S R Nathan leaves lasting legacy in Singapore: Colleagues, analysts
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Even 40 years after he had first met someone, former president S. R. Nathan could recall their names, their relatives and what their children did.
This was all down to his “fabulous memory,” said Singapore’s High Commissioner to Fiji Verghese Mathews. “This always happened when we were at functions with lots of Singaporeans, even when he was President,” recalled Mathews, who worked under Nathan at the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur from 1988-90.
Nathan died on Monday evening (22 August) at the age of 92, almost a month after he suffered a stroke. He had been in intensive care ever since.
Former colleagues told Yahoo Singapore that Nathan was a down to earth, caring boss who kept up with his subordinates’ careers long after they had stopped working under him.
Books Kinokuniya store and merchandise director Kenny Chan, 64, was a junior officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the early 1980s, when Nathan was its Permanent Secretary. The former president was “tough but caring, and inspired confidence”, said Chan.
“One incident that I will never forget is when he called me over to introduce me to his wife and daughter and invited me to have a meal at the Empress Place hawker centre way back then. He really had no airs,” said Chan, a well-known figure in the literary scene.
Ambassador Mathews added that alongside the late foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam, Nathan will be remembered as one of the pioneers of the Foreign Ministry. Mathews marvelled at his capacity for “putting the fluff aside” and getting to the core of issues.
“This was not a man who sat down and drank coffee. He was always on the go, always asking questions, and he trained his staff to do the same. This was a man who insisted on high standards, and always went for accuracy and integrity.”
He added, “There are many ambassadors, past and present, who have had the singular advantage of Mr Nathan’s tutoring hand and incisive mind.”
Political analyst Viswa Sadasivan interacted extensively with Nathan while serving as a Nominated Member of Parliament (2009-11) and in his capacity as vice-president of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). Nathan was one of the founding members of SINDA.
“He was not cardboard. He had a great sense of humour,” recalled Sadasivan. “You could chat with him for the longest time. He was curious about everything.”
He noted that one of Nathan’s great passions was for social service. “He said the one job that gave him the greatest joy was being a social worker, because it connected him with people at a human level. That’s why he said when he became president, it gave him a second chance in life to be a social worker.”
A presidential legacy
Reuters file photo
Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan noted that Nathan’s presidency came in the wake of the late Ong Teng Cheong, whose term ended in controversy. In 2000, Ong told the now-defunct magazine Asiaweek that he had consistent disagreements with the government over his role as president.
“Nathan’s two terms in office played a big part in working out the intricate details of the Elected Presidency, and helped improve ties and establish work processes and norms between the office of the Elected President and the government at large,“ noted Tan.
Tan also reckoned that there is insufficient information available for a “fine-grained” analysis of whether Nathan was effective as a reactive check and balance to the elected government of the day. "Much of what the president does in terms of his checks and balances powers – use of reserves, key appointments – these are often not known to the public. But going by the workings of the Government during his term, especially during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09, it would be invidious to say the office and his term were ineffectual.”
Political analyst Viswa Sadasivan said Nathan would be remembered as a “dignified president”. He understood the role of the elected President , who serves as head of state, very well, and was very particular not to confuse it with the role of an executive president, who is the head of government.
“It is reasonable for people to conclude that he was very much in sync with the government,” said Sadasivan, who pointed out that Nathan had spent his entire career serving the PAP government as a civil servant. “But there is no evidence that he did not exercise his discretionary powers with sufficient autonomy and independence.”
Sadasivan stressed that Nathan was far from being “in cahoots with the government”. In 2009, Nathan acceded to the government’s request to draw $4.9 billion from the reserves amid the global economic slowdown in the wake of the financial crisis.
“He did go through the procedure of checking with the Council of Presidential Advisors (CPA) very carefully. They had very robust conversations, it was not going through the motions,” noted Sadasivan, who added that he had personally verified this with members of the CPA.
Like the late Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Keng Swee and S. Rajaratnam, said Sadasivan, “S. R. Nathan belongs to a vintage breed of patriots defined by conviction. He almost always had a clear point of view which he would articulate in an unwavering manner, regardless of the force of contrary views. He was prepared to be judged.”
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