We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Drifting into Politics: The Unfinished Memoirs of Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 May 2017
When Dato Onn left the party, the leadership fell into the hands of Tunku Abdul Rahman who, it is commonly believed, was persuaded by Tun Razak to accept the leadership.
The first time I met the Tunku was in Kuala Lumpur when my wife and I were on our way to Penang for our honeymoon. On one of the evenings when we were in Kuala Lumpur, we were invited by my friend, Mr Eugene Seow, who was an architectural student with me in Australia, to his flat. When we arrived, we saw a man drinking gin in the corner. We were introduced to him and I was struck by his friendliness, charm, and unassuming ways. Without hesitation, he invited all of us to spend the evening with him at the Kuala Lumpur Flying Club. He kept us there until he was told that we were on honeymoon. In typical fashion he bundled us off telling us that we had no business being on the dance floor so late when we should be in bed enjoying our honeymoon.
When the Tunku took over the leadership of UMNO, the Malay Graduates’ Association received a message from him asking it to nominate a member to serve on the Central Executive Committee of the party and he mentioned his preference for me. I was at this time an established medical practitioner in Johor Bahru and a member of the Johor State Council, the only one who was not an UMNO member: I was nominated a member of the Council on the establishment of the Federation of Malaya in 1948. One of the first things I did in the Council was to oppose the establishment of the Federation because it was constitutionally illegal, especially with regard to the Johor Constitution and I pointed out that I wanted my objection recorded in the proceedings of the Council. It was also while I was a member of the Council that Dato Onn tried to persuade me to join UMNO and said that if I agreed to do so, he would nominate me as a member of the Federal Legislative Council. I tried to reject him at first by politely stating that I was not prepared to sacrifice my medical practice to become a full-time politician.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
