First Tunku Abdul Rahman Ministry

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The First Tunku Abdul Rahman Ministry was formed following the general elections victory of the Alliance Party led by Tunku Abdul Rahman on July 27, 1955. Upon receiving the assent of the Rulers of the Malay states, the composition of the cabinet was announced by the High Commissioner of the Federation of Malaya, Donald MacGillivray, from King's House on August 4, 1955. The ministry was sworn in August 9, 1955 by the Chief Justice of Malaya, Prethaser.

The swearing in of this ministry marked the first time the majority of the Executive comprised of members directly elected by Malayans and this was also the last ministry to hold office under the British protectorate. Only four portfolios, the Chief Secretary to the Government, Secretary of Finance, Attorney General and the Secretary of State, remained directly appointed by High Commissioner and were helmed by British officials ^[1].

The composition of the ministry on its formation is as follows:

Portfolio	Office Bearer	Party
Chief Minister	Tunku Abdul Rahman	UMNO
Minister of Home Affairs     Deputy Minister of Home Affairs	Tunku Abdul Rahman     Bahaman Shamsuddin	UMNO UMNO
Minister of Education     Deputy Minister of Education	Abdul Razak Hussein     Poh Choon Beng	UMNO MCA
Minister of Natural Resources	Ismail Abdul Rahman	UMNO
Minister of Transport	H. S. Lee	MCA
Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives     Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives	Abdul Aziz Ishak     Mohd Khir Johari	UMNO UMNO
Minister of Health     Assistant Minister of Health	Leong Yew Koh     Abdul Rahman Talib	MCA UMNO
Minister of Works	Sardon Haji Jubir	UMNO
Minister of Labour     Assistant Minister of Works	V. T. Sambanthan     Khalid Awang Osman	MIC UMNO
Minister of Local Government, Housing and Town Planning	Sulaiman Datuk Abdul Rahman	UMNO
Minister of Communications, Telecommunications and Post	Ong Yoke Lin	MCA

The tenure of the ministry extended beyond the independence of Malaya on August 31, 1957 although it was reshuffled with the addition of new portfolios following independence and was only dissolved with the first post-independence general elections was called on August 19, 1959.

The composition of the ministry following its reshuffling is as follows ^[2] :

Portfolio	Office Bearer	Party
Prime Minister     Deputy Prime Minister	Tunku Abdul Rahman     Abdul Razak Hussein	UMNO UMNO
Minister of Home Affairs and Justice	Sulaiman Datuk Abdul Rahman	UMNO
Minister of Foreign Affairs	Tunku Abdul Rahman	UMNO
Minister of Defence	Abdul Razak Hussein	UMNO
Minister of Finance	H. S. Lee	MCA
Minister of Education	Mohd Khir Johari	UMNO
Minister of Natural Resources	Bahaman Shamsuddin	UMNO
Minister of Transport	Abdul Rahman Talib	UMNO
Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives	Abdul Aziz Ishak	UMNO
Minister of Health	V. T. Sambanthan	MIC
Minister of Works, Post and Telecommunications	Sardon Haji Jubir	UMNO
Minister of Labour and Social Welfare	Ong Yoke Lin	MCA
Minister of Trade and Industry	Tan Siew Sin	MCA

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