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Gonna start reading and tweeting about SR Nathan's autobiography. (He was Singapore's 6th President, from 1999 to 2011. His elections were uncontested, but people generally loved him.) https://t.co/6QeiR83bw3
Nathan had a tough life. He was born in SG in 1924. His father, a lawyer's clerk and an alcoholic, committed suicide after the 30's rubber industry slump. Nathan was 8. His childhood involved a lot of moving around and scraping by. He was expelled from ACPS for a boy's dispute
He repeated a year at Victoria School (my own alma mater) and then was expelled from there too, this time being accused of stealing a classmate's books. This prompted him to run away from home (rather than face his mother a 2nd time). Of course, VS is now very proud of Nathan 😂
While homeless he'd sleep on the streets (not an uncommon sight then). He would beg for food, sometimes going hungry. He tried to get food at the Harbour Board - he failed, but a boatman took pity on him, took him in, fed him, heard his story and got him an office boy job
(While it must've been harsh, I always kinda feel envious when I hear stories about this life before rules and regulations, where you can improvise and charm and cajole your way into so many things, without barriers like paper qualifications. My dad's life was like this too)
He worked for two months (sweep the floor, clear the trash, fetch errands). Then he went to Johor. 10 cents for a sampan to take you to a ship. $1 to use the deck-hand's bunk. He arrived in Muar with $9, and sought out a family friend who hosted him. Then became a delivery boy
Then he lived 2 years in a communal kampong house. He served food at a school canteen, and taught English to roadsweepers. What a colorful life, and what a stark difference from the predictable, stale, rigid, overscheduled and airconditioned life Singaporean youth live today.
Nathan was 17 and in Muar, Johor when the Japanese attacked. Him and his Nana (the food vendor who took him in) left for safety, and joined a communal kampong house en route to Batu Pahat. Once when looking for food, Nathan's friend was completely obliterated by an air-raid bomb
Nathan was already pretty depressed prior to the war, being estranged from family and living day to day. When he heard the Japanese were coming, he thought "let fate settle it". Later, he found the stinking, fly-ridden corpse of an European soldier, and was gripped by fear
In the town center, he saw a gruesome sight that Lee Kuan Yew also saw in Singapore - severed human heads stuck on poles, perhaps as warnings to looters. (Reminder: War is worse than hell. There aren't supposed to be any innocent people in hell.)
Nathan and a friend actually returned to Singapore via bicycle (despite the unknown dangers of Japanese checkpoints) to buy and resell goods (condensed milk). He was tormented w the desire to visit his family (in wartime!) but refused: he wanted to achieve something in life 1st