CHAPTER 34 - Serving in Politics

Summary

“Engineering taught me to break a problem into parts and find solutions. These skills helped my political career.”

— R. Sinnakaruppan, MPE Pioneer

OFTEN REFERRED TO AS “first among equals”, R. Sinnakaruppan was the first from the NTI pioneer engineering Class of 85 to enter politics at age 31, only six years after he graduated from MPE. While getting involved in grassroots work during his spare time, Sinna came face to face with poverty. He saw people who were struggling to put food on the table or a roof over their heads. His eyes were opened to the reality of hunger pangs for some people in affluent Singapore. The two-term Member of Parliament from 1991 to 2001 said, “My parents were not rich but at least we did not have to worry about where our next meal was coming from.”

Sinna's foray into politics started in 1985 when a friend cum grassroots leader Quah Siew Heng roped him in to reach out to people in one-room flats in Toa Payoh. He started a sports club to engage them. From there, his desire to help the lower strata of society grew. “One thing led to another and soon I was helping out at the Meet-The-People sessions,” said Sinna who became the Assistant Secretary of Kuo Chuan People's Action Party branch. At that time, the MP in charge of that constituency was Mr Wong Kan Seng, the former Deputy Prime Minister. Sinna was then working as a project manager with National Semiconductor.

In 1990, he was appointed to the NTU Council which was preparing for the transition from NTI to NTU. He sat on the Board of Directors, now known as the Board of Trustees. He got noticed and was asked by the government to reach out to the Indian community. He joined the Hindu Endowments Board and the Action Committee on Indian Education, chaired by the respected career civil servant Mr J.Y. Pillay.

It was a speedy trip to the “world of politics” in Sinna's words. His profile was raised by his grassroots and Indian community work. In the run-up to the 1991 parliamentary election, Mr Wong and Mr Pillay recommended him to the PAP leadership. In June 1991, he was interviewed by then DPM Lee Hsien Loong and then Law cum Home Affairs Minister S. Jayakumar.