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from Drifting into Politics: The Unfinished Memoirs of Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 May 2017
For some of us in the delegation, this was our first trip to London. We arrived in October and were housed in St. James’ Court as guests of Her Majesty's Government. It always amuses me even now as I reminisce, that some people thought we were housed in St. James's Palace instead of a hotel where the British government usually place their overseas guests.
This was also my first trip to London. I had heard so much of London from Suleiman who spent no less than six years there. We lost no time in sampling London: its night life, its shopping centres and, above all, its girls. I always tell my friends that of all my trips abroad — I have travelled no less than six times around the world — I liked this first trip to London the best.
Our delegation was composed of men who got on well together both at official meetings and at social functions. As I said some of us were in London for the first time and were enjoying the big city as children would. The rest, who had been students there, like the Tunku and Razak, were kind enough to guide us throughout our stay.
From the time that we landed at London airport, it was obvious that our mission was going to be a success because a certain high official in the Colonial office told us that what we came for would be handed over to us on a gold platter. The Colonial secretary then was Mr Lennox Boyd (now Lord Boyd) and he and the Tunku hit it off well together.
The meeting was conducted in a typical fashion: there was a main meeting called the plenary meeting and in addition, there were the meetings of the various committees. I remember that in addition to attending the plenary meeting (which all members of the delegation attended), I attended meetings of the Finance Committee and the Civil Service Committee. The chairman of the Finance Committee was Sir Hilton Poynton and he was a hard nut to crack. At the Civil Service Committee, we succeeded in drafting a scheme of compensation for the expatriate civil servants in Malaya; the ease with which the Malayan Civil Service was transferred from the hands of the expatriates is a tribute to the soundness of the scheme.
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