ANNUAL DINNER CITATION FOR SENIOR MINISTER Tharman

ShanmugaratnamText by Dr Wong Chiang Yin, SMA Council

The last time I spoke on this very same But first, let us digress a bit and talk a And of course, it is no official secret stage with a Senior Minister in the audience little about some interesting facets of our (pun intended) that he had a small and was in 2006, when I was SMA President Honorary Member: unfortunate brush with the law in 1992. and we conferred the SMA Honorary Firstly, Mr Tharman spent many years I would like to add that much Membership on our Guest of Honour, in a school with the word “Chinese” of the above is hearsay. I have not then Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. in its school name, yet the school is verified if they are facts. But since the That evening, when Senior Minister paradoxically well known for being Protection from Online Falsehoods and Goh spoke after me, he reminded me extremely bad in Chinese. That is Manipulation Bill hasn't been passed yet, that there was this CCTV attached to the something I am proud to announce I should be OK. What I am going to say ceiling and it was recording everything. next is pure opinion, which the Act is not the two of us have in common. It is still there. supposed to regulate. According to his friends there, he was I will keep this brief, as I am reminded Now that we are done with that short an avid sportsman and he represented that everyone remembers Abraham Lincoln public education bit for which Ministry of the school in no less than four sports for his 271-word Gettysburg Address, Law should be pleased, let us now return and apparently did not study very but no one remembers the person before to regular programming. hard. He only buckled down and him who spoke for two hours at what was studied after he was laid low by a At this juncture, one would say that known as the Gettysburg Oration. sports injury. the Tharman Shanmugaratnam story Guest of Honour, Senior Minister is not very promising by Singapore Unlike any of our ministers, he spent Tharman Shanmugaratnam, standards. Singapore leaders often have a little more time in school than Mrs Shanmugaratnam, President Lee unblemished and unbroken track records planned because his first attempt at of academic and professional success Yik Voon, honoured guests, Honorary the A-Level examinations was, shall I before they are enrolled into political life. Members, colleagues and friends, the say, suboptimal. If you think life as a A uni-dimensional life of achievement SMA Honorary Membership is the student is stressful nowadays, it was in an academic meritocracy with no highest award the SMA gives to an worse then. The school magazine detours would be the usual description individual for services either to the actually published the results of all the befitting such an exceptional life. But nation or to the profession. A-Level students of the previous year. our Honorary Member does not quite fit The previous SMA Council into this category. He has gone through In fact, if there was streaming in those unanimously decided to nominate then setbacks and detours. That makes him days, he may not be considered to Deputy Prime Minister Shanmugaratnam human in a crowd of superhumans. have taken the express route, let for the Honorary Membership, because Perhaps that is why, beyond being alone the Integrated Programme. the council members believed that as an enduring politician, of which there a leader of this country, Mr Tharman After leaving school a little later with a are many examples in Singapore, he embodied all the values the SMA holds great turnaround in academic results, is also endearing. This is a rare thing. dear. All this is obvious. But there is more he went on to study at London School Most Singapore political leaders are to Mr Tharman than just achievement. of Economics, Cambridge University enduring, competent and honest. But He is in fact quite a bit of a paradox. and Harvard University. Mr Tharman is all that and more. He is

14 JUN 2019 SMA News both enduring and endearing, and that his speech at a rally in Bukit Panjang Conferment and the scroll in Singapore, is quite a bit of a paradox. in the last General Elections and his I now invite SMA President Dr Lee onstage face-off with a BBC host at He is also therefore popular. But Yik Voon onstage, to confer on the 45th St Gallen Symposium. If you he is not populist. His policies and are unconvinced, go Google these two Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam the SMA programmes are based on sound events and see the videos for yourself. Honorary Membership for his services to economic principles and social the nation. considerations and do not pander to Clever leaders are not rare in For this event, we have asked a the masses. If anything, they often Singapore. The problem is that after Master Calligrapher, Mr Kee Meng Cheng, recognise the limitations of Government interacting with them, many of us mere to write a scroll. Mr Kee is also the same and try to engage the people to do mortals often end up feeling stupid, calligrapher that SMA engaged when more. Programmes such as the Pioneer especially when they explain difficult, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Goh Chok Tong, Generation Package, SkillsFuture, and unpopular but perhaps necessary Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Dr Tony Tan and Community Health Assist Scheme, or policies. This never happens with Mr Tharman. No matter how difficult Mr Gan Kim Yong were conferred CHAS in short, were all started during the policy is, he has the knack of Honorary Memberships. His works his watch as Finance Minister. A key explaining simply and concisely. He will are avidly sought out by collectors all facet of all these well-meaning and convince you that the policy is good over the region and he has been often popular schemes is that they are funded and necessary, without making you feel regarded as the natural successor to the by money raised from the current stupid, even though in reality, you are late Mr Pan Shou, Singapore’s most generation of Singaporeans, not future probably a lot dumber than him. pre-eminent Chinese calligrapher. generations. In many other countries, In fact, he makes you feel cleverer. The four words “ ” mean social spending liability is foisted onto You feel that after hearing him talk, a bit 嘉谋善政 future generations, literally spending of his cleverness has actually rubbed off “excellent strategising and skilful money it has not yet earned. on you. That in itself is a paradox as well. governing”, which we believe succinctly describes our Honorary The third paradox I would like to He is both enduring and endearing. Member’s attributes as servant and highlight is that he is obviously brilliant, He is popular but not populist. And he leader of the people. but he doesn't make us feel stupid, convinces you he is right and at the same or stupider. Which in itself, is also a time makes you feel smarter. These are A little-known fact about this scroll rare thing in Singapore. Like his late all paradoxes. is that Mr Kee had to redo it. This is father and SMA Honorary Member, because the first scroll was written a few Like many good short stories, I will end weeks ago. And then, as we all know, Emeritus Professor K Shanmugaratnam, this citation with a mystery: How does Mr Tharman got promoted. So Mr Kee had who could make explaining a difficult Mr Tharman do it? histopathology slide sound like a to redo the scroll so that the salutation mellifluous radio matinee show on a Well, in all likelihood, we will never is correct. But not to worry, Mr Kee was Sunday afternoon, Mr Tharman is a find out. happy to redo the scroll and he didn't supremely articulate communicator. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for charge SMA more. But it was a bit Two of the best examples of this are bearing with me. stressful due to time constraints.

Legend 1. A group photo after the conferment of the Honorary 1 Membership

JUN 2019 SMA News 15