Singapore has lost a patriot, statesman and founding father. Think Centre expresses its gratitude to the late Dr Toh Chin Chye and extends our condolences to members of his bereaved family.
3 Feb 2012 , Singapore- Think Centre (TC), Singapore's oldest political association, joins fellow Singaporeans in mourning the passing of Dr Toh Chin Chye - patriot, statemen and one of the founding fathers of People's Action Party (PAP) and the Republic it came to rule.
Together with Old Guard leaders Lee Kuan Yew, S Rajaratnam and Dr Goh Keng Swee, Dr Toh laid the foundation for future generations of Singaporeans. In his undergraduate years in London, he was very much a socialist and close friend of Dr Goh Keng Swee. Together, they took up the political cause when they came back to Singapore in 1953. It was largely through his initiative and foresight that the PAP was formed in November 1954, with Dr Toh as founding Chairman.
In those tumultous years, Dr Toh led PAP's fight and rise to political power. He was the voice of moderation which helped hold together a party divided between left wing pro-communists and moderates. So when Singapore was given self-rule in 1959 and scored a landslide victory in the Legislative Assembly elections, PAP had to choose its man for Prime Minister. The votes were split evenly between Lee Kuan Yew and Ong Eng Guan but Dr Toh cast the deciding vote as Chairman for Lee. It was also Dr Toh who chaired the committee which came up with the national flag for Singapore and whom commissioned Zubir Said to modify the lyrics and music of the National Anthem for this tiny Republic.
Besides leaving policy imprints as Deputy Prime Minister, Science and Technology and Health ministries post-independence, the contribution by Dr Toh to the tertiary education was significant. But as a voice of pragmatism, he arguably sanitized political activism in the university system, a drastic move that engendered generations of depoliticized, tertiary-educated for Singapore's economic development.
After retiring from the Cabinet to the backbench, Dr Toh was a voice of conscience openly critical of public policies and the PAP. Fulfilling his obligations as a parliamentarian, he was no longer constrained by the principle of collective responsibility and questioned policies that he considered faulty without fear of his party or favour with the opposition. Dr Toh was noted for his outspoken views on various government policies such as the Medisave Scheme, age limit on CPF withdrawal and bilingual policy.
Both in the development of PAP and building of modern Singapore, Dr Toh was instrumental. The Singapore that we and future generations know in history, whom live comfortably in and runs efficiently of today and tomorrow, could not have materialised without Dr Toh Chin Chye's dare to challenge and progressive spirit and doing. And it is by these standards and mindset that our ruling party, Cabinet, backbenchers, opposition, civil society and citizens should internalise and contribute collectively to the nation that Dr Toh envisioned, founded and bequeathed.
Singapore has lost a patriot, statesman and founding father. Think Centre expresses its gratitude to the late Dr Toh Chin Chye and extends our condolences to members of his bereaved family.
Think Centre
3 February 2012
