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The following is the composition of the 1961 Malayan Cabinet headed by Tunku Abdul Rahman (pic) who had been Chief Minister of the new Federation from August 1955 to August 1957. Obviously this was not the immediate post-Merdeka (Independence) Cabinet but this was the closest I could find. I will of course publish the 1957 Cabinet list as soon as I found it.
1. Tunku Abdul Rahman (Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs) 2. Dato' Abdul Razak Hussein (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence & Rural Development) 3. Dato' Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman (Internal Security) 4. Tan Siew Sin (Finance) 5. Tun Leong Yew Koh (Justice) 6. V.T. Sambanthan (Works, Posts & Telecommunications) 7. Dato' Sulaiman Dato' Abdul Rahman (Interior) 8. Abdul Aziz Ishak (Agriculture) 9. Sardon Hj. Jubir (Transport) 10. Dato' Ong Yoke Lin (Health and Social Welfare) 11. Bahaman Samsudin (Labour) 12. Mohamed Khir Johari (Commerce and Industry) 13. Abdul Rahman Talib (Education).
As can be seen, there were 13 Ministers. Out of these 9 were Malays (UMNO), 3 Chinese (MCA) and 1 Indian (MIC). While the number of Chinese and Indian ministers remained the same as compared to 1955, there was an increase of 3 Malay ministers. While the Tunku (prince) had been elevated from Chief Minister to Prime Minister, his trusted lieutenant Razak was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister. All of them belonged to the ruling coalition of the Alliance Party, the precursor of the National Front (BN) which has ruled Malaya (later Malaysia) since.
However, the Chinese representation saw a new face in Tan Siew Sin (later Tun) who replaced Col. Sir H.S. Lee, one of the Independence fighters who flew to London together with the Tunku. Tan was the son of another freedom fighter and MCA founder Tun Tan Chin Loke. Notice that Leong, a minister since 1955, had been made a Tun (Malaya's highest civilian award) by 1961 and was the only Tun in the Cabinet then. Notice also that Khir was promoted from an assistant Minister in 1955 to a full minister.
And of course since Malaysia was not formed yet in 1961, there was no federal minister from Sabah and Sarawak. Unfortunately, the list that I obtained did not include any Assistant Minister (known as Deputy Minister today) and of course those days there were no Parliamentary Secretaries yet.
In 1961, there were 104 elected seats in the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House of Parliament) of Malaya. I was only 7 years old then and due to communication difficulties those days, most people in Sabah (then North Borneo) and Sarawak probably never heard of Malaya. They only began to know Malaya after the Tunku broached the idea of Malaysia and as fate would have it, Sabah and Sarawak eventually merged with Malaya and Singapore to form the new nation in 1963.
1. Tunku Abdul Rahman (Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs) 2. Dato' Abdul Razak Hussein (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence & Rural Development) 3. Dato' Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman (Internal Security) 4. Tan Siew Sin (Finance) 5. Tun Leong Yew Koh (Justice) 6. V.T. Sambanthan (Works, Posts & Telecommunications) 7. Dato' Sulaiman Dato' Abdul Rahman (Interior) 8. Abdul Aziz Ishak (Agriculture) 9. Sardon Hj. Jubir (Transport) 10. Dato' Ong Yoke Lin (Health and Social Welfare) 11. Bahaman Samsudin (Labour) 12. Mohamed Khir Johari (Commerce and Industry) 13. Abdul Rahman Talib (Education).
As can be seen, there were 13 Ministers. Out of these 9 were Malays (UMNO), 3 Chinese (MCA) and 1 Indian (MIC). While the number of Chinese and Indian ministers remained the same as compared to 1955, there was an increase of 3 Malay ministers. While the Tunku (prince) had been elevated from Chief Minister to Prime Minister, his trusted lieutenant Razak was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister. All of them belonged to the ruling coalition of the Alliance Party, the precursor of the National Front (BN) which has ruled Malaya (later Malaysia) since.
However, the Chinese representation saw a new face in Tan Siew Sin (later Tun) who replaced Col. Sir H.S. Lee, one of the Independence fighters who flew to London together with the Tunku. Tan was the son of another freedom fighter and MCA founder Tun Tan Chin Loke. Notice that Leong, a minister since 1955, had been made a Tun (Malaya's highest civilian award) by 1961 and was the only Tun in the Cabinet then. Notice also that Khir was promoted from an assistant Minister in 1955 to a full minister.
And of course since Malaysia was not formed yet in 1961, there was no federal minister from Sabah and Sarawak. Unfortunately, the list that I obtained did not include any Assistant Minister (known as Deputy Minister today) and of course those days there were no Parliamentary Secretaries yet.
In 1961, there were 104 elected seats in the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House of Parliament) of Malaya. I was only 7 years old then and due to communication difficulties those days, most people in Sabah (then North Borneo) and Sarawak probably never heard of Malaya. They only began to know Malaya after the Tunku broached the idea of Malaysia and as fate would have it, Sabah and Sarawak eventually merged with Malaya and Singapore to form the new nation in 1963.
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