DATA SOURCES: ASEAN SECRETARIAT, DR ADAM LEONG KOK WEY/THE
DIPLOMAT, THE BRUNEI TIMES, ASIAONE, KATERINA FRANCISCO/RAPPLER,
RICHARD C. PADDOCK AND POYPITI AMATATHAM/NEW YORK TIMES“Mr Rajaratnam was in many ways a
very private person, shy and of a retiring
disposition,” writes former Singapore
president S.R. Nathan in the foreword for
S Rajaratnam on Singapore: From Ideas
to Reality. “His preference was always for
quietly persuading and reasoning with his
protagonists rather than open confrontation.
This often resulted in his most serious critics
walking away pondering over the views he
offered. In open discussions and exchanges,
he had the ability to cloak the sharpest of
criticisms and disagreements in agreeable and
elegant language.”
Born in Sri Lanka to the supervisor of a
rubber plantation, the young Sinnathamby
Rajaratnam was an avid reader. He attended
school in Malaya, Singapore, and finally
London, where he studied law. Following
the conclusion of the Second World War,
Rajaratnam returned to Singapore and
embarked on a career as an anti-communist,
anti-British political journalist.S. Rajaratnam (SINGAPORE)
“Regional existence means
painful adjustments to those
practices and thinking in our
respective countries. We must
make these painful and difficult
adjustments. If we are not going
to do that, then regionalism
remains a utopia”
S. RajaratnamAfter helping to found the People’s Action
Party in 1954, he assumed the post of foreign
affairs minister, working to solidify support for
the new nation-state. He was 52 when ASEAN
was formed.
“Through his silken manners, he won many
friends, and the respect of even those who
were politically hostile towards Singapore,”
Nathan writes. Rajaratnam was appointed
Second Deputy Prime Minister in 1980. He
passed away from heart failure in 2006.below S. Rajaratnam
(centre left) and
Tommy Koh (centre
right) at the United
Nations General
Assembly in 1974feature | aSeaNPHOTO © UN PHOTO/TEDDY CHEN