Foreword by Lee Kuan Yew

Summary

This biography of S. Rajaratnam is a valuable record of the life of an exceptional man who made a great contribution to Singapore.

Raja was always fighting for the underdog. The first time I met him was in 1952. I was representing the Postal and Telecommunications Uniformed Staff Union; negotiations with the Chief Secretary had failed and the postmen decided to strike.

Raja wrote powerful stories and editorials in the Singapore Standard to support the postmen's strike. He felt they were unjustly treated. He acidly highlighted the highly paid expatriate officers who had just given themselves a hefty increase in their expatriate allowance, but were miserly towards these hardworking postmen.

The postmen won public support. After two weeks, the government made concessions. This successful strike changed the course of events in Singapore.

Raja's outstanding quality was his fighting spirit when on a righteous cause. After the pro-communist PAP Assemblymen, all of whom were Chinese-educated, split to form Barisan Sosialis, they pummelled us day after day in press statements and at mass rallies, all reported in full by Chinese-owned newspapers. Many Chinese reporters were their sympathisers. Raja tirelessly rebutted them point by point day after day. I felt weary having to issue rebuttals to absurd accusations. Ever the pamphleteer, Raja never allowed them to go unanswered.

He won the support of the English-educated by his wit in his trenchant dismissals. I still remember him at his typewriter with a cigarette in his mouth, tapping away.

We were close friends bonded by fighting difficult battles together. He always gave me a boost of energy to carry on the ceaseless counter barrage against the Communist United Front whose objective was to weary its opponents and reduce their energy and spirits. His vibrant and indignant response was like a cup of ginseng tea for me, reinvigorating me by his infectious optimism. In his affectionate way, he would say, “Harry, they cannot win. We must not allow them to win and ruin Singapore.”

He had indomitable courage. When UMNO ultras tried to intimidate us during our two years in Malaysia, he was not cowed. He and Toh Chin Chye, the chairman of the People's Action Party (PAP), proposed the formation of the Malaysian Solidarity Convention, to which the party's Central Executive Committee agreed.