| Tun Mustapha | |
|---|---|
| 3rd Chief Minister of Sabah | |
| In office 1967–1975 |
|
| Preceded by | Lo Sui Yin |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad Said bin Keruak |
| 1st Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah | |
| In office 1963–1965 |
|
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Tun Pengiran Haji Ahmad Raffae Pengiran Othman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1919 Kudat, British North Borneo |
| Died | January 2, 1996 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia |
| Political party | United Sabah National Organization, United Malays National Organisation |
| Religion | Islam |
Tun Datu Haji Mustapha bin Datu Harun or Tun Mustapha for short, was the first governor of the Malaysian state of Sabah. He was also the third Chief Minister of the state from 1967 to 1975, and was the president for the political party United Sabah National Organization (USNO). He is considered by some to be one of the founding leaders of Sabah and was an important party in the negotiations leading to the formation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963.[1]
He also succeeded in converting a significant number of non-Muslim indigenous people in Sabah into Muslim, mainly by sponsoring mass conversion drives, by way of offering certain monetary and other benefits in return.[2] The state government recently renamed the Sabah Foundation Building to Tun Mustapha Tower, as a token of appreciation for his contributions to the state.
Tun Mustapha is of a Оrang Вajau Bannaran -Kagayan and Orang Suluk/ Tausug origin.[3]
Tun Mustapha was not born in the Philippines as many had suspected. But he is a distant relative of the Sultan of Sulu. He was born in Kampung Limau-limauan, Kudat, He is Suluk-Bajau (Bajau Bannaran /Bajau Kudat and not Bajau Ubian). During World War II, he was wanted by the Japanese forces because of the rebellions he led against them, mainly in Kudat. But when they could not find him, they caught his younger brother and eventually killed him because his brother would not reveal where he was hiding.
He is known to some as the "father of Sabah's independence" and also the "father of Sabah's development".[4] However, he is also considered by many Sabahan opposition leaders who later formed the new party BERJAYA as a dictator who misappropriated huge sums of money from the state's coffers (primarily through timber concessions) to support his lavish lifestyle. He had two private customised Boeing 707 jet aircraft (which was technically owned by Sabah Air) and he owned mansions in England and Australia.
Mustapha founded the party United Sabah National Organization, better known by the acronym USNO. He, together with Donald Stephens, are often credited as important figures in Sabah in bringing forth Sabah's independence and in the formation of Malaysia in 1963. When Malaysia was formed on September 16, 1963, he became the first Yang di-Pertua Negeri (governor) of Sabah. In the 1967 state election, USNO won, and Mustapha became the third Chief Minister of Sabah.
When he was Chief Minister, his relationship with the Malaysian central government was not very good. Although the central government, represented by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, was a partner of USNO, they were worried about certain stances taken by Mustapha, in particular, his intention or threat to secede Sabah from Malaysia. Mustapha also refused to sign an oil agreement with the federal government which stated that only 5% of Sabah's oil revenue will be given to the state. Mustapha demanded at least 30%.[5]
Following from this, in 1975 USNO secretary-general Harris Salleh left the party to form BERJAYA. This party was backed up by the federal government.[5][6] In the 1976 state election, BERJAYA won and Mustapha was ousted from power.
Mustapha remained active in politics, leading USNO and contesting in four subsequent state elections (1981, 1985, 1986, and 1990). Although they never won again, they still managed to win several seats in the state assembly. They also remained a partner of BN at the federal government level (as opposed to the state level).[7] After the 1990 state election, he teamed up with Harris Salleh again, after BERJAYA themselves were ousted by Parti Bersatu Sabah. This resulted in a merger of USNO and BERJAYA to create the Sabah chapter of the peninsular-based United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Mustapha became its first chief of UMNO Sabah.
Aside from his involvement in politics and religion (Islam), he also made contributions in the education of Sabah. He mooted the idea of forming Sabah Foundation (Yayasan Sabah) and was responsible in setting up the first university, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Sabah Campus, and also the setting up of ITM (Institut Teknologi Mara).
He was also the Deputy Head of PERKIM, when the late Tunku was the President and also the time of Datuk Patinggi Taib. He was also the head of United Sabah Islamic Association (USIA) and a member of RISEAP.
Tun Mustapha is remembered by the Christians of Sabah for having violated human rights by denying foreign priests who have not obtained permanent residency their extension of their visas. All the priests who object to their expulsion for doing religions works amongst the Christians were arrested by using his powers as the Chairman of the State Security Operation Committee and CM of Sabah State Government.
Mustapha did this because he accused the priests of involvement in politics. From their pulpits in the churches during the sermons they used to tell the laity not to vote for Mustapha's party in the coming elections but to vote for other parties like Berjaya and PBS. No doubt Mustapha had his police informers sitting in the pews during the church services monitoring events. And any decent honest churchgoer who was in the pews, Christian or non-Christian alike can vouch that the priests indeed did this. So the church was not blameless to stirring up the resulting controversy. Furthermore the Bishop of Sabah at the time, Peter Chung did nothing to draw his priests into line, fruther souring his relations with Tun Mustapha.
Under his orders, on 2 December 1972, the police decided to make a raid at the missions at Tambunan, Papar, Bundu Tuhan and Kuala Penyu. The raids at Tambunan and Papar were successful, timed early in the morning with the church bell ropes cut to prevent it to be used to warned the people around. The priest were gaoled at Kapayan long before the parishioners were aware of it.
The raid at Kuala Penyu was initially a fiasco with a reception committee of 6 hundred. But by 11 am reiforcement were flown in. It took tear gas, field force, mobile force, riot squad, fifteen landrovers, 2 trucks and a helicopter to arrest one unarmed priest.
On 15 December more priest were arrested at Keningau, Tenom and Limbahau.
The rest of the priest who only have temporary residence permits, on hearing this has no choice but to say goodbye to their parishioners and went home or given new assignments to nearby countries. There are still plenty of young Christians, now in their middle and golden years who still remember vividly as they tearfully said goodbye to their teachers cum priests cum social workers who had no choice but to leave the state.
As reported in local news such as Daily Express (2nd page, 11 Nov 2009), the Malaysian home ministry informed in parliament that a biography of Tun Mustapha's political opponent who died in the double tenth plane crash, Datuk Peter Mojuntin, is banned. The reason was that the book "allegedly" recorded that Datuk Peter exposed Tun Mustapha's attempt to destroy Christianity in Sabah by deporting and arresting foreign missionary priest who were serving their local parishes in the State.
Datuk Peter's house was also surrounded by the police after all the priest were arrested because only he dared to voice out his opposition to the prosecution of the priest. He was not arrested because of his strong political support from the Kadazan people of Penampang.[9]
He died on January 2, 1996 at Sabah Medical Center, Teluk Likas, Kota Kinabalu, at the age of 76. He was buried at the Muslim cemetery in Kampung Ulu/Ulu Seberang Putatan which was formerly used as a fortress by the late Paduka Mat Salleh and the State Government has named the cemetery as "Taman Memorial Tun Datu Haji Mustapha". His memorial is not in Tambunan. The Tun Datu Mustapha Memorial in Tambunan is meant for the distant uncle, Paduka Mat Salleh.
During the 8th Convocation Ceremony of UMS (Universiti Malaysia Sabah) held on the 2–3 September 2006, he was conferred the Honorary Degree-Doctor of Philosophy (Social Development)
In December 2007, his 21 year old grandson, Datu Azlan Amir Kahar died of a heart attack. However, prior to his death he had a fight with his fiance Rosinah Chai, in which he sustained multiple injuries to his body. There was some speculations that Chai was responsible for Azlan's death, but post mortem results indicated that injuries inflicted upon Azlan did not cause his death.[10]
| New creation | Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah 1963–1965 |
Succeeded by Pengiran Ahmad Raffae Pengiran Othman |
| Preceded by Peter Lo Sui Yin |
Chief Minister of Sabah 1967–1975 |
Succeeded by Tun Said Keruak |