Hussein Onn

Hussein Onn was born in Johor Bahru on 22nd February 1922. He was the eldest son of Dato� Onn Jaafar, the Menteri Besar of Johor and first President of UMNO, and Datin Halimah. He received his early education in Singpore, and later at the English College, Johor Bahru. He began his career as a cadet Officer in the Johor Military Force. In 1941, he was sent for military training at the Military Academy in Dehra Dun, India, and was commissioned in 1942.


He had served in the Middle East and the New Delhi Military college. He was promoted to the rank of Caption and had served as an Instructor at the Malayan Police Training Centre at Rawalpindi, India. In August 1945, he returned to Malaya and was appointed commandant of the Police Depot, Johor Bahru. Later he served in the Malay Administrative Service and was appointed Aassistant District Officer, Segamat.


When Dato� Onn Jaafar formed UMNO, he resigned from the service to devote his time fully to UMNO. In 1946, he was appointed as the first Head of the UMNO Youth Movement, and also as Secretary-General of UMNO. He served as a member of the Federal Legislative Council. In 1948, he pursued his law upon his return for five years.


In 1970, he contested and won the Parliamentary constituency of Johor Bahru Timur and was subsequently appointed Minister of Education in the Tun Abdul Razak Cabinet. In 1972, he was elected as a Vice-President of UMNO. On 13th August 1973, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, succeeding Tun Dr. Ismail who passed away.


After Tun Abdul Razak passed away in London on 14th January 1976, Tun Hussein was appointed Prime Minister. On account of ill-health, however, he decided to relinquish the post of Premiership to his deputy, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on 15th July 1981.


Tun Hussein Onn contributed a great deal towards the betterment of the bumiputra community during his term of office as Prime Minister. The new Economic Policy was given a fresh impetus under his able direction. He is best remembered for having introduced a scheme designed to transfer millions of dollars worth of government-owned shares to a specially modified giant National Unit Trust (Amanah Saham Nasional) controlled by the National Equity Corporation (Permodalan National Bhd. or PNB). The Trust allowed bumiputras to invest in the shares. Flushed with funds from the millions of units sold to bumiputras, the PNB then became the major means by which the government sought to purchase a controlling interest in other foreign companies.


Although Tun Hussein Onn had retired, he was still very active in other works. On May 1983, he was appointed President of the International Islamic University. On 22nd February 1983, he was appointed Advisor to Petronas and was appointed Chairman of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) on 9th June 1983.


He passed away at the age of 68 on 29th May 1990 at the Seaton Medical Centre, San Francisco, United States, six weeks after he underwent a coronary by-pass operation. His remains were buried at the Heroes Mausoleum, in the compound of the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur.

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