unsuitable to bear the name of such a famous ancestor and changed it to Datu Mustapha.

At the age of ten he hired himself as an errand boy for the resident of Kudat, EW Morell. In 1932 he enrolled at St. James School , a mission school, which he left nine months later. On October 18, 1934, he joined the North Borneo Chartered Company as an office clerk . ER Evans, the District Officer, encouraged him to improve his lack of schooling through self-taught learning. Mustapha's efforts were successful and on February 1, 1937, he was promoted first to Native Clerk and later to Opium Clerk . He held this post until the Japanese invaded.

During the Second World War he was wanted by the Japanese because of the revolts he instigated against them, especially in Kudat. Since they could not get hold of him, they seized his younger brother and killed him after trying in vain to find out from him the whereabouts of Tun Mustapha.

At the invitation of the colonial administration and the British Council , Mustapha traveled to England on a one-year scholarship in 1959, where he studied English language and political science.

Tun Mustapha died on January 2, 1995 at Sabah Medical Center , Teluk Likas, Kota Kinabalu. He was buried in the Muslim cemetery in Kampung Ulu / Ulu Seberang in Putatan ; a cemetery on the site of which there was previously a fortification of Mat Salleh . At the behest of the state government of Sabah, this cemetery is now called “ Taman Memorial Tun Datu Mustapha ”.

Political career

Tun Mustapha is known to some as "the father of Sabah independence" or as the "father of construction in Sabah". However, many opposition politicians of the later BERJAYA administration refer to him as a dictator who embezzled huge sums of money from the country's assets (mainly through the awarding of forest concessions) in order to pursue his lavish lifestyle. He owned two private Boeing 707s serviced by the government-owned airline Sabah Air and stately homes in England and Australia.

In December 1961, Mustapha founded the United Sabah National Organization (USNO) party . Together with Donald Stephens , he is counted among the main actors who pushed Sabah's independence and prepared for accession to the Malaya Federation in 1963. When Malaysia was founded on September 16, 1963, he became the first Yang di-Pertua Negeri in Sabah State. In the 1967 elections, his party USNO won and Mustapha became the third Prime Minister of Sabah.

Relations with the Malaysian federal government were not very good during his time as Prime Minister of Sabah. Although the USNO was part of the Barisan Nasional coalition government in Kuala Lumpur, it was concerned about some of Mustapha's attitudes, in particular his intention, or rather his threat, that Sabah might break away from Malaysia. Mustapha also refused to sign an agreement with the federal government that stipulated that Sabah would receive only 5% of the revenues from oil production in its coastal area. Mustapha, on the other hand, required a minimum participation of 30%.

Based on these controversies, Harris Salleh , the USNO's general secretary , left the party in 1975 and founded BERJAYA , which was supported by the federal government. BERJAYA won the state elections in 1976 and drove Mustapha out of office.

Mustapha remained active in politics and led the USNO in four consecutive state elections (1981, 1985, 1986 and 1990). Although they never regained a majority, they managed to permanently hold a few seats in the Sabah Legislative Assembly. Although it was in the role of the opposition in Sabah, the USNO remained a partner of the Barisan Nasional coalition government at the level of the Malaysian federal government. After the elections in Sabah in 1990, when BERJAYA lost its government majority to the Parti Bersatu Sabah party , he allied himself again with Harris Salleh. This resulted in an alliance of USNO and BERJAYA from which the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) emerged. Mustapha became the first chairman of UMNO Sabah.

Islamization in Sabah

The Christian communities of Sabah remember Tun Mustapha as the one who refused to extend their visas to foreign missionaries and churchmen if they did not have a settlement permit. Mustapha, using his powers as Chairman of the State Security Operation Committee and Prime Minister of Sabah, arrested any priests who resisted their deportation .

Mustapha cited the reason for the expulsion that the priests would interfere in politics. From their pulpits they would preach to the laity not to vote for Mustapha's party but for Berjaya or PBS in the upcoming elections. No doubt Mustapha had his informants in the pews, but even so, every churchgoer, Christian or non-Christian, could testify that the priests did just that. In this respect, the church itself was not entirely innocent of the resulting disputes. Peter Chung, the Bishop of Sabah, did nothing to call his priesthood to order, which further exacerbated the tense situation with Tun Mustapha.

On the morning of December 2, 1972, on his instructions, police raided mission stations in Tambunan, Papar, Bundu Tuhan, and Kuala Penyu. The raids in Tambunan and Papar were successful; The ropes of the church bells had been cut off in the early hours of the morning so that no one could be warned. Long before parishioners got wind of the matter, the priests were locked in Kapayan.

The raid in Kuala Penyu was initially a fiasco - the police were already awaited by a 600-strong reception committee when they arrived. Around 11 a.m., reinforcements arrived for the police forces. Using tear gas, mobile forces, a task force, a raid squad, fifteen land rovers, two trucks and a helicopter, the forces finally managed to seize a single unarmed priest.

On December 15, other clergymen were arrested in Keningau, Tenom and Limbahau.

The remaining priests, who were only in possession of temporary residence permits, were forced to bid farewell to their congregations and either go back home or take up service in neighboring countries.

In November 2009, the Malaysian Ministry of the Interior banned a biography of Tun Mustapha's political adversary Datuk Peter Mojuntin . The reason was that in the book Datuk Peter allegedly highlighted Mustapha's attempt to destroy Christianity in Sabah by deporting and arresting foreign missionaries. Datuk Peter's house was surrounded by police during the raids as he loudly vented his protests about the persecution of the priests. It was only thanks to the strong political influence of the Kadazan of Penampang that he himself escaped arrest.

Social Commitment

In addition to his involvement in politics and religion, Sabah's education sector was close to his heart. He suggested the establishment of the Sabah Foundation ( Yayasan Sabah ) and contributed to the establishment of the first university, the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Sabah Campus, as well as the establishment of the ITM (Institut Teknologi Mara).

Under the chairmanship of Tunku Abdul Rahman and later Datuk Patinggi Taib, Tun Mustapha was also vice-chairman of PERKIM, a controversial charity for Muslim converts. He was also a board member of the United Sabah Islamic Association (USIA) and a member of RISEAP.

Honors

Even before the start of his political career, Tun Mustapha enjoyed the trust and support of both the population and the colonial government. In 1951 he was given the honorary title Orang Kaya-Kaya (OKK) , which is used to designate the highest chiefs of the indigenous groups of Sabah.

On September 16, 1964 he was awarded the first degree of Darjah Yang Amat Mulia Kinabalu (The Illustrious Order of Kinabalu).

One of the highest honors the State of Malaysia has to bestow on him was given on November 26th, 1964: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong bestowed Mustapha with the title Darjah Seri Maharaja Mangku Negara (SMN) . Mustapha was the first inhabitant of Sabah who was allowed to put the honorary title Do in front of his name. Tun Mustapha has also received numerous honors internationally. In 1972 the President of Lebanon awarded him the title of K.St.J. for his contribution to the unity of Muslims. (Knight of the Order of St. John Jerusalem) . Tun Mustapha is also a holder of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

In recognition of his service to the State of Sabah, the government posthumously renamed the Sabah Foundation Building Tun Mustapha Tower (Menara Tun Mustapha).

Posthumously he was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy during the 8th convocation ceremony of Universiti Malaysia Sabah on September 2-3 , 2006.

Remarks

1. ↑ The Seri Maharaja Mangku Negara (SMN) is the highest title-given award in Malaysia, see: List of Awards that Carry Titles

literature

• Mat Zin Mat Kib: Tun Mustapha: His Role and Contributions to the Development in Sabah, Malaysia . (PDF; 158 kB) In: TAWARIKH - International Journal for Historical Studies , 3 (2), 2012, pp. 195–210

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Celebrating Malaysia Day , The Star. September 24, 2007. Retrieved January 21, 2008. 
2. ↑ Björn Åsgård: A Study of the Kadazan Dusun, Sabah, Malaysia . ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) In: Ethnic Awareness and Development , p. 28; Retrieved March 8, 2007.
3. ^ Mat Zin Mat Kib, p. 197
4. ↑ JPPP: Tun Mustapha dan Pembangunan Sabah ; Yayasan Sabah - Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; Kuala Lumpur, 2003, quoted in: Mat Zin Mat Kib , p. 198
5. ^ Mat Zin Mat Kib, 198
6. ^ Mat Zin Mat Kib, p. 199
7. ↑ From houseboy to party leader .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Straits Times , Jan 3, 1995, p. 15  
8. ↑ "Tun Mustapha dan Pembangunan Sabah (development of Sabah)," Yayasan Sabah (2003) .
9. ↑ ^{a b} The Borneo Post Online
10. ^ Paul Rafaelle: Harris Salleh of Sabah . Condor Publishing, Hong Kong 1986, ISBN 962-7212-01-6 .
11. ↑ About Datuk Seri Harris Salleh & Datuk Seri Musa Aman . ( Memento of December 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) malaysiana1
12. ↑ John Rooney: Khabar Gembira: History of the Catholic Church in East Malaysia and Brunei, 1880-1976 . Burns and Oates Ltd Wellwood North Farm rd, Turnbridge Wells Kent 1981, ISBN 978-0-86012-122-0
13. ^ Daily Express , November 11, 2009, p. 2
14. ^ Bernard Sta Maria: Peter J. Mojuntin, the golden son of the Kadazan , Melakka, 1978
15. ^ Mat Zin Mat Kib, p. 208