The writer, at age 14, in a photo taken at the Tiger Balm Garden Singapore in 1964, with (from left) his sister Edrea, mother, grandmother and aunt.
THE tears shed by Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s then-prime minister, on live television on Aug 9, 1965 when he had announced that Singapore was leaving the Federation of Malaysia, became a defining and emotional moment for the majority of us who could recall that scene explicitly.
It was one which had touched the very core of a 15-year-old still studying in Form 3 who, only two years earlier, had celebrated with his family and school-mates the formation of Malaysia.
In the innocence of his youthful aspirations and wide-eyed optimism, he had hoped for a brave new world of opportunities and unstoppable ambitions.
In 1964, my parents had taken the entire family for our first-ever holiday in Singapore, with Mum’s mother and her eldest sister tagging along.
Dad’s best friend was a Singaporean gentleman by the name of Wu Chee Ming; he had married a Kuching woman from the Lim family at Foochow Road.
Mum had cousins who were Singaporeans: one by the name of Madam Sim, and another a lovely Indian maiden named Nanda Bandara.
On Dad’s side, we had the Ong Ewe Hai/Ong Tiang Swee first families who had been enormously successful in their business and charitable endeavours on the island state.
However, during the early 1920s, they had severed family connections with the Sarawak branch.
The real reason for this disruption in relationship was never fully revealed, but it had appeared to have broken off after one too many legal suits were filed.
In recent years, many members of the two clans previously in conflict had reconciled and found their way back to each other’s graces – friendship and family bonds once more.
For us in the Ong family, Singapore has always been ‘closer’ in our hearts, in terms of geographic terms and in familial conditions.
There were no family members who had settled down anywhere else: not in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Brunei or Sabah.
I have seen the direct Ong family tree – as chronicled by Sean Collum – for Singapore, and it is massive!
In 1964, as a 14-year-old, I was already very impressed with the Singapore that I saw during my week-long stay there.
Uncle Wu was our tour guide and he had shown us the usual tourist attractions at the time such as the Van Cleef Aquarium, the Tiger Balm Garden, Botanic Gardens, Raffles Hotel, and Great World/New World.
Shopping was the primary aim and we had shopped till we almost dropped.
However, I was personally interested in two things: shopping for records (vinyl), and also books and magazines.
Uncle Wu definitely knew where to take me to; in fact, he had friends who owned record stores and bookshops.
There was one called Sing Records, located downtown at Hill Street and later, it moved to Lucky Plaza on Orchard.
I continued to frequent it till it closed down in the 1990s.
In 1964, the city state had just launched the Singapore Tourism Board, and it had aimed for 91,000 visitors for that year.
I believe there were just eight of us from Kuching that year!
This year, the Singapore Tourism Board projected that international visitors would total between 17 million and 18 million, and that tourists would spend a minimum of SG$31 billion.
Today – unlike between the busy years of the 1970s and 1990s when you could find Kuchingites ‘lepaking’ (hanging out) at the lobby of the Phoenix Hotel at Orchard almost every weekend – there are hardly any casual tourists from Sarawak or Sabah enjoying the sights of Singapore anymore.
The reason? When the Singapore dollar (SG) was on par for a brief period, everything was still affordable.
I checked on the exchange currency on Thursday – SG1 is worth RM3.19.
So what is the secret to Singapore’s success?
Singapore’s extraordinary rise from an impoverished, resources-poor colonial trading port in 1965 to a thriving global financial hub is driven by the MPH formula: ‘Meritocracy, Pragmatism, and Honesty’, coupled with strategic economic planning and heavy investment in human capital.
A visionary governance led by the founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, early leaders rejected rigid ideologies, focusing instead on policies that yielded practical, real-world results.
The government continuously re-engineered the economy – shifting swiftly from labour-intensive manufacturing in the 1960s to high-technology industries, finance, and global logistics.
Singapore established the Economic Development Board to aggressively court multinational corporations, turning its geographic disadvantage into a connected maritime and aviation crossroads.
Key leadership and bureaucratic positions are awarded based strictly on competence and performance rather than lineage or political patronage.
The civil service is exceptionally well-structured, highly trained, and well-compensated to attract top-tier talents and prevent the brain-drain common in developing nations.
It is no surprise that many of those who have done exceedingly well in Singapore are Malaysians who had relocated there during the earlier formative years in their varied careers.
Strict anti-corruption frameworks and enforcement via independent bodies ensure solid public trust and a predictable environment for foreign investors.
If only Malaysia had steered on the same course, and left behind its old ways of deploying divisive politics, allowing cronies and corrupted politicians or those with vested interests to steal and plunder and do their best to maintain the ‘status quo’ of a concept where only one race could rule it all.
I feel I am fully redeemed today as I look back at those tears shed by Lee Kuan Yew 61 years ago live on Singapore television, I see his tears as those of joy for today’s Singapore.
On Sunday (Aug 9), Singapore celebrates its 61st National Day.
“Majulah Singapura, Go Beyond!”
Long may you prosper and rule the world!
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