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S R Nathan always put his nation before self: Lee Hsien Loong

The national flag hangs at half mast to mourn the passing of former president S.R. Nathan at the parliament house in Singapore August 23, 2016. REUTERS/Edgar Su

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has sent a letter to Mrs Nathan to express his condolences on the passing of the late president S R Nathan.

The two-page letter sent on 23 August hailed Nathan’s “varied and stellar public service career”, which “took him to the unions where he played an instrumental role in preventing the Communists from taking over Singapore”.

After Singapore became independent, Nathan also helped build up Singapore’s diplomatic networks, as well as his contributions to the Security and Intelligence Division (SID), before returning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) as Permanent Secretary. He then retired from the civil service.

Lee, who had known Nathan for almost 40 years, also noted Nathan’s contribution in later years. During his presidency from 1999 to 2011, Nathan established the President’s Challenge to help the less fortunate in Singapore’s society.

And even after stepping down as president, Nathan “never stopped giving back to Singapore… sharing his experiences and insights with a younger generation of diplomats, students and Singaporeans” when he joined the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and the Nanyang Technological University’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies as Distinguished Senior Fellow.

Lee concluded, “I remember him as a man who lived his life guided by a deep sense of duty to the nation. Without fail, he stepped up each time. He was a true son of Singapore.”