On 23 February 1971, parliamentary rule was finally reinstated in Malaysia. To make way for this, the NOC became the National Security Council, while the NCC and the NGC were suffused into the National Unity Council. The latter's task was to advise the prime minister on the issues that were being banned from public debate, and to conduct research into race relations (Comber 1983, p. 83). The first exercise of the new parliament was to debate the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, and for seven days, MPs had their say on this vital document (ST 24 January 1971). On 3 March, the lower house passed this main pillar for Malaysia's political restructuring with a vote of 125 to 17. The opposition was split, with all parties except for the DAP and the PPP supporting it. What the bill did was to place certain issues considered dangerously sensitive beyond political challenge. These concerned citizenship, the national language and the use of other languages, the special position of the Malays, legitimate interests of non- Malays, and the sovereignty of the sultans (ST 4 March 1971).

Ismail argued that the passing of the bill itself did not guarantee political peace in the future. How much longer democracy would live depended, he said, “on how the Opposition political parties behave and [on] the response from the public”. He made a pledge in parliament that day on behalf of the Alliance: