Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail

Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen bin Tengku Ismail (Jawi: تڠکو أحمد رضاءالدين بن تڠکو إسماعيل; 24 January 1928 – 29 April 2022) was a Malaysian politician and barrister who formerly served as chairman of the UMNO disciplinary board. He previously served as Minister of Defence, Minister of International Trade and Industry and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was Kota Bharu Member of Parliament for five terms before losing his seat in the 1990 General Election to the Semangat 46 candidate. He was a royal prince of the Kelatan Royal Family and a grandson of the last Sultan of Pattani, Sultan Abdul Kadir Kamarudin Syah. After the throne was overthrown by the Siamese, the Sultan of Pattani was exiled to Kelantan and married Tengku Kembang Petri Binti Sultan Ahmad. He was also among few Malaysians awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from Japanese Emperor in 2018, credited with strengthening Malaysian-Japanese relationship.^[1] He was also vocal in Malaysian politics, voicing several issues in regards to the post-BN social concerns.^[2]

Yang Mulia Tengku Sri Mara Raja Tan Sri Dato' Sri Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail PMN SSAP SPMP PMK
تڠکو أحمد رضاءالدين تڠکو إسماعيل
Minister of Defence
In office 20 May 1987 – 26 October 1990
Monarchs	Iskandar Azlan Shah
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohamad
Deputy	Abang Abu Bakar Abang Mustapha
Preceded by	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Succeeded by	Najib Razak
Constituency	Kota Bharu
Minister of Information
In office 11 August 1986 – 20 May 1987
Monarch	Iskandar
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohamad
Deputy	Railey Jeffrey
Preceded by	Rais Yatim
Succeeded by	Mohamed Rahmat
Constituency	Kota Bharu
In office 5 September 1974 – 13 August 1975
Monarch	Abdul Halim
Prime Minister	Abdul Razak Hussein
Deputy	Shariff Ahmad
Preceded by	Ghazali Shafie
Succeeded by	Abdul Taib Mahmud
Constituency	Kota Bharu
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 17 July 1984 – 10 August 1986
Monarch	Iskandar
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohamad
Deputy	Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir
Preceded by	Ghazali Shafie
Succeeded by	Rais Yatim
Constituency	Kota Bharu
In office 13 August 1975 – 16 July 1981
Monarchs	Abdul Halim Yahya Petra Ahmad Shah
Prime Minister	Abdul Razak Hussein
Deputy	Mokhtar Hashim (1979–1981)
Preceded by	Abdul Razak Hussein
Succeeded by	Ghazali Shafie
Constituency	Kota Bharu
Minister of Trade and Industry
In office 17 July 1981 – 17 July 1984
Monarchs	Ahmad Shah Iskandar
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohamad
Deputy	Lew Sip Hoon (1981–1983) Shahrir Abdul Samad (1981–1983) Muhyiddin Yassin (1983–1984) Oo Gin Sun (1983–1984)
Preceded by	Mahathir Mohamad
Succeeded by	Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
Constituency	Kota Bharu (previously Kota Bharu Hilir)
Member of the Dewan Rakyat for Kota Bharu (previously Kota Bharu Hilir)
In office 10 May 1969 – 20 October 1990
Preceded by	Nik Ahmad Kamil Nik Mahmud (UMNO–Alliance)
Succeeded by	Ilani Isahak (S46)
Majority	155 (1969) Unopposed (1974) 8,682 (1978) 7,970 (1982) 5,033 (1986)
Personal details
Born	(1928-01-24)24 January 1928 Kelantan, Unfederated Malay States, British Malaya (now Malaysia)
Died	29 April 2022(2022-04-29) (aged 94) Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Resting place	Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery, Kuala Lumpur
Political party	United Malays National Organisation
Relations	Raja Perempuan Budriah and Tengku Noor Zakiah (sisters) Sirajuddin of Perlis (nephew)
Parents	Tengku Ismail Tengku Nik Haji (father) Tengku Besar Zabedah (mother)
Alma mater	University of Nottingham

Death

Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen died on 29 April 2022 at his residence in Jalan Duta, aged 94.^[3] He was buried at Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery in Kuala Lumpur.^[4]

Election results

Parliament of Malaysia^[5]

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
1969	P018 Kota Bharu Hilir		Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail (UMNO)	13,069	50.30%		Wan Hashim Wan Ahmad (PMIP)	12,914	49.70%	26,739	155	67.73%
1974	P019 Kota Bharu		Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail (UMNO)	Unopposed
1978			Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail (UMNO)	18,136	65.73%		Lah (PAS)	9,454	34.27%		8,682
1982			Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail (UMNO)	21,424	58.26%		Salehudin Abdullah (PAS)	13,454	36.59%	37,558	7,970	74.76%
							Kang Sam Chuan (DAP)	1,896	5.16%
1986			Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail (UMNO)	20,310	57.07%		Hassan Abdullah (PAS)	15,277	42.93%	36,282	5,033	68.96%
1990			Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail (UMNO)	12,106	30.14%		Ilani Isahak (S46)	27,566	68.61%	41,254	15,460	73.35%
							Saifuddin Daud (IND)	503	1.25%

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

• Malaysia :
  • Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (PMN) – Tan Sri (1991)
• Kelantan :
  • Tengku Sri Mara Raja (1966)^[6]
  • Commander of the Order of the Crown of Kelantan (PMK)
• Perlis :
  • Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Perlis (SPMP) – Dato' Seri (1976)^[7]
• Pahang :
  • Grand Knight of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (SSAP) – Dato' Sri (1981)^[8]

Foreign Honour

• Thailand :
  • Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Order of the White Elephant (KCE) (1988)^[9]
• Japan :
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2018)