As the former president of the Malayan Students Union in London and the secretary of the Malay Society in Britain, Razaleigh has been in politics since the early 60s. He formally joined UMNO in 1962 and was unanimously elected the chairman of UMNO's Ulu Kelantan Division at its annual meeting. He had returned to Malaya earlier that year to attend his father's funeral. A few months later, Razaleigh was chosen to be a part of Malaya's delegation to the United Nations for the 17th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in 1962. The leader of the delegation was Dato' Dr. Ismail bin Dato' Abdul Rahman, the then Minister of Internal Security.