This is in memory of S R Nathan, the former President of Singapore, whose simple and ordinary ways made him extraordinary.
He went through the trials and tribulations of a young man overcoming difficult times by sheer grit, determination and perseverance.
He was born Sellapan Ramanathan in 1924 into a family of Tamil immigrants. His three elder brothers died in childhood. A victim of the Great Depression, his father lost his job in the 1930s. He soon ran up debts and killed himself. Nathan was only eight years old then. At 16, he fell out with his mother and left home and slept on the streets for several years. Then came the war, but he survived it and the Japanese Occupation.
After the war, he got a job as a clerk in the civil service. While working, he took up evening classes in typewriting and book-keeping and sat for the London Chamber of Commerce exams, which he passed with distinction. Nathan woke up at 4am daily to study for his Cambridge School Certificate before heading for work. He took a correspondence course from Wolsey Hall, Oxford, and graduated with a distinction in social studies from the University of Malaya.
Following graduation in 1955, Nathan joined the Singapore Civil Service as a medical social worker, kicking off a long and distinguished career in public service that saw him take on many roles as clerk, unionist, ambassador, permanent secretary and president.
But the defining moment came in 1974 when four armed terrorists hijacked the ferry ship Laju off Pulau Bukom in Singapore’s first major terrorist attack, and demanded government hostages to guarantee their safe passage to the Middle East. As director of the intelligence service then, Nathan offered himself as a hostage and was one of 13 government officials who flew with the terrorists to Kuwait. There was no guarantee that any of the Singaporeans would be let off alive.
In a 2010 interview, Nathan said on that long flight, he had a moment of fear or despair that he would never see his family again. He steadied himself with these words in his heart: “Have faith and do your duty.”
When he recounted this moment decades later to reporters, he said: “Laju was nothing; it was just an instance. We all carry these responsibilities in public service.”
In between, an “incurable romantic”, Nathan fell in love with a Bengali woman – Urmila Umi Nandey – in the tumult of war. But her Bengali family initially disapproved. The courtship, however, continued for 16 years, eventually culminating in marriage in 1958. They had a son Osith and daughter Juthika.
A Hindu who loved carnatic songs, Nathan scaled heights of success with his humility and hard work – an exceptional life spurred on by call of duty.
Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had persuaded him to run for President in 1999. After he took office as President, Nathan's wife stopped wearing saris to show that the couple represented all Singaporeans.
A Straits Times’ report on the launch of Nathan’s book (“An Unexpected Journey: Path To The Presidency”) launch had this introduction: “As a school dropout at the age of 16, a young SR Nathan never thought he would be anything other than a hawker’s assistant, let alone Singapore’s future president.”
Not only did Nathan go on to become Singapore’s sixth president, he also surpassed Benjamin Sheares as the longest-serving head of state (1999-2011).
After suffering a stroke on July 31, the former president died on August 22, 2016, at the Singapore General Hospital, aged 92. He is survived by his wife and two children.
