Political Journal

I've published my first Journal-Assignment, so why not publish the second one too? Or the next. Well, I think I should publish all of them. After all, there's nothing wrong with sharing my opinions. Sharing is caring. And that's what blogs are for.

Date of entry: 17 January 2009
Title: The Onn Family : The Involvement in Malaysian Politics
Source:

For the past few days, my life has been hectic. It’s not like I have a lot of spare time before, but this time it was different. My cousin has caught one of the wedding fevers going on in 2008 and is now married to a fine gentleman. As her closest relative, I’ve been there for her throughout the process. Since I’m also her neighbor, I practically live in her house considering the amount of time I spent there. This has not just made our relationship stronger and closer, but I also got to know the groom’s side of the family.

My cousin, Vivienti, has married Daniel Onn on Boxing Day in her parents’ house last year. Before this event, I have known about Daniel, or Danny as we call him. But I didn’t ask much about him. All this while I though Danny was a Chinese, considering he does look like Chinese, talks very little Malay and “Onn” as family name. It never occurred to me that Danny is a descendant of Datu’ Onn Jaafar. His family has done a great job at filling me in on the Onn family history, especially the three major politicians of the family: Datu’ Onn Jaafar, Tun Hussein Onn and Datu’ Seri Hishammudin Hussein.

Danny has been named after his great grandfather, Datu’ Onn Jaafar. Datu’ Onn Jaafar was a Malay politician and Chief Minister of Johore. As I have learnt in History class, he was the founder of United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and was the one who set up Rural Industry Development Authority to aid in the social welfare of the Malays. Even though he eventually eclipsed from the Malayan political world, he will always be remember as one of the politicians who fought for the Malays’ right.

Datu’ Onn’s son, Tun Hussein Onn, was the third Prime Minister of Malaysia, who ruled from 1976 till 1981. He was the first youth chief of UMNO, before he resigned to join his father in forming the Independence of Malay Party (IMP). After the party lost it momentum, he was persuaded by then Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Razak, to rejoin UMNO. His charisma and accountability had him won the election and was appointed as the education minister. On 1976, he was appointed to be the Prime Minister after the death of Tunku Abdul Razak. Tun Hussein Onn was looked upon as being very sincere in his struggle for racial unity and had a reputation of being firm against anyone that tried to create racial unrest in the country. Due to this that he was known as the ‘Father of Unity’. After his retirement as Prime Minister, he continued to contribute to welfare organization. He was also the advisor to Petronas and Chairman of Institue of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS).

The third generation of the Onn family politician, Datu’ Seri Hishammudin Hussein, is currently the education minister, a position his father once held. He is also the Chairman of the Youth Wing of UMNO, a position similar to the one his grandfather held during the beginning of UMNO. Datu’ Seri Hishammudin became infamous for waving the ‘keris’ at the UMNO Annual General Meeting, and made quite a stir for the Malay and non-Malay. Datu’ Seri Hishammudin has a heavy burden to carry due to the high expectations from other as result of his background.

The others in Onn family are mostly involved in the corporate world and don’t stray far from the political world. With the strong family bond and good upbringing, it is not a surprise that most of them succeed in their own field. For instance, the 23 years old Daniel was one of the top students in his class with three major. For a young lad, he’s very impressive.

Although we’re not closely related, but I’m happy and proud to have him as part of our family. I wish Vivienti & Danny a happy and long marriage and succeed in everything they do.

Well, I think I have some of the facts wrong. A lot, maybe. Sorry Danny, didn't have time to check my facts. I don't have a source, I wrote this in one go. I'd like to apologize if I have written it wrongly, and please do not quote from it.