Poetic Legacy: S. Rajaratnam, 1915-2006

coverNo, I’ve not written a poem. I was thinking about the Singapore Pledge.

It is with his passing that many have subsequently realised S. Rajaratnam was the one who penned it. Some have recited this for 12 years in their early school years and not known this fact till now. Better late Not too late, I suppose.

coverI learnt of it in my 20s, when I read The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew. Those who wish to learn more about the circumstances in which the Singapore Pledge came to be ought to read the book (an engaging one, btw).
This morning, I woke up and realised that the Singapore Pledge is a poetic work in itself, both in form and context, forged out of the chaos and unrest in the mid 1960s. Thank you for this, Mr. Rajaratnam, Sir, and for everything else.

The Singapore Pledge

We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation.

Source: Singapore Infomap (the bottom of the page has links to audiofiles on the pledge recited in the four official languages)

To learn more about Mr Rajaratnam’s ideas and beliefs, here are some references:

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 26th, 2006 at 11:46 am and is filed under Poetry, X-files. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Poetic Legacy: S. Rajaratnam, 1915-2006”

  1. My Right Brain Says:
    24 July, 2006 at 8:14 pm | Reply

    Tribute to Lim Kim San (1916-2006)

    Heroes
    ====
    It is only natural that
    Heroes
    Are thanked in life,
    And celebrated in Memory.
    Ivan Chew, 24 Jul 06
    See also: ASK! blog by the Public Library Services, NLB.
    Cited from NLB Newsflash webpage (Jul 06):
    For a biographical profile, please r…

  2. The Little Red Dot: Reflections by Singapore’s Diplomats/ Tommy Koh & Chang Li Lin (editors) « Rough Notes :: By the Rambling Librarian (Singapore) Says:
    20 September, 2006 at 10:59 pm | Reply

    [...] I recognise quite a number of names — the late President Wee Kim Wee, and President S.R. Nathan; the late S. Rajaratnam; there’s S. Dhanabalan, Wong Kan Seng, S. Jayakumar, Kishore Mahbubani, Tan Chin Nam, Bilahari Kausikan, Chan Heng Chee, Winston Choo, Tommy Koh, Barry Desker, Jacky Foo, Walter Woon — and lots more that I don’t. BTW, each entry has a photograph of the authors. [...]

  3. shenzhaohan Says:
    5 April, 2008 at 12:35 pm | Reply

    ………………………………Dont you have like a sound clip for this,it were be cool

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