Tun Hussein bin Dato’ Onn was Malaysia’s third Prime Minister. He led the country from 1976 to 1981. He was a politician who was loved and respected by many. People called him “Bapa Perpaduan” (Father of Unity). He was a kind, calm person who always put the well-being of his country and its people first. He was thoughtful and soft-spoken. He wasn’t a fiery speaker, but he was a good communicator who got his point across calmly but with confidence. Born as the son of Dato’ Onn Jaafar, the founder of UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) and a Malayan freedom fighter, patriotism was in his blood, and he was totally dedicated to his country from a young age. He joined the military as soon as he got out of school because he wanted to help his country. He also served in the Middle East when the Second World War broke out. After the war, he was given a job as an instructor at the Malayan Police Recruiting and Training Centre in Rawalpindi because he was smart, brave, and skilled. In the end, he went back to Malaysia and got a job as an assistant administrative officer in the Malaya Civil Service. Over the next few years, he went into politics and became known as a politician with strong morals who cared about the people. He became the Prime Minister of Malaysia in 1976, and he did a lot to bring people from different parts of Malaysia together.
Early years and childhood
Hussein Onn was born in Johor Bahru, British Malaya, which is now called Malaysia, on February 12, 1922. He was the son of Dato’ Onn Jaafar. His father started the largest political party in Malaysia, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). Onn Jaafar was also known for fighting for freedom.
Hussein Onn went to Singapore’s Telok Kurau Primary School and then the English College in Johore Bahru.
In 1940, he became a cadet in the Johor Military Forces. After a year, the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun, India, sent him there.
Hussein Onn’s Career
Hussein Onn proved to be a smart cadet, and when he finished his training, the Indian Army took him in. When the Second World War started, he was sent to the Middle East to serve. He was also part of the British forces that drove the Japanese out of Malaya in 1945.
After he served in the Second World War, the British hired him to teach at the Malayan Police Recruiting and Training Centre in Rawalpindi.
When he went back to Malaysia in 1945, he was put in charge of the Johor Bahru Police Depot right away. The following year, he helped his father, the politician Onn Bin Jaafar, form the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). The main reason the party was started was to give the Malay people a place to promote their interests in the fight for independence.
In 1946, he also joined the Malaya Civil Service in Segamat, Johor, as an assistant administrative officer. In the state of Selangor, he became the district officer for Klang and Kuala Selangor.
In 1949, he was named the first youth chief of the UMNO, and the following year, he was chosen to be the UMNO Secretary-General. But there were some disagreements at the party, so he left.
After he left UMNO, he worked with his father again to start the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP). The new party, which was open to people of all races in Malaya, was against the Malay supremacy policy of the UMNO.
But the IMP didn’t do very well, so Hussein Onn moved to London to study law at Lincoln’s Inn. He became a Barrister-at-Law and went back to his home country as a real lawyer.
He opened a law office in Kuala Lumpur and later went back into politics. Tun Abdul Razak, who was Prime Minister at the time, got him to join UMNO again in 1968.
He won the general election in 1969 and became the Minister of Education. A few years later, when Tun Dr Ismail died, he replaced him as the Deputy Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdul Razak, died on January 14, 1976, while he was in London getting treatment for his cancer. Now, Hussein Onn was put in charge of running the country, and on January 15, 1976, he became the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
As Prime Minister, he worked hard to fix the economic differences in Malaysia and took steps to make Malaysia a strong, unified country. He started the National Unit Trust Scheme and worked hard to stop the spread of drugs.
He had problems with his heart and had a coronary bypass in early 1981. A few months later, he left politics for good, and Mahathir Mohamad took over as Prime Minister.
Personal History and Legacies
In 1948, Hussein Onn married Tun Suhaila Noah, who was the daughter of Tan Sri Haji Mohamad Noah Omar, the first Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat and a former Minister of Home Affairs. There were six kids in the family.
After he retired, he was a big part of setting up the Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital and was also active in other organizations that helped people.
He died on May 29, 1990, at the Seton Medical Center in San Francisco, California. He was buried at the Heroes Mausoleum, or Makam Pahlawan, near the Masjid Negara in Kuala Lumpur.
Estimated Net worth
Hussein is on the list of the most popular and wealthiest politicians. Based on what we found on Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider, Hussein Onn has a net worth of about $1.5 million.