Tawfik Ismail ostracised by G25 amid members’ discomfort
(TMI) – Tawfik Ismail, the son of the late Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, said he was told to go on a “sabbatical” from G25 after his statements to the press last year left some members of the moderates group unhappy.
He told The Malaysian Insider that he no longer received emails from the group or get invited to their meetings, but said he still considered himself a member as he believed in G25’s goals of reforming the administration of Islam in Malaysia.
“G25 is a rather peculiar organisation because it’s not a formal body. There’s no membership fees, no forms, no committee. If you’re invited to be a member, there’s no mechanism to disinvite you,” Tawfik told The Malaysian Insider.
“I consider myself still a member in the sense that I subscribe to the goals of G25, which is the nationalisation of the political and social environment with regard to the place of Islam in a multicultural and multiracial society.”
He said he had been “blasted” by the group for giving interviews last year on their meetings with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
But Tawfik said he had only disclosed to the press his own conversation with the two figures, and not the full details of their meeting.
“I didn’t disclose all the information, only what was relevant to the context of their credibility in opposing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“And after the articles came out, Muhyiddin didn’t say a word about it while Dr Mahathir confirmed and addressed some of the statements I had made to the press. Their reaction showed they weren’t even offended by what I did.”
Despite this, The Malaysian Insider understands that some members of G25 felt Tawfik’s media interviews had left a negative impression of the group on the public.
