The comparisons between the 2 founding-fathers

Both Dr. Goh Keng Swee and Mr. Rajaratnam has done some good contributions to Singapore.

-One of which done by Dr. Goh, was the creation of National Service. It is the mandatory conscription system for able-bodied youg males. This contribution is quite important to Singapore as at least an army to protect it, rather than to be defenceless and surrender to other conquering countries.

-One major and important contribution that Mr. Rajaratnam has made that he helped bring a multi-racial country to come together as one united people, regardless of race and religion as one democratic society. He helped end the racial riot that happened in 1964.

I weighed the balance of gravity between this two main contributions i found, i think i would have to side with Mr. Rajaratnam for this round. Without his contribution to Singapore, everyone would be torn apart. All the races and religons would be against each other like a civil war inside the country.If not because of Mr. Rajaratnams contribution, i would not hace some of my closest friends from other religions and races. I am not saying that Dr. Goh's contribution was useless but, an army would be nothing if they weren't bonded like one big family. Thus, i have to side with Mr. Rajaratnam. So all i have to say is: "Thank you!"

Dr Goh's life

His background

Goh Keng Swee was born in Malacca in the Straits Settlements on 6 October 1918 into a middle-income Peranakan family, the fifth of six children. His father Goh Leng Inn was a manager of a rubber plantation, while his mother Tan Swee Eng was from the family that produced the Malaysian politicians Tun Tan Cheng Lock and his son Tun Tan Siew Sin, who would later become Goh's lifelong political opponent.

Goh was given the Christian name Robert, which he disliked and refused to respond to. When he was two years old, his family moved from Malacca to Singapore where his maternal grandparents owned several properties. The Gohs later relocated to the Pasir Panjang rubber estate when his father found work there, and became manager in 1933. In common with many Peranakan families, the Gohs spoke both English and Malay at home.

After studying at the Anglo-Chinese Primary School and the Anglo-Chinese Secondary School between 1927 and 1936 where he was second in his class in the Senior Cambridge Examinations, Goh went on to graduate from Raffles College in 1939 with a Class II Diploma in Arts with a special distinction in economics. He then joined the colonial Civil Service as a tax collector with the War Tax Department but, according to his superiors, was not very good at his job and was almost fired.

Goh married Alice Woon, a secretary who was a colleague,[4] in 1942 and they had their only child, Goh Kian Chee, two years later. In 1945 he relocated his young family to Malacca, but they returned to Singapore the following year after the Japanese occupation ended. That year, he joined the Department of Social Welfare, and was active in post-war administration. He became supervisor of the Department's Research Section six months later.

Goh won a scholarship which enabled him to further his studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Goh graduated with first class honours in economics in 1951, and won the William Farr Prize for achieving the highest marks in statistics. Upon his return to the Department of Social Welfare, he was appointed assistant secretary of its Research Section.

In 1954, Goh was able to return to LSE for doctoral studies with the help of a University of London scholarship. He completed his Ph.D. in Economics in 1956.

Upon independence in 1965, Goh relinquished his finance portfolio and became Minister for the Interior and Defence until 16 August 1967, assuming responsibilities for strengthening Singapore's military and domestic security capabilities. A key policy was the creation of National Service, a mandatory conscription system for able-bodied young males. He was again Finance Minister between 17 August 1967 and 10 August 1970,

His achievments

In 1966, Goh was made an Honorary Fellow of the LSE.

In 1972 he was the recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Services, which is often regarded as Asia's Nobel Prize. It is awarded to people who have demonstrated integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society.

The same year, the Philippine Government conferred upon him the Order of Sikatuna, which is given to diplomats, officials and nationals of foreign states who have rendered conspicuous services in fostering, developing and strengthening relations between their country and the Philippines.

On 1 March 1973,[10] Goh was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore concurrently with his other Cabinet portfolio.

Mr Rajaratnams life

His background

-Mr S Rajaratnam

S. Rajaratnam was born in 1915 in Jaffna, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and was raised in Seremban, Malaysia, where his father rose from being a supervisor of rubber estates to a plantation owner. He attended the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus for six months and was transferred to St Paul's, a boys' school. He continued his education in the prestigious Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur and then in Raffles Institution, Singapore.

 In 1937, He went to King's College, London, to pursue a law degree. There he received his political awakening, became fashionably anti-imperial, anti-British, joined the socialist Left Book Club and became a Marxist.

He also wrote 'PAP's first ten years', published in the 1964 souvenir publication marking the party's tenth anniversary. This account, the first by a minister and founding party member, has become a classic reference for subsequent accounts of Singapore's history of independence.

 His achivements

He was the secretary of the Malayan Indian Congress and a founder member of the Singapore Union of Journalists. His writing was clearly of the Left and anti-British, but at the same time he was not for the Communists.

He is also known as a strong believer in multi-racial Singapore. In 1966, with the 1964 race riots fresh in his mind, he wrote the National Pledge containing the words, "One united people, regardless of race, language or religion." Because of this, Singapore is now multi-racial society and country.

In Cabinet, Rajaratnam served as Minister for Culture (1959), Minister for Foreign Affairs (1965), Minister of Labour (1968-71) and second Deputy Prime Minister (1973). He was appointed Senior Minister in 1988 after he retired from active politics.

He devoted much of his adult life to public service, and helped shape the mentality of Singaporeans on contemporary issues.

Rajaratnam was Singapore's first foreign minister.

He carried out the foreign policy of international self-assertion to establish Singapore's independence during the period when the country faced significant challenges including the Konfrontasi conflict in the 1960s and the withdrawal of British troops in the early 1970s.