Tawfik shocked over blog’s twisted headline

© Provided by MToday News Sdn Bhdtawfik_ismail_600

Tawfik Ismail, son of the late Ismail Abdul Rahman who served under Tun Razak, says denying government funds to his family was the right thing to do by the late prime minister.(file pic)

PETALING JAYA: The son of former deputy prime minister Ismail Abdul Rahman has denied a suggestion by a pro-opposition blog claiming that his family had been abandoned by the government of Abdul Razak Hussein following Ismail’s death in 1973.

Tawfik Ismail said the claim was a spin from a report by FMT “‘Uncle Robert’ a true patriot, says son of late Tun Ismail”, in which he expressed gratitude to billionaire tycoon Robert Kuok, who had helped his family.

“The original headline was elegant, and summarised the gist of the article perfectly,” Tawfik said.

But a blog had “twisted” his words, and put up a headline he described as “the dying gasp of a drowning man nearly in the same league as another headline, ‘Bugs flying around with wings are flying bugs'”.

“Robert Kuok, Najib, Razak, Ismail, bugs and I are victims of a paid headliner who didn’t read the story properly,” Tawfik told FMT.

Tawfik had earlier come to the defence of Kuok in the wake of attacks on the tycoon by Umno leaders.

He said Kuok had helped him and his family after Razak, Malaysia’s second prime minister, decided not to channel government funds to help Tawfik’s family following Ismail’s death.

Saying this was the “proper thing to do”, Tawfik explained how Kuok had provided his family with a car after they returned their official vehicle to the government.

He said Kuok had also supported him and his siblings through school and university, telling them that government scholarships should go to the needy and that they should not expect to be rewarded for their father’s public service.

“Here’s the story again, in my own words,” he told FMT today.

“Tun Razak could not help us because it was not proper for the government to compensate the family of a dead or retired minister.

“To elaborate, Tun Razak, quite rightly, did not want to set a precedent for future prime ministers to follow.”

Tawfik said Razak had faced a political scenario in which a prime minister could retire or lose an election, and return one or two elections later as prime minister again or as a senior minister.

“Is it fair on the taxpayer for such a person to enjoy a pension as well as a salary?

“He had Tunku as a former prime minister; what was he to do with a dead acting prime minister who, according to their doctor, was supposed to survive him? It was a case of ‘winging’ it.”

Tawfik, who was previously a Barisan Nasional (BN) MP, said he doubted either Razak or Ismail wanted political dynasties, adding that Razak’s son Najib Razak, had gone on record as saying he would have been a trained accountant.

He said both his father and Razak would not trade favours for political positions.

“This is where Uncle Robert came in,” he said, referring to Kuok. “With his experience and acumen, he would have made a great mentor for Malays to carry the NEP ideals forward.

“The rest is history, when Razak too was prematurely taken from us.”