Onn Jaafar

Onn bin Jaafar (12 February 1895 – 19 January 1962) was a Malayan politician who founded the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 1946 to oppose the Malayan Union, and served as its first president and as Menteri Besar of Johor from 1947 to 1950. He is regarded as the pioneer of organised Malay nationalism; later he broke with UMNO over its communal policies and founded the Independence of Malaya Party and Parti Negara. ^{1 2 3}

He was born at Bukit Gambir, Johor Bahru, the son of Jaafar Muhammad, a chief minister of Johor, and was raised close to the Johor palace. Educated at Aldeburgh Lodge School in England and at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, he worked as a clerk and served in the Johor Military Forces before turning to journalism: exiled to Singapore in 1927 after criticising Sultan Ibrahim, he edited the Malay papers Warta Malaya and Lembaga Malaya and became a leading voice on Malay grievances, until the Sultan allowed his return in 1936. ^{1 2}

After the Second World War he organised the rallies against the Malayan Union and founded UMNO in May 1946, becoming its first president; the British withdrew the Union scheme. Appointed Menteri Besar of Johor in 1947, he resigned in 1950 to give his time to UMNO, then resigned from the party itself in August 1951 when it refused to open membership to all Malayans. His Independence of Malaya Party and then Parti Negara failed to match the Alliance of his successor Tunku Abdul Rahman, though he won a seat in the federal parliament in 1959. He died at Johor Bahru on 19 January 1962 and was buried in the Mahmoodiah Royal Mausoleum. ^{1 2}