The United Malays National Organisation,(UMNO) was established on May 10, 1946 and founded by Datuk Onn Jaafar. Currently, UMNO is Malaysia’s largest political party and has played a dominant role in Malaysian politics since independence.
In 1951, Onn Jaafar suggested opening the party to the non-malay Malayan but the idea of sharing was not approved by the Malays community. After failing to form the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP), he left UMNO which then being replaced by Tunku Abdul Rahman UMNO President. In 1951, the British introduced the first election at the local level and UMNO won by claiming six out of the nine seats for the George Town municipal council election.
Ethnic unity in the fight for independence was the successfully reflected with the establishment of an alliance when the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), and Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) joined forces with UMNO.
When 1955 came, the first federal elections were held and the UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance, claimed an overwhelming victory (51 out of the 52 seats contested), and Tunku Abdul Rahman was appointed as the Federation's official first Chief Minister.
After election, Tunku worked hard towards gaining independence and in 1956, Tunku led a contingent compromising of Alliance politicians and representatives of the Malay rulers, to London for negotiations. At August 31, 1957 independence was set on the condition that an independent commission was set up to draft a constitution for the country.
The Alliance was successful in the fight for independence when British finally decided to relinquish their sovereignty in August 1957, thus making Malaysia an independent nation.
How did UMNO change our political landscape?
UMNO had been Malaysia ruling party since independence of Malaya in 1957. Throughout every year we can see how our Prime Minister from Tunku Abdul Rahman to the latest Dato Seri Najib had changed the political landscape of Malaysia. Malaysia policies had