Senu Abdul Rahman

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Malaysian Parliament for Kubang Pasu Barat
In office
1964–1969
Preceded byAzahari Ibrahim
Succeeded byAbu Bakar Umar
ConstituencyKubang Pasu Barat
Personal details
Born(1919-10-10)10 October 1919
Malaysian
Political partyUnited Malays National Organisation (UMNO)
Other political
affiliations
Barisan Nasional (BN)
SpouseFatimah Abdullah
Alma materUniversity of California (BA)
ProfessionTeacher, diplomat

Senu bin Abdul Rahman (

Jawi: سنو بن عبدالرحمن Malay pronunciation: [senu]; 10 October 1919 – 16 June 1995)[1] was a Malaysian
politician and former federal minister and diplomat.

Early life, education and early career

Born in Jitra, Kedah, Senu was trained as a teacher at the Sultan Idris Education University in southern Perak. After graduating, he taught at Sekolah Sungai Korok Tinggi in Alor Setar from 1939 to 1941.

When Kedah state was placed under Siamese rule during the Japanese occupation, he was an officer at the Alor Setar Education Department (1942-1943). He also worked as an illustrator and producer at the Japanese Information Department. In 1943, together with Ahmad Nordin, Mohd Jamil,

Kedahan Malays
and served as its secretary general (1945-1947).

Political career

After the war, he was determined to further his studies abroad. He signed up as a sailor and set off on a ship to Los Angeles in 1948 without his family knowledge. He worked as a dishwasher, waiter and cook to finance his high school diploma and degree at the University of California (UCLA). He graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Prior to the 1957 independence, Senu was the secretary general of UMNO and joint secretary of the Alliance party. He worked with the Indonesian embassy at the United Nations the same year he was appointed Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia and served as ambassador from 1957 to 1962.[2]

He was elected to the Parliament of Malaysia as member of Kubang Pasu Barat in the 1964 election and became Malaysia's first Minister for Information and Broadcasting then Minister for Culture, Youth and Sports (1964-1969) before losing his seat in the 1969 election.[3] He re-entered Parliament in 1972 as the member for the seat of Kuala Kedah Langkawi but resigned after the 1978 election.[3]

Personal life

Senu was married to Puan Sri Fatimah Abdullah and have seven children.[4] He died in 1995, at the age of 75.[5]

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

References