Comments on: David Marshall: A Bittersweet Remembrance http://s-pores.com/2009/03/marshall/ new directions in singapore studies Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:25:52 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Thirunavuk Arasu Balasingam http://s-pores.com/2009/03/marshall/#comment-76 Thirunavuk Arasu Balasingam Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:37:40 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=194#comment-76 Your thoughts and views of David Marshall cause me to fly back to the late 1950s and 1960s when I was a bright-eyed and idealistic but ambitious and pragmatic young man (a 20-year old). I was in secondary school followed by pre-university (now junior college) and then university (now the National University of Singapore) during this tumultuous period of the history of Singapore. I am 66 years old now. I attended many election rallies where David Marshall thought and spoke with candour and righteous anger but with honesty and courage. He cajoled, praised and made us "for a moment in time grow and become fearless giants from our helpless, pathetic, fearful pygmy physical and mental state" as we, the crowd, listened, marvelled and cheered him. I was all-fired up by his enthusiasm and vision but the cold, insecure and near destitute state that I was in, and the rest of the people of Singapore were in, drove me and us, fellow Singaporeans, to reject the message of David Marshall and espouse instead the rational and pragmatic message of Lee Kuan Yew and the Peoples' Action Party (PAP). I wanted to go to university then to get out of the rat-hole poverty that my family and I were in (it appeared to me then that my destiny was to be a hopeless destitute!). And only a Government scholarship (they were rare then; they could be counted needing only the five fingers of one hand!) or a bursary (they were, thankfully, a bit more bountiful; they needed two hands to count them!). I chose Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP. I, with so many fellow Singaporeans, responded to the call of Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP. Together we laboured to make Singapore what it is today. So, was David Marshall and his message wrong? NO! We were desperately hungry and scared to choose and follow him. Frail mortality that we were made of over-ruled and banished all aspirations to be the "giants" that David Marshall said we were and should be! Looking back, could the same call that David Marshall made then in the 1950s and 1960s be valid today? My answer is Yes! And a confident and resounding Yes! Singaporeans has shown and is still showing today that Singapore is more than "a little red dot". What we Singaporeans, both young and old, and native Singaporeans (born in Singapore like me)and naturalised Singaporeans (the new citizens who have adopted Singapore citizenship) must do is to embrace the bold and robust message of David Marshall, graft it to the character and genius of Singapore to forge ahead as David Marshall had said “It hasn’t finished.”. Only then will Singapore, our homeland, and we Singaporeans come of age. Only then will David Marshall be accorded his rightful and much deserved place in the history of Singapore as "one of the giants of Singapore - 'a giant who thought and spoke with candour and righteous anger but with honesty and courage'". I pray that this honour will be given to David Marshall while I am still alive. He deserves it, it is overdue. David Marshall - a diehard Singaporean. Your thoughts and views of David Marshall cause me to fly back to the late 1950s and 1960s when I was a bright-eyed and idealistic but ambitious and pragmatic young man (a 20-year old). I was in secondary school followed by pre-university (now junior college) and then university (now the National University of Singapore) during this tumultuous period of the history of Singapore. I am 66 years old now.

I attended many election rallies where David Marshall thought and spoke with candour and righteous anger but with honesty and courage. He cajoled, praised and made us “for a moment in time grow and become fearless giants from our helpless, pathetic, fearful pygmy physical and mental state” as we, the crowd, listened, marvelled and cheered him.

I was all-fired up by his enthusiasm and vision but the cold, insecure and near destitute state that I was in, and the rest of the people of Singapore were in, drove me and us, fellow Singaporeans, to reject the message of David Marshall and espouse instead the rational and pragmatic message of Lee Kuan Yew and the Peoples’ Action Party (PAP).

I wanted to go to university then to get out of the rat-hole poverty that my family and I were in (it appeared to me then that my destiny was to be a hopeless destitute!). And only a Government scholarship (they were rare then; they could be counted needing only the five fingers of one hand!) or a bursary (they were, thankfully, a bit more bountiful; they needed two hands to count them!).

I chose Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP. I, with so many fellow Singaporeans, responded to the call of Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP. Together we laboured to make Singapore what it is today.

So, was David Marshall and his message wrong? NO! We were desperately hungry and scared to choose and follow him. Frail mortality that we were made of over-ruled and banished all aspirations to be the “giants” that David Marshall said we were and should be!

Looking back, could the same call that David Marshall made then in the 1950s and 1960s be valid today? My answer is Yes! And a confident and resounding Yes! Singaporeans has shown and is still showing today that Singapore is more than “a little red dot”.

What we Singaporeans, both young and old, and native Singaporeans (born in Singapore like me)and naturalised Singaporeans (the new citizens who have adopted Singapore citizenship) must do is to embrace the bold and robust message of David Marshall, graft it to the character and genius of Singapore to forge ahead as David Marshall had said “It hasn’t finished.”.

Only then will Singapore, our homeland, and we Singaporeans come of age. Only then will David Marshall be accorded his rightful and much deserved place in the history of Singapore as “one of the giants of Singapore – ‘a giant who thought and spoke with candour and righteous anger but with honesty and courage’”.

I pray that this honour will be given to David Marshall while I am still alive. He deserves it, it is overdue. David Marshall – a diehard Singaporean.

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