Apart from his career in politics, Harun Idris (as he is informally known) was heavily involved in sports particularly organising the Muhammad Ali vs Joe Bugner fight in Kuala Lumpur as well as overseeing Malaysia and Selangor football teams' most successful periods.

Harun is widely acknowledged to be responsible for unearthing some of Malaysia’s best talents such as Santokh Singh, Soh Chin Ann and even the late Mokhtar Dahari.

His early schooling was in both Malay and English mediums (he attended Victoria Institution in 1936) and in the 1940s he joined the Malayan Peoples’ Anti-Japanese Army against the Japanese occupation of Malaya.

[5] The call from a career in politics was too strong to resist and in 1964 Dato Harun resigned from said position and was appointed as Menteri Besar of Selangor after being elected the state assemblyman for the constituency of Morib.

Harun's career was marred by the 13 May racial riots, which had been triggered by a political rally held at his residence in the national capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Harun, who was perceived as a proponent of ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy, although this exact phrase was not in use at the time), had seen UMNO suffer several losses in the Selangor State Assembly during the 1969 general election.

[7] On the other, some claim that Dato' Harun had worked to de-escalate the situation, even saving a number of Chinese people that were being targeted by Malay rioters.