Thursday, 6 April 2017

Tun Dr. Ismail Abdul Rahman


by Ezzat Amier

Tun Dr. Ismail Abdul Rahman (4 November 1915 – 2 August 1973) was a Malaysian politician from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). He held several Malaysian ministerial posts and was appointed as the second Deputy Prime Minister in 1970 by then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak. Three years later, Tun Dr Ismail died in office due to a heart attack. Ismail has been called "the man who saved Malaysia" for his actions as Home Minister after the May 13 Incident of racial rioting in 1969. Ismail was born on 7 November 1915 in Johor Bahru, Johor. He was the son of Dato' Abdul Rahman bin Yassin, who was of Buginese descent. Dato 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 Haji Mohamed Salleh bin Abdullah, an ethnic Chinese convert to Islam and former State Treasurer of Johor. After Zahara binte Abu Bakar, Abdul Rahman's wife and Ismail's mother, died in 1936, Abdul Rahman married Kamariah, the sister of Dato 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".

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