Spirit of 46 Malay Party
Parti Melayu Semangat 46 |
|
---|---|
Abbreviation | S46 |
President | Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah |
Secretary-General | Suhaimi Kamaruddin |
Deputy President | Rais Yatim |
Youth Chief | Ibrahim Ali (1989-1991) |
Wanita Chief | Rahmah Osman |
Founded | 3 June 1989 |
Dissolved | 8 October 1996 |
Headquarters | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
Youth wing | Pergerakan Pemuda S46 |
Membership (1996) | 200,000 |
Ideology |
Malay nationalism Islamism Conservatism |
Political position | Right-wing |
National affiliation |
Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (1990–96) Gagasan Rakyat (1990–96) |
Colours | Yellow and green |
The Parti Melayu Semangat 46 or Spirit of 46 Malay Party (S46) is a now defunct Malaysian political party. The party was formed in 1988, and dissolved in 1996. It was formed by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's "Team B" faction of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), as a challenge to prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and UMNO. Razaleigh had the personal support of former UMNO prime ministers Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn, both of whom had also fallen out with Mahathir.
The idea of Semangat 46 first came about in 1985 or 1986 when Malaysia was experiencing an economic recession. In 1987, Razaleigh's "Team B" faction challenged Mahathir's "Team A" faction for control of UMNO. Mahathir won the party election with a slim 41 votes majority, and removed all Team B members from the cabinet. Team B leaders claimed many party delegates were improperly elected, and filed suit to overturn the election. This led to UMNO being declared illegal on technical grounds in 1988. Mahathir immediately reconstituted UMNO, with only Team A members.
Razaleigh and Team B formed their own party. They tried to register as "UMNO 46" (alluding to the party's founding in 1946. This was an attempt to invoke the nostalgic spirit of the old UMNO. "UMNO 46" was rejected as a duplicate name, so Razaleigh chose the name "Semangat 46". On 3 June 1989, Semangat 46 was officially registered with the electoral college. The first party's general meeting was held on 12 October 1989, officiated by Malaysia's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj. Among notable leaders that joined Semangat 46 were , , Harun bin Idris, Suhaimi Kamaruddin, Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Othman Saat, Salleh Abas, Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar, and Ibrahim Ali.