S R Nathan always put nation before self: PM Lee
(Photo: TV screengrab)
Few have answered the nation’s calls so faithfully and so often, and served Singapore so well as the late former president S R Nathan, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
“Whatever the mission, he answered duty’s call. Singapore could absolutely rely on his loyalty and dedication,” said Lee, who delivered a eulogy during a state funeral service for Nathan on Friday (26 August).
Nathan, Singapore’s sixth and longest-serving president, died on Monday (22 August) aged 92.
The Laju Incident
Speaking at the University Cultural Centre at the National University of Singapore, Lee said that he had known and worked with Nathan over 40 years.
He praised Nathan’s “great personal integrity and commitment”, and said that it was the 1974 Laju Incident that epitomised his qualities.
The event involved terrorists from the Japanese Red Army and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacking a ferry boat called the Laju and took a handful of hostages. Nathan, who was director of the Security and Intelligence Division at the time, risked his life to lead a team of 13 officials who accompanied the terrorists to Kuwait.
“Not many of today’s generation know of the Laju Incident. Those who do probably do not fully appreciate the magnitude of the decision that Mr Nathan and the other 12 made. It took great moral and physical courage,” said Lee.
The case of Michael Fay
In 1994, Nathan was Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States when Singapore sentenced Michael Fay to caning for vandalism in 1994.
The US media mounted an “intense campaign” against the caning, said Lee.
Appearing on the talk show ‘Larry King Live’, Nathan “defended our position with conviction, and persuaded quite a few Americans that what Singapore was doing was not wrong”.
One of Singapore’s greatest sons
Lee concluded by noting that Nathan had hoped that young Singaporeans would draw a key lesson from his memoirs, which is “to not give up.”
Nathan overcame “extremely trying circumstances in his childhood” and rose in the public service through “grit, determination and ability”.
“Time and again, he placed nation before self. Quietly and without fuss, he gave his best years and more, to Singapore,” said Lee.
