Singapore’s Community Organisations’ Tribute to Lee Kuan Yew Speech by Dr N Varaprasad, Life Trustee of SINDA, and former CEO of Temasek Polytechnic and National Library Board

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When Mr Lee Kuan Yew returned home to Singapore after his highly successful studies in England, he joined the law firm of Laycock and Ong. John Laycock stood for elections to the Legislative Assembly in 1951 and Mr Lee became his election agent.

The following year, in 1952, the Singapore Union of Postal and Telecommunications Workers went on strike for better pay and conditions, and approached John Laycock for a lawyer to represent them. The trade union was led by one G Kandasamy, who was a co-founder of not only this trade union, but others as well. Laycock then referred Kandasamy to the young Lee Kuan Yew.

Thus was the first connect between Mr Lee and a leader of the Singapore Indian community, and also the first connect between Mr Lee and his fight for labour rights.

As is well-known, this case opened the door for the young Mr Lee to become legal advisor to other trade unions and clan associations. He won public attention through various high-profile cases and his successful fight for local civil servants to receive the same benefits as their European colleagues.

I mention this for good reason. Trade unions at that time, especially those representing public employees, such as the postal workers and port workers, had large numbers of Indians as their members. Therefore Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s affiliation with the Singapore Indian community can be traced far back, and he worked closely with their leaders and members since then.

Mr Lee’s support of the minority communities was both political as well as instinctive. He truly believed in non-racial politics, and that it was the performance of the individual that counted, not his or her ethnicity. Yet, he was aware that to carry the ground, he had to ensure that all races had to be represented.

On the inauguration day of the PAP on 21 November 1954 at the Victoria Memorial Hall, the 14 convenors of the inaugural meeting were Lee Kuan Yew, Toh Chin Chye, S Rajaratnam, Fong See Suan, Devan Nair, Abdul Samad Ismail, Tann Wee Tiong, Mofradi bin Haji Mohd Noor (a hospital worker), school-teachers Tann Wee Keng and Chan Chiaw Thor, as well as unionists P. Govindasamy, Ismail Rahim, Lee Gek Seng and A. K. Kuruppiah.

Fully 7 of the 14 were from the minority communities. The multi-racial composition of the PAP convenors was clear evidence of the how Mr Lee regarded the minority communities, not as minorities but as part and parcel of the larger Singapore family. Indeed, this became the rationale for his Malaysian Malaysia concept, the Malaysian Solidarity Convention, and ultimately, the cause of separation of Singapore from Malaysia to become an independent sovereign state of its own.

The Indian community in Singapore, itself an amalgam of many sub-communities, is therefore greatly indebted to Mr Lee for giving them their space, and providing them with equal opportunity, something they did not have even in their homeland. Mr Lee took special care in ensuring that Singapore’s different communities would all share in its prosperity.

This is visible in many policies. For example, Mr Lee chose to enshrine English as the language of business, and Mandarin, Malay and Tamil remained as official languages in Singapore. It is amazing that a community of 5% of the population has its language taught in school, radio and TV channels, a language month, official signs and circulars in their language, parliamentary translation and so on.

While English would be the common lingua franca and the language that would give Singapore an edge in the international arena, Mr Lee also firmly believed that knowing one’s mother tongue instils a sense of belonging to one’s roots, and increased self-confidence and self-respect – so he championed bilingualism.

His motivation is perhaps summed up in his advice to his son, Lee Hsien Loong when he became Prime Minister. Mr Lee Kuan Yew reminded him of the situation that existed in Malaysia before Singapore became an independent state: “Never do to the minorities in Singapore that which happened to us when we were a minority in Malaysia. Always make sure that the Malays, the Indians have their space, can live their way of life, and have full equal opportunities and are not discriminated against. And at the same time, help them to upgrade, improve, and move forward.”

Even today, these communities are bound by Mr Lee’s three tenets for progress:
Integrity and absence of corruption.
Meritocracy – the best people for the best jobs.
A fair level-playing field for everybody.

It was interesting to read former Cabinet Minister S Dhanabalan’s eulogy on Mr Lee. Mr Dhanabalan was not convinced of the need for Group Representation Constituency concept. Here was a dilemma, a struggle, between individual meritocracy (an idealistic position) and guaranteed minority representation (a pragmatic position). In the end, Mr Lee won his way, and the Singapore Parliament today has the unique distinction of having minority representation through direct elections.

This is not to say that all the minority candidates are slip-streamed by the majority candidate. In many cases, it could well be the reverse.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew served Singapore and ALL of its people with outstanding and extraordinary dedication. He was a highly respected statesman, an outstanding politician, a devoted father and a loving husband.

He was our first Prime Minister and inspired leaders from several countries to emulate his clean, efficient and effective governance of the nation. Today, Singapore stands as an exceptional nation, because of Mr Lee’s firm and steady hand on the tiller in its formative years, as well as the continuous mentoring of his successors.

The Indian community bids a fond farewell to this extraordinary man, our first prime minister, our founding father. Indeed, Mr Lee’s support was strongest among the Indian community. Such was the bond that he established among the pioneer generation.

He himself was not of the pioneer generation; he was the father of the pioneer generation.

Farewell, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. You gave your life to Singapore. It is time for you to rest; let us carry on with your legacy and your vision.