I was a Malaysian statesman and lawyer who served as the 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia and the head of government of its predecessor states from 1955 to 1970. I supervised the independence process that culminated on 31 August 1957 and dominated politics there for the next 13 years. I successfully incorporated the Federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore into the state of Malaysia in 1963, but my poor performance during race riots in Kuala Lumpur in 1969 led to my resignation in 1970.