Onn Jaafar

Common card · No. 328844

Onn bin Dato' Jaafar (Jawi: عون بن جعفر; 12 February 1895 – 19 January 1962) was a Malayan politician who served as the 7th Menteri Besar of Johor from 1947 to 1950. His organised opposition towards the creation of the Malayan Union (by the returning British colonial power after the end of the Japanese occupation of Malaya) led him to form the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 1946; he was UMNO's founder and its first president until his resignation in 1951. He was famously known as the pioneer of organised anti-imperialism and early Malay nationalism within Malaya, which eventually culminated with the Malayan independence from Britain. He was also responsible for the social and economic welfare of the Malays by setting up the Rural Industrial Development Authority (RIDA).

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