Growing up in Malaysia, I naturally knew about the achievements of the late Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, and about his reputation as a man of principle. When his private papers were kindly offered to ISEAS by his eldest son, Tawfik, my colleagues and I seized the opportunity to work on a properly researched book.

Tun Ismail bin Abdul Rahman served as a deputy under two late Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak, during a very difficult and challenging period in Malaysia politics. After completing his medical studies in Australia, he returned to his home state of Johor, only to be drawn into Malay national politics spearheaded by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). He rose up in the party hierarchy as a result of his good work, dedication and loyalty. It is a truism to say that the Tunku would not have been able to hold UMNO together without Tun Ismail's support and loyalty. He became indispensable to UMNO and its leaders. Tun Ismail was not a politician in the normal sense of the term: He was much more a competent administrator on whom the Tunku and Tun Razak naturally came to depend. Tun Ismail was a man of principle and honesty and, above all, a person who clearly distinguished right from wrong.

During the difficult years of Malaysian politics, he was a “lone voice” against the growing tide of extremism and bigotry. Although he endorsed the concept of special rights, he made it known that they could only be temporary and not a birthright to suppress the rights of others. On the regional and international fronts, he worked assiduously for the formation of regional economic groupings, campaigned relentlessly to make Southeast Asia a zone free from big power politics, and revealed several times that relations between Malaysia and Singapore should be placed on a proper footing. He even envisaged the day when Singapore might re-merge with Malaysia. During the turbulence of the late 1960s and the early 1970s, both the Tunku and Tun Razak had to recall him from political retirement to serve the nation.