Razaleigh Hamzah
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Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (born 1937) is a major Malaysian political figure from the state of Kelantan. He is an uncle of the current Kelantanese queen Tengku (Tunku) is a princely title in Malaysia. He is fondly know as Ku Li, derived from Tengku Razaleigh. He was also the Malaysian Finance Minister during the 1980s.
He received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Queen's University in Ireland in 1959 and later continued his studies at Lincoln's Inn.
In 1987 while he was an UMNO member, Tengku Razaleigh challenged the then UMNO President Dr. Mahathir Mohammad. In the election, Dr. Mahathir managed to retain his position. However, UMNO was split into two separate entities as Tengku Razaleigh was left unsatisfied with the result.
The split forced the Malaysian court to declare UMNO as illegal. Shortly after the court ruling, Dr. Mahathir reestablished UMNO as UMNO Baru (New UMNO), though the new UMNO was badly weakened. Tengku Razaleigh at the same time went on his own path and found a new political party called Semangat 46 in 1989. The number 46 refers to the year UMNO was originally found.
Seven years later, Tengku Razaleigh disbanded Semangat 46 and rejoined UMNO.
In 2004, he has announced his interest for UMNO top post yet again. However, he failed to garner enough nomination to contest the presidency.