This is a book review on The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail and His Time authored by Ooi Kee Beng. Published by ISEAS, Singapore.
ON all counts, Dr Ooi Kee Beng has produced a superb biography. The Reluctant Politician is well researched, well organised, and well written. Dr Ooi had access to Tun Dr Ismail's private papers, the support of his family and friends, and interviews with key contemporaries. Dr Ooi skillfully weaves this primary source material into the fabric of several decades of Malaysia's political history, reminding us how the biographical perspective enriches the tapestry. Men do make history.
The first chapter, "The Acting Prime Minister Dies", is inspired. The reader is introduced to the important elements of Tun Dr Ismail's life - his loving family, the ill-health which shadowed him, and his incredible sense of duty to his country. Married in 1950, he and his wife had six children, born between 1951 and 1967. These intense family years coincided with his ascendant political career, and his deteriorating health. He suffered from cancer of the naso-pharynx, and the deteriorating heart condition that finally killed him at the age of 57.
One is humbled by Tun Dr Ismail's courage and his accomplishments. The pathos of his short and intense life is presented with great sensitivity by the author when he writes; "...Dragged away from his family back into politics by his sense of duty, his intolerance of incompetence and irrelevance appeared to grow to such an extent that most of his subordinates and colleagues came to fear him".
Backed the Tunku
The book is divided into two parts. Part One - Merdeka or Medicine - details Tun Dr Ismail's political career in the 1950s, until his retirement for health reasons, in 1967. Part Two - Remaking Malaysia - deals with Tun Dr Ismail's re-entry into politics after the May 13, 1969 riots, and the pivotal role he played in rebuilding the nation until his untimely death in 1973.
There is an interesting sub-text that runs through the book. Johor must have been a very special place to grow up in the 1920s and 1930s. There, multi-racial friendships were cemented, which lasted a lifetime. Tun Dr Ismail hailed from a prominent Johor Malay family. The two daughters of Johor doctor Dr Cheah Tiang Eam married two sons of Johor businessman Kuok Keng Kang. Philip and Eileen Kuok, and Robert and Joyce Kuok, figured as trusted friends throughout Tun Dr Ismail's life.
Tun Dr Ismail was a supporter of Tunku Abdul Rahman's vision of a coalition of parties, each representing the interests of one race of the multi-racial coalition that was Malaysian society. And one can surmise that this conviction, in part, derived from his own Johor upbringing. Tun Dr Ismail thus played a pivotal role in the formation of the Alliance. He served as the legislative representative for the Johor Timor constituency from the pre-independence period in 1953, through to his death 20 years later.
Died as Acting Premier
In the 1950s, Tun Dr Ismail is remembered as the force behind Felda, the agricultural scheme that redrew the map of rural Malaysia, and as the serving Minister of Commerce and Industry from 1956, and from 1961, as Minister of Home Affairs. During his stint as Malaysian Ambassador to Washington DC, and concurrently to the United Nations (1957-1959), he was instrumental in gaining international respect and recognition for the fledgling nation.
But perhaps Tun Dr Ismail's finest hour was his decision to return to the service of his country in the aftermath of the 1969 riots, despite his own grave health condition.
Musa Hitam who witnessed Ismail on television, recalls how "a sense of relief came over us; the sheer force of the man's reputation for fairness was magic". He took up the onerous post of Minister of Home Affairs, and in 1973 of Minister of Trade and Industry. When he died in Kuala Lumpur in August 1973, he was Acting Prime Minister.
In his foreword to the book, Mr K Kesavapany, Director of ISEAS, notes that this biography of Tun Dr Ismail is the first in a series of books that the Institute plans to publish on First Generation Southeast Asian Leaders. This volume sets a high standard, and thus future volumes will certainly be eagerly awaited.
Singapore.