Finally something for Malaysian to fill the longing of wanting a fresh historical site of the nation.
A book THE RELUCTANT POLITICIAN: TUN DR. ISMAIL AND HIS TIME by Ooi Kee Beng published by Institute Southeast Asia Studies Singapore is a MUST READ in order to understand and to get another insight of Malaysian politics and the past untold stories.. But one have to always be critical and not just take the content as it is..
As Ooi stated in the Sun newspaper interview (19 August 2010) by Pauline Puah “although the book was complimentary of Ismail, he should not be cast either as an “idol” or “devil”". Giving a valuable insight about Malaysian in general, Ooi continue stated,“The tendency in Malaysia is either to idolise someone or ignore the person … I hope this book won’t make a god out of him,”. Ooi stressed that the book was not Ismail’s memoir but rather an analysis of his time.
One of the strongest content and something for Malaysian to re-think is the issues Ismail raised and asked fifty years ago..
“Why did we fight for Merdeka? So that the different races can be divided? That can’t be the way, right? That can’t be why all these great Malay and Umno leaders fought for this … Something is wrong,”
“I hope the new discussions will start. Why are we building Malaysia? What Malaysia are we building? What kind of symbol is Malaysia supposed to be?” he asked.
Another book to read published in 2009 is Malaya’s First year at the United nations: as reflected in Dr. Ismail’s edited by edited by Tawfik Ismail, Kee Beng Ooi
A selections of reviews gathered by Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) would be good to read to have an overviews of the book content.