Datu Mustapha Datu Harun

Datu Mustapha bin Datu Harun, or Tun Mustapha for short (31 July 1918 – 2 January 1995 ), was a Malaysian politician who served as the 3rd Chief Minister of Sabah from May 1967 to November 1975 and the 1st Yang Di-Pertua Negara from September 1963 to September 1965 and President of the United Sabah National Organisation (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 16 September 1963.

He is sometimes known as the "Father of Independence of Sabah" (Bapa Kemerdekaan Sabah) and also the "Father of Development of Sabah" (Bapa Pembangunan Sabah).

Datu Mustapha was born in Kampung Limau-limauan, Kudat.

He is of mixed Suluk-Bajau origins (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 during the Japanese occupation.

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.

Albert Kwok invited Mustapha to join in the Jesselton Revolt but he advised Kwok to wait and prepare, saying the time wasn't right for insurrection.

However, Kwok was forced to launch the revolt ahead of schedule because the Chinese were going to be subjected to conscription by the Japanese.

Kwok was joined in the revolt along with Suluks and Bajaus under Panglima Ali.

The revolt failed and the Japanese engaged in large scale massacres of indigenous civilians, including women and children especially from the Suluks community.

Mustapha founded the United Sabah National Organisation (USNO).

Mustapha ruled USNO with an iron fist, together with two other ineffective partners in Sabah Alliance.

It can be described that "Mustapha was USNO and USNO was Mustapha".

Mustapha was appointed the first Yang di-Pertua Negara (head of state) for Sabah while Donald Stephens became the first chief minister of Sabah upon the formation of Malaysia, after a formal endorsement by the Sabah state legislative assembly on instruction from the Malaysian federal government.

In July 1964, USNO requested power to appoint the chief minister of Sabah after the number of seats in Sabah state legislative assembly was expanded.

This request would make the position of Donald Stephens depended upon the whims of USNO.

Negotiations between Stephens and Mustapha took place in Kuala Lumpur instead of Kota Kinabalu.

In the end, a compromise was reached when Mustapha obtained increased USNO representations in Sabah government's cabinet while Stephens retained his chief minister post.

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% for the development of Sabah where it will be drilled.

Mustapha also succeeded in converting a significant number of non-Muslim indigenous people in Sabah into Islam.

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 President of PERKIM, when the late Tunku was the President.

He was also the head of United Sabah Islamic Association (USIA) and a member of RISEAP.

In 1975, USNO secretary-general Harris Salleh left the party to form BERJAYA.

This party was backed up by the federal government through the oil lobby.

In the 1976 state election, BERJAYA won and Mustapha was finally ousted from power for good.

Since his ouster in 1976, Tun Mustapha had been trying to initiate a merger of his party USNO with peninsular-based United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in a bid to return to the corridors of power in Sabah.

However, the UMNO supreme council was hesitant on a merger because their party did not accept non-Malay/non-Muslim members.

Besides, the UMNO president at that time, Tun Hussein Onn was uneasy with Tun Mustapha's close relationship with UMNO's anti-Hussein faction.

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).

After the 1990 state election, he teamed up with Harris Salleh again, after BERJAYA themselves were ousted by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).

This resulted in a merger of USNO and BERJAYA to create the Sabah chapter of UMNO.