Dato Onn bin Jaafar's and Tunku Abdul Rahman's Visions: Ideology and Nation-Building in Malaya, 1948-1957

This study aims to understand hidden dynamics behind the Malay struggle for independence, largely concerned with the ideological warfare of the two preeminent Malay national leaders, both within Malay society and against the British from 1948 to 1957. With this aim in view, first of all, this paper examines Dato Onn bin Jaafar's vision and his struggle for independence. Secondly, it examines Tunku Abdul Rahman's vision and his struggle for independence. Based upon this paper shows that independent Malaya was a great masterpiece skillfully molded by the two preeminent Malay leaders who had personified Malay aspirations for political freedom, which had gradually developed within Malay society since the 1920s.