Synthesised GP Blog

A small tribute to a great man.

Flags were flown at half mast since last Friday.

I don't know if you've heard, Mr. S. Rajaratnam was lost just last Wednesday. I have known him only as the writer of our National Pledge but after reading a few articles from TST, I was frankly amazed. He, was a noble man who crafted our foreign policy and made multiculuralism a norm in Singapore.

Yet, more abundant on the papers were not of his most honourable achievements, he was much more recognised for his humble, warm and gentle side. A noble man he was but he was with us, just like any other fellow countrymen. Some touching exerpts I found from The Straits Times:

Born in Indonesia to Singaporean parents, he had difficulties getting an identity card in Singapore. Until Mr Rajaratnam helped him write a note explaining his situation.

'Without an IC, I couldn't get a job. But after I brought his note to the immigration department, my problems were settled,' recounted Mr Teo in Mandarin.

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Mr Lloyd Pinto, 46, remembers serving Mr Rajaratnam and his wife Piroska whenever they dined at the Garden Hotel twice a month. He would order potato masala and other spicy vegetarian dishes, and read a book he brought after dinner. 'I always attended to them personally and after two times, he recognised me and always called me by name. He would always have a warm smile on his face, and we would joke with one another.'

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[At a gathering], he said that we young people of Malaya must take a keen interest in what was happening in the nation and speak up.

'If you don't, who would? And if you don't, someday your kids and grandkids would ask 'Pa, grandpa, you were there when these matters were discussed. Why did you not speak up then? What would you say?'

Ever since then, I have not stopped speaking up for my country. And I do that often.

Bulbir Singh
Seremban, Malaysia

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Security officer N. Shanmugam, 66...

He added: 'He was a very nice man, he never got angry. When people came to see him, even though they lived in other constituencies, he would still advise them. '

And when he sent them away, often with letters to their MPs or to government agencies, he would tell them gently: 'Next time, you should go see your area MP.'

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To Mr Samaiyya (his ex-gardener), Mr Rajaratnam was more than an employer.

He recalled that when his son Manimaran, a civil servant, turned 21 in 1996, Mr Rajaratnam threw a coming-of-age birthday party for him at the house.

And even after he stopped working for Mr Rajaratnam, Mr Samaiyya would drop by and visit his former employer at least once a month.

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MR S. Rajaratnam's simple, single-storey bungalow on 30 Chancery Lane always had its doors open for relatives, rich or poor...

One woman who stayed by the older man's side to the end was his loyal maid Cecilia Tandoc. The Filipina joined his household on May 1, 1985, as a 29-year-old - and never left.

Now 50 and still single, Ms Tandoc's eyes reddened as she spoke about the dishes she used to prepare for her former boss.

'He liked Indian curry to be very spicy and his steak rare. After dinner, he would sit in the living room and read until 2am,' she said. She remembered her boss and his late wife as a generous couple, who never failed to present her with Christmas and birthday gifts.

'When I went home to visit my family in the Philippines, Mr Rajaratnam paid for my plane ticket and he doubled my pay. He said it was because I was on holiday,' she recalled.

She said he became depressed and low-spirited after his wife Piroska died. 'There were two of us maids at that time. I thought maybe he didn't need both of us, so I asked if I could go work in Canada. But he asked me to stay.

'He told me 'I need you to stay because you can cook curry for me'.'

I was really touched after seiving through these news and it really led me to realise something, that no matter what we do or how great we are, we must never forget the basics: to help another in need, as much as we can. When your entire legacy of achievements fade and gets trumped by another, it is these that will be etched in the hearts of people.

There was a time he was a lone man in a seemingly lone nation. But now, it had all changed. By the first writing of the pledge, he's made us all united. No one here in Singapore is really alone. And with his powerful foreign policies, Singapore is now a country merged with the world. There was no loneliness to talk about any more.

We have indeed lost a remarkable man but his honour will always remain. He had made so many extraordinary contributions to Singapore and I believe the most treasured one will be his ways of a "gentle warrior".

'What is important is whether you consider me a good man,' he said.

I'm sure he will be.

The National Pledge had been recited by me and many others for the past 11 years of schooling. Not many had thought of its meaning, less of its importance. With his going, the first thing we must do, as I believe he would wish, is to learn the pledge by heart and using our hearts. For in it lies his everlasting hope and formula for Singaporeans to never be broken apart whilst progressing as a one nation.

posted by synthesis @ 1:46 PM