Indians have played 'indispensable role' in Singapore: Ex-DPM

Singapore (PTI) - Singapore's Indian community
has played "an indispensable role" in the economic, political
and social development of the city state, former Deputy Prime
Minister Dr Tony Tan said on Thursday.
"Following the ravages of World War II, the Indian
community contributed to Singapore's development in every
field imaginable – from business and medicine to the civil
service, teaching and law," said Dr Tan, who is contesting to
become Singapore's next President later this month.
"Singapore's Indian community has played an
indispensable role in the physical, economic, political and
social growth of Singapore, from its beginning as a colonial
entrepot to its current position as a sovereign nation-state,"
said Dr Tan at a ceremony held by the Singapore Indian Chamber
of Commerce and Industry.
Launching a 370-page book, "Beyond the Myth – Indian
Communities in Singapore", he said from student politics to
trade unionism, and across the spectrum of political
innovatives from left to right, Indians played a role in
Singapore far more influential that what their numbers would
have suggested.
Authored by Dr Jayati Bhattacharya, a visiting fellow
at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, the
book details the contribution of the Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims,
Jains and Parsees communities to the development of the city
state.
It starts with Stamford Raffles, who founded Singapore
when he landed on the island in January 1819 along with about
120 sepoys and lascars, assistants, domestic servants and the
Indian trader Narayana Pillai.

The book is more than a history book, with astute
analysis of contemporary developments in South and Southeast
Asia.
"Of particular interest is the emergence of India as a
major regional power and the improved India-Singapore
relations in politics, economics and culture," said Dr Tan, a
Singapore economic czar and a banker who has retired from the
deputy chairmanship of the Government of Singapore Investment
Corporation to stand for the presidency of the city state.
Going forward, the Indian community in Singapore has
to address its own challenges while contributing to the city
state as a whole, said Dr Tan.
He said the Indian community, like other communities,
has developed resources of resilience over the decades.
"We will need this resilience to meet the challenges
of globalization," he pointed out, expressing concern about
the dark clouds looming over the horizon that could impact the
global economies including Singapore's export-and
trade-oriented economy.
In 2009, approximately 74.2 per cent of residents were
of Chinese, 13.4 per cent of Malay, and 9.2 per cent of Indian
descent.