Mr S Rajaratnam

Background:
S. Rajaratnam was born in Vattukotai, Jaffna, Sri Lanka and was brought back to Malaya and raised in Seremban and Selagor. He was a Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 1980 to 1985 and a long-serving Minister and memeber of the Cabinet from 1959 to 1985. Since Singapore achieved self-government in 1959 and later independence in 1965, he is regarded as one of the founding fathers of independent Singapore.
Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, St Paul's Boys School, Victoria Institution and Raffles Institution were the schools Rajaratnam studied in. In 1937, he went to King's college to pursue a law degree. Unfortunately, he was unable to continue his studies as he could not recieve funding from his family due to World War II. Therefore, he started to earn a living through journalism. He met his wife Pirsoka Feher in London.
When he joined the Malayan Tribune, he came back to Singapore in 1948 and joined The Straits Times as a journalist. His boldness to write about the way Singapore is governed by the British incurred the displeasure of the colonial government. The column "I write as I please" written by him drawn so much attention that the government questioned him.

Major Contributions:
Being the foreign minister, Rajaratnam helped Singapore gained entry into the United Nations and later the Non-Aligned Movement in1970. Additionally, he set up the Foreign Service and helped to establish diplomatic links with other countries and secure international recognition of the new nation's Sovereignty. The foreign policy of International self-assertion to establish Singapore's independence during the period when the country faced significant challenges was carried out by him. As one of the founding members of ASEAN, he played an important role in fostering ASEAN consesus and promoting a more cohesive and cooperative region.
In order to restore stability in the Singaporean economy, he implemented tough labour laws when he was the Ministry of Labour between 1968 and 1971. Furthermore, he tried to attract multinational corporations to invest in Singapore.
Rajaratnam played an key role in the successive People's Action Party governements that improved Singapore's economic situation and social development with massive expansion of healthcare programmes, pensions, statehousing and very low unemployment.
He was remembered for writing the Singapore's pledge.

Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Rajaratnam
http://www.pap.org.sg/articleview.php?id=233&mode=&cid=23