Political Career
As the former president of the Malayan Students Union in London and secretary of the Malay Society in Britain, Razaleigh has entered into politics in 23 April 1962. He was unanimously elected as chairman of the Ulu Kelantan Division of UMNO at its annual meeting. He had returned to Malaya earlier that year to attend the funeral of his father.
In the 1969 general election, Razaleigh won the Parliamentary seat of Kelantan Barat. In 1971, he was elected to the UMNO Supreme Council, and was elected as a Vice-President of UMNO in 1975. After Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak's sudden death in 1976, he was appointed as Finance Minister by the new Prime Minister, Hussein Onn. Razaleigh's planning is reputed to have been the main reason the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, of which UMNO is a member, almost totally defeated the opposition Islamic party of PAS in the 1978 general election and the Kelantan state elections of the same year.
When Mahathir bin Mohamad succeeded Hussein Onn as Prime Minister, he declared the election for the Deputy Presidency of UMNO — and thus by extension the Deputy Prime Ministership — was open; he would not support any candidate. Razaleigh joined the fray, and his main opposition was Musa Hitam. Eventually, Musa won the election with 722 votes to Razaleigh's 517 votes, becoming the new Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister. Razaleigh blamed himself for taking "a rather passive stance" and not having a campaign strategy.
In 1987, Tengku Razaleigh challenged Mahathir. In the election, Dr. Mahathir managed to retain his position. However, UMNO was split into two separate entities as Tengku Razaleigh was left unsatisfied with the result.
The split forced the Malaysian court to declare UMNO as illegal. Shortly after the court ruling, Dr. Mahathir reestablished UMNO as UMNO Baru (New UMNO), though the new UMNO was badly weakened. Tengku Razaleigh at the same time went on his own path and found a new political party called Semangat 46 in 1989. The number 46 refers to the year UMNO was originally founded.
Seven years later, Tengku Razaleigh disbanded Semangat 46 and rejoined UMNO.
In 2004, he announced his interest for the UMNO top post yet again but failed to garner enough nominations to contest the presidency.
Read more about this topic: Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
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