Ismail Abdul Rahman

Tun Dr. Ismail bin Abdul Rahman (إسماعيل بن عبدالرحمن; 4 November 1915 – 2 August 1973) was a Malaysian politician who served as the second Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia from September 1970 to his death in August 1973.

A member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), he previously held several ministerial posts.

Ismail was born on 4 November 1915 in Johor Bahru, Johor.

He was the son of Abdul Rahman Mohamed Yassin, who was of Buginese descent.

Abdul Rahman was the first President of the Dewan Negara (Senate) of the Parliament of Malaysia, and also the first chairman of Malayan Banking.

His maternal grandfather was Abu Bakar Abdullah, an ethnic Chinese convert to Islam and former State Treasurer of Johor.

After Ismail's mother, Zaharah Abu Bakar, Abdul Rahman's wife, died in 1936, Abdul Rahman remarried Kamariah, the sister of Onn Ja'afar, the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Johor.

The remarriage was encouraged by Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, who sought to unite the Johor aristocracy by blood.

Abdul Rahman himself almost became Menteri Besar according to Ismail, but failed because he "refused to indulge in intrigues".

Ismail was raised by his maternal grandmother due to his mother's various illnesses and received his primary education at Sekolah Bukit Zaharah, although his education was interrupted by frequent trips to see distant relatives.

Ismail's initial friends were predominantly Malay, but when he continued his education at the English College Johore Bahru, Ismail gravitated to non-Malays due to his interest in the opposite sex – Chinese girls often being given more freedom to mingle than their Malay counterparts in those days.

Ismail later said: "I am convinced that this early mingling with the other races during the most impressionable stage of my life had a lot to do with my non-racial outlook."

Ismail forged close friendships with the daughters of Cheah Tiang Earn, a friend of his father's. Eileen and Joyce Chuah would later both marry into the influential Kuok family, which Ismail got to know through them.

Ismail also befriended the children of Joseph Chako Puthucheary, who would later become important players in Malaysian and Singaporean politics.

Ismail's father believed strongly in the benefits of education, unlike many Malays of the time, and ensured his children received the best education possible.

Two of his sons became lawyers and another an economist.

In 1939, the British General Adviser W.E. Pepys lamented that "the only Johore Malay who has got a university degree is Inche (Mr.) Suleiman bin Abdul Rahman, the son of Dato Abdul Rahman, State Treasurer, Johore."

Ismail himself went on to obtain a degree at the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore.

In 1945, he became the first Malay to obtain a MBBS from University of Melbourne, Australia.

Ismail's son later said that his education in Australia greatly impacted his worldview: "He was on his own and a member of a minority there. He didn’t have other Malays to prop him up and he had a sense of loneliness. He felt that he was treated as an equal and that this was the way he would want to treat other people as well."

In 1946, the British formed the Malayan Union, a polity seen as infringing on the special position of the Malays and the Malay Rulers.

Ismail's family was heavily involved in the anti-Malayan Union campaign led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).

After the successful campaign led to the replacement of the Malayan Union with the Federation of Malaya, Ismail was appointed to the Johor State Legislative Assembly by Dato' Onn Jaafar, the Chief Minister of Johor.

Ismail was also offered a seat on the Federal Legislative Council by Onn, but on the condition that Ismail join UMNO.

Ismail refused, insisting that he would only join UMNO if it committed itself to fighting for Malayan independence.

In the Johor state legislative assembly, his very first action was to declare his opposition to the UMNO-supported federation, which he considered in contravention of the Johor state constitution.

Ismail focused on his private practice, founding the Tawakkal (Trust in God) Clinic which he ran from 1947 to 1953.

During this period, Ismail co-founded the Malay Graduates' Association, a political discussion group for intellectuals.

Ismail observed:

"It was impossible to influence people to support the independence movement merely by writing articles because time was against it and in any case all the newspapers that enjoyed a wide circulation were not anxious to do the wrong thing against the government in power. It was also impractical for the intellectuals to form their own party because such a party would not get mass support. The only alternative was to join a political party that already had mass support and which could be directed to fight for the independence of the country."

In 1950, Ismail married Norashikin Mohd Seth (nicknamed Neno) in an arranged marriage.

On passing through Kuala Lumpur on the way to their honeymoon in Penang, they met Tunku Abdul Rahman, who would later succeed Onn Jaafar as President of UMNO.

Ismail later recounted that the Tunku had invited him and his new bride to the Kuala Lumpur Flying Club to dance, but upon finding that they were newlyweds "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."

The Tunku later cited the support of Ismail and the Malay Graduates Association as the major impetus for his decision to become president, while Ismail in turn claimed he decided to join UMNO only after the Tunku became president in 1951.

Ismail would have six children with Neno: Tawfik (born 1951), Zailah (1953–2017), Badariah (born 1957), Tarmizi (born 1960), Zamakhshari (born 1964) and Ariff (born 1967).

Ismail entered Malaysian politics in 1951 when he was elected as vice-president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).

He had earlier been the nominee of the Malay Graduates Association to the UMNO Central Executive Committee.

Initially, Ismail and his brother Suleiman, also an UMNO member, mainly clashed with Dato Onn, who had left UMNO to form the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP) after UMNO refused to open membership to non-Malays.

Ismail was very critical of Onn, who had made "very inflammatory communal speeches attacking the Chinese".

Ismail has been called "the man who saved Malaysia" for his actions as Minister of Home Affairs after the May 13 incident of racial rioting in 1969.