Dr. Goh Keng Swee AND S. Rajaratnam

His Background

   Dr.Goh Keng Swee was born in Malacca in the Straits Settlements on 6 October 1918 into a middle-income Peranakan family, the fifth of six children. His father Goh Leng Inn was a manager of a rubber plantation, while his mother Tan Swee Eng was from the family that produced the Malaysian politicians Tun Tan Cheng Lock and his son Tun Tan Siew Sin.When he was two years old, his family moved from Malacca to Singapore. After studying at the Anglo-Chinese Primary School and the Anglo-Chinese Secondary School between 1927 and 1936 , Goh went on to graduate from Raffles College in 1939 with a Class II Diploma in Arts with a special distinction in economics.

    Dr.Goh won a scholarship which enabled him to further his studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). During his time in London, Dr.Goh met fellow students seeking independence for British Malaya such as Lee Kuan Yew and Toh Chin Chye. A student discussion group, the Malayan Forum, was organized in 1948 with him  as the founding chairman. Dr.Goh graduated with first class honours in economics in 1951, and won the William Farr Prize for achieving the highest marks in statistics.

   In 1958, he was made Director of the Social and Economic Research Division in the Chief Minister's Office. He resigned from the civil service in August that year to work full-time for the People's Action Party (PAP).

HIS ACHIEVEMENTS

   The year that he became a finance minister, a budget
of S$14 million was forecast that year.Thus, he introduced discipline which includes cutting civil service salaries. As a result of these measures, he was able to announce at the end of the year when delivering the budget that the Government had achieved a surplus of $1 million. He initiated the setting up of the Economic Development Board which was established in August 1961 to attract foreign multinational corporations to invest in Singapore. The next year, he started the development of the Jurong industrial estate on the western end of the island which was then a swamp, offering incentives to local and foreign business to locate there.

   Upon independence in 1965, Goh relinquished his finance portfolio and became Minister for the Interior and Defence until 16 August 1967, assuming responsibilities for strengthening Singapore's military and domestic security capabilities. A key policy was the creation of National Service, a mandatory conscription system for able-bodied young males.

   Goh was also responsible for projects that sought to improve Singaporeans' cultural and leisure life, such as the Jurong Bird Park, the Singapore Zoo and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra He supported  the construction of the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre in his constituency as a venue for Chinese opera performances.  In recognition of his role in promoting the sport, the Schools "C" Division Cup is named after him .Impressed by an oceanarium in the Bahamas, he contacted the Sentosa Development Corporation and convinced them to have one. Underwater World Singapore opened in 1991.

On 12 February 1979, Goh moved on from the Defence Ministry to the Ministry of Education, where his Goh Report greatly influenced the development of Singapore's education system. He set up the Curriculum Development Institute, and  in 1980, the channelling of students into different programmes of study according to their learning abilities, known as "streaming". Goh served two terms as Education Minister, his first ending on 31 May 1980, and his second following the 1980 general election from 1 June 1981 till his retirement.

In 1966, Goh was made an Honorary Fellow of the LSE. In 1972 he was the recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Services, which is often regarded as Asia's Nobel Prize.It is awarded to people who have demonstrated integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The same year, the Philippine Government conferred upon him the Order of Sikatuna, which is given to diplomats, officials and nationals of foreign states who have rendered conspicuous services in fostering, developing and strengthening relations between their country and the Philippines.Following his retirement from politics, in 1985 Goh was awarded the Darjah Utama Temasek (Order of Temasek), First Class, Singapore's highest civilian honour. He was also presented with the LSE's Distinguished Alumnus Award on 21 January 1989, and made the first Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Development Board Society in 1991.He died on 14 May 2010.

S. Rajaratnam

His Background

The second child of Sabapathy Pillai Sinnathamby and his wife, both of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, Rajaratnam was born in Vattukottai, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. His father had wanted him to be born there for auspicious reasons after the premature death of his older brother. He was then brought back to Malaya and raised in Seremban and Selangor.Rajaratnam studied in Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, St Paul's boys' school, Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur, and later in Raffles Institution in Singapore. In 1937, he went to King's College London to pursue a law degree. However, due to World War II, he was unable to receive funding from his family to continue his studies; instead, he turned to journalism to earn a living. He met his wife Piroska Feher, a Hungarian teacher while in London.He returned to Singapore in 1948 when he joined the Malayan Tribune. In 1954, he joined The Straits Times as a journalist. He was bold in writing about the way Singapore was governed by the British. This incurred the displeasure of the colonial government. His column, "I write as I please", attracted so much attention that he was called for questioning by the government.

HIS ACHIEVEMENTS

   Rajaratnam was Singapore's first foreign minister, following its abrupt independence in 1965. During his tenure as foreign minister, Rajaratnam helped Singapore gain entry into the United Nations and later the Non-Aligned Movement in 1970. He built up the Foreign Service and helped to establish diplomatic links with other countries and secure international recognition of the new nation's sovereignty. He carried out the foreign policy of international self-assertion to establish Singapore's independence during the period when the country faced significant challenges including the Konfrontasi conflict in the 1960s and the withdrawal of British troops in the early 1970s. Rajaratnam was one of the five "founding fathers" of ASEAN in 1967 and helped to draw international attention to Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia in 1978.

   During his term as Minister of Labour, he implemented tough labour laws to attempt to restore stability in the Singaporean economy and attracted multinational corporations to invest in Singapore. This important appointment emphasised the trust that the government had in him in overcoming the challenges Singapore faced.Throughout his political career, he played a key role in the successive pragmatic and technocratic People's Action Party governments that radically improved Singapore's economic situation, alongside huge developments in social development on the island with massive expansion of healthcare programmes, pensions, state housing and extremely low unemployment.

   Rajaratnam was a strong believer in multi-racialism in Singapore, and when drafting the Singapore National Pledge in 1966 just two years after the 1964 Race Riots, he wrote the words "One united people, regardless of race, language or religion."

   Rajaratnam retired from political office in 1988 as part of the leadership transition. He then served at the Institute of South East Asian Studies as a Distinguished Senior Fellow from November 1, 1988 to October 31, 1997.Rajaratnam died on 22 February 2006 of heart failure, 3 days shy of his 91st birthday.

REFLECTION

I believe that Dr.Goh contributed more as he is the one who built the foundations of the singapore education system.Without a good education system, a country can never prosper.A country should also have a strong defence system as it plays a very crucial role in a country's developement.However, i am not saying that other things such as building good relationships with othere countries or promoting racial harmony is unimportant because they both are equally important. It is just that in my opinion, a good education is more important.Thus, there are both great men who contributed to singapore developement greatly.It is just their contributions differ.Thus, those achievements are of different importance to different people.The above reflection is just an opinion. I am so sorry if it cause anybody any kind of inconvenience.