Tuesday 15 June 2010

Singapore's Founding Fathers

I am doing my history project on Mr S. Rajaratnam and Dr Goh Keng Swee.

About Mr Rajaratnam:

He was born in Vattukottai, Jaffna, in Sri Lanka, to Sabapathy Pillai Sinnathambi and his wife. His parents wanted him born in Sri Lanka for auspicious reasons due to the premature death of his older brother. The family then moved to Malaya, where the young Mr Rajaratnam was raised in Seremban and Selangor. He studied in the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus(CHIJ), St. Paul's Boys School, Victoria Instituition in Kuala Lumpur, and then in Raffles Instituition in Singapore. He then went to King's College in London to pursue his law degree, however, due to WWII, his family was unable to fund his studies, so he turned to journalism instead. He joined the Malayan Tribune in 1948 when he returned to Singapore. After that, he joined The Straits Times in 1954. His strong views and the fact that he wrote as he pleased attracted the attention of the government, who called him in for questioning. He was one of the main founders of the People's Action Party(PAP), along with Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the late Dr Goh Keng Swee, and others. The main reason for his popularity among his supporters was the fact that he was able to read the 'mood of the people'. He envisioned Singapore to be a global city and a multiracial community. During his years in Parliament, he served as Minister for Culture(3rd June 1959-9th August 1965), Minister for Foriegn Affairs(9th Augst 1965-1st June 1980), Minister for Labour(1968-71), 2nd Deputy Prime Minister(1980-85), and Senior Minister(1985-88). He is most remembered for writing the Singapore National Pledge(1966). He helped Singapore gain entry into the United Nations and later the Non-Aligned Movement(1970). He built up the Foriegn Service and helped establish ASEAN(Association of South East Asian Nations). During his term as Minister of Labour, he implemented tough labor laws that not only attracted multinational corporations to invest in Singapore, but also stabilised Singapore's economy. Throughout his political career, he played a key role in the successivePeople's Action Party governments that radically improved Singapore's economic situation, along with huge developments in social development on the island with massive expansion of healthcare programmes, pensions, state housing and extremely low unemployment. This is well underlined by Mr Rajaratnam's following statement: 'We believe in a democratic society by governments freely and periodically elected by the people. We believe, in the virtue of hard work and that those who work harder in society should be given greater rewards. We believe that the world does not owe us a living and that we have to earn our keep' Nonetheless, Mr Rajaratnam did not believe in the need for a strong opposition in parliament, which he considered "non-communist subversion"; he was unapologetic about the dominant party system in Singapore, and is quoted as saying: 'Given a one-party government, the capacity of such a government to act far more independently than if it were harassed by an opposition and by proxies, is obvious. In the game of competitive interference pawns which can behave like bishops and castles and knights can in certain circumstances be extremely inconvenient and very irritating.' Mr Rajaratnam was a strong believer in multi-racialism in Singapore, and drafted the Singapore National Pledge in 1966 just two years after the 1964 Race Riots, in which he expressed his wish for a multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore. He wanted greater racial integration, which he felt was still lacking in the country. Even though he disagreed with then PM(Prime Minister)Lee Kuan Yew on many things, he was still a faithful and loyal supporter of his. Mr Rajaratnam retired from politics in 1988, and served at the Institute of South East Asian Studies(ISEAS)as a Distinguished Senior Fellow from 1988 to 1997. In 1994, Mr Rajaratnam was diagnoised with dementia, and was unable to move or talk by 2001. he required 6 maids to assist him by then. Mr Rajaratnam died on 22nd February 2006, just 3 days before his 91st birthday. As a mark of respect, Mediacorp channel 5 and 8observed the one-minute of silence of procedure that night. The State flag on all government buildings was flown at half-mast from 23 February to 25 February 2006. The body of the late Mr Rajaratnam rested at his home in 30 Chancery Lane from 22 to 23 February. Some of his former colleagues, such as Dr Toh Chin Chye,Mr S Dhanabalan, Mr Othman Wok, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, President S.R. Nathan and Dr Tharman Shanmugaratnam paid their last respects at his home. His body lay in state at Parliament House from 9:30am to 9:00pm on February 24, 2006. In recognition of his contributions as one of Singapore's founding fathers, Mr Rajaratnam was accorded a state funeral at the Esplanade on 25 February 2006. The coffin was carried from Parliament House to the Esplanade at 1:30pm on a ceremonial gun carriage, past the historic Civic District. The service was attended by President S.R. Nathan, Cabinet ministers, members of parliament and invited guests. During the funeral, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh and the Chief Mourner Dr. V K Pillay, an orthopaedic surgeon, delivered their eulogies. Minister Mentor Lee cried and broke down while delivering his eulogy, and the national flag and the Order of Temasek which was draped on the casket was given to President S.R. Nathan and later to Dr Pillay.




In my opinion, Mr Rajaratnam has done a lot for Singapore. He is one of the main reasons why we are such a prosperous city today. I think that his most memorabe legacies are the Singapore National Pledge, the founding of ASEAN, and the development of the Foreign Service.Because of these achievements, Singapore is what it is today. His dream of a multiracial, multireligious Singapore has finally been achieved, as people of different race and religion get along comfortably now. The founding of ASEAN has also had a big impact on the South East Asian nations, and if the nominal Gross Domestic Product(GDP) for all the ASEAN countris were added together, ASEAN would be the 9th largest ecnomy in the world. This would make ASEAN one of the richest economies in the world, and this is all due to the fact that Mr Rajaratnam worked extremely hard to give Singapore a place on the world map.
Dr Goh Keng Swee:
Dr Goh was born in Malaaca, to a middle income Peranakan family as the 5th of children. His father, Goh Leng Inn, was a rubber plantation manager, while his mother was from the family that produced the Malaysian politicians Tun Tan Cheng Leong and his son Tun Tan Siew Sin, who would later become Mr Goh's political opponent. When Mr Goh was two, his family moved to Singapore.The Goh family later moved to Pasir Panjang, where his father found work in a rubber plantation and quickly became manager. He studied at Anglo-Chinese Primary and Secondary, and was second in his class in the Senior Cambridge Examinatons. He went on to Raffles College, where he graduated with a Class II Diploma in Arts, and a special distinction in Economics. He then joined the colonial Civil Service as a tax collector in the War Tax Department. However, according to his superiors, he was no good at his job and almost got fired. Shortly after the start of WWII, Dr Goh joined the Singapor Volunteer Corps(a local militia), but went back to his old job after the fall of Singapore to the Japanese. Dr Goh relocated his family to Malacca in 1945, aand returned to Singapore in 1946 after the Japanese withdrew from Singapore. He then joined the Department of Social Welfare, where he was active. He was promoted to supervisor of his department after just months in that job. Mr Goh later won a scholarship that enabled him to study at the London School of Ecnomics and Political Science. When he was in London, Mr Goh met fellow students trying to gain independence for British Malaya, such as Mr Abdul Razak(Malaysia's second Prime Minister),Mr Maurice Baker(Singapore's High Commissoner to Malaysia), Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and Mr Toh Chin Chye. He graduated with 1st class honours in Ecnomics, and won the William Farr Prize for recieving the highest marks in statistics. When he returned to the Department of Social Welfare, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Reasearch Section. In 1952, together with fellow student Mr Kenneth Byrne, he set up the Council of Joint Action, to lobby against salary and promotion practices that favoured Caucasians to Asians. Mr Byrne later became self-governing Singapore's first Minister for Law and Minister for Labour. In 1954, Dr Goh was able to return to the London School of Ecnomics and Political Sciences, as he had gained a University of London scholarship. He recieved his Ph.D. in Ecnomics, and returned to the Department of Social Welfare, where he sserved as Assistant Director and then Director. In 1958, he was made Director of the Social and Economic Research Division in the Chief Minister's Office. He resigned from civil service in August 1958 to work full time for the People's Action Party(PAP). He was one of the key members in the PAP's Central Executive Committee, and went on to become its Vice-Chairman. Mr Goh was the Kreta Ayer constituency chief, and was part of Mr Lee Kuan Yew's government as Minster for Finance. He initiated the deveopement of the Economic Developement Board, which was established in August 1961. Its primary aim was to attract multinational firms to invest in Singapore. The year after that, he started the developemnt of Jurong, which back then was a sleepy swamp on the western end of Singapore. In th 1960's, there were great presures from communist agitators, who were working through Chinese-medium schools and trade unions. The pro-Communist group within the PAP were working to wrest control from the moderate wing of the PAP(which included Dr Goh and Mr Lee Kuan Yew). Another main divider was the question of whether or not ther should be a merger with Malaya to form a new state of Malaysia. However,a while after the merger, there were differences in opinions between the political leaders of Malaysia and Singapore. Dr Goh was initially tasked with requesting for a looser sort of grip within the Malaysian Federation, however, Dr Goh decided that it would be better to fully seperate from Malaysia, and eventually, that is what happened. He later said that, quote, 'this was the best thing that had happened to Singapore.' After the split, Dr Goh changed his post to that of the Minister of Interior and Defence. He was the one who started the policy of National Service. He then became the Finance Minister again, and this time, he established the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation to invest cash reserves instead of storing them in the Treasury. This was an unprecedented move for a non-commodity-based-economy to make. When he was reappointed Minister for Defence, he started the Electronic Warfare Study Group, which consisted of newly graduated engineers led by Dr. Tay Eng Soon, to work on Project Magpie, which was basically a project to expand Singapore's defence capabilities. In 1997, the group became a nonprofit corporation. Mr Goh also was behind the Jurong Bird Park, Underwater World, Singapore Zoo, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. These have now beome vibrant culture hubs for Singaporeans and tourists alike. He was also instrumental in introducing rugby in the Armed Forces and in schools. In March 1973, Dr Goh was appointed Deputy Prime Minister. In 1979, he moved to the Ministry of Education, where he introduced streaming. After two terms in office, he becmae the 1st Deputy Prime Minster. After he retired from politics, he was deputy chairman of Government of Singapore Investment Coroporation, Economic Adviser to the State Council to the People's Republic of China, deputy Chairman of MAS, Chairman of the Singapore Totalisor Board, a Director of Gateway Technology Services Pte. Ltd, Advisor to the United Overseas Bank Group, Chairman of N.M Rothschild & Sons(Singapore)Pte.Ltd,and Vice Chairman of Hong Leong Asia Ltd. He was also Chairman of the Baord of Govvernors of the Institute of East Asian Philosophies. Later, he suffered 2 strokes, one in 1999 and the other in 2000, which caused some of the vision in his right eye to become affected. After this, he became withdrawn. He died in the early morning of May 14, 2010. His body lay in state at Parliament House from 20 to 22 May. Dr Goh had won a number of awards, them being the Ramon Magsaysay Award, and the Philippine Government conferred the Order of Sikutana to him. He was also made an Honorary Fellow of the LSE. He was also presented with the Darjah Utama Temasek(The Order Of Temasek)

Mr Goh has done a great many things for our country, and his legacy will always live on forever, in all the schools, and in a few of our most important tourist hubs. By introducing the policy of National Service, he made Singapore self sufficient in defense. Now, Singapore has one of the most advanced military technologies in the world. Even though some of his decisions were unorthodox, they always turned out to be the right ones. To me, his biggest achievements in my opinion are the redevelopment of Jurong, the development of the National Service, and the founding of the Jurong Bird Park and Underwater World. He was one of those that redefined our entire political system, and for that, all Singaporeans should always remember him.

In My Opinion:
I feel that Dr Goh Keng Swee has done more for Singapore. He redefined our education system, revolutionised our military and made it what it is today, one of the most advanced military technologies in the world. He also gave us a few of our main tourist attractions, like the Jurong Bird Park and Underwater World and did so much more for us. He never settled for second best, and strived to get the best for Singapore. However, he was always modest and humble. All Singaporeans should remember him, as he has done so much for Singapore, from the time she was born, until now. He had given most of his life to politics, ensuring that only the very best would come to Singapore. He turned Jurong into one of our main business and tourist destinations. Dr Goh was one of those founding fathers who turned Singapore from a small, sleepy coastal village to the ultramodern buisness hub that it is today.

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