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<div> <span><h1 class="" id="page-title">He was an idealist at heart: Dhanabalan</h1></span> </div> </div>
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<a href="http://www.todayonline.com/sites/default/files/styles/photo_gallery_image_lightbox/public/21918704.JPG?itok=B-q_TEzq" rel="lightbox" title="Former Cabinet Minister S. Dhanabalan giving an eulogy during the state funeral for the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew at the University Cultural Centre on March 29, 2015. Photo: The Straits Times"><img src="http://www.todayonline.com/sites/default/files/styles/photo_gallery_image/public/21918704.JPG?itok=xnJ0CV0T" alt="He was an idealist at heart: Dhanabalan" height="420" width="560"></a>
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Former Cabinet Minister S. Dhanabalan giving an eulogy during
the state funeral for the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew at the University
Cultural Centre on March 29, 2015. Photo: The Straits Times </div>
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<span>By</span>
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<h2> <a href="http://www.todayonline.com/authors/lin-yanqin-deputy-news-editor">Lin Yanqin, Deputy News Editor</a></h2>
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<a href="mailto:yanqinl@mediacorp.com.sg">yanqinl@mediacorp.com.sg</a>
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<div class=""><span class="">Published: </span><span class="">2:02 AM, March 30, 2015</span></div>
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<p>SINGAPORE — He held a reputation for being a “complete political
pragmatist”, but Mr Lee Kuan Yew was an idealist “in a very deep sense”,
said former Cabinet Minister S Dhanabalan.</p><p>Mr Lee, he said, was
obsessed with not only what would work in Singapore, but what the feel
and timbre of society should be, as illustrated by his approach to the
language policy.</p>
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<p>In a population comprising 75 per cent Chinese, the easiest
way to ensure electoral support would have been to champion Chinese
language and Chinese chauvinism. Instead, Mr Lee was convinced that for
Singapore to be distinct, the Republic had to be multi-lingual with
English as the main language of administration and commerce. At the same
time, each racial group had to maintain its cultural identity with
their mother tongues as a second language,</p><p>“To convert Chinese
schools into national type schools and to push for Mandarin against
Chinese dialects were the acts of an idealist not the acts of a
pragmatist,” said Mr Dhanabalan, who was one of several former Cabinet
Minister who delivered eulogies at Mr Lee’s state funeral service
yesterday. Mr Dhanabalan, who was elected in 1976, held several
portfolios as a minister including Foreign Affairs and National
Development before he resigned in 1992.</p><p>Mr Lee is also sometimes
seen as a hardhearted man, but certain decisions he made did not come
easy to him, said Mr Dhanabalan. “On the few occasions he discussed
privately with me the decision to act against someone, I know that he
agonised over the decision,” he said. “He was convinced that a
softhearted approach would undermine the ethos he wanted to embed deeply
in public service.”</p><p>Mr Dhanabalan, who had resigned over
disagreements with Mr Lee on the use of Internal Security Act in the
1987 “Marxist conspiracy” arrests, also said it was a myth that Mr Lee
brooked no opposition.</p><p>“That was not my experience. He argued
tirelessly to get Cabinet to accept his views not because it was the
PM’s view but because of the strength of his arguments. I think he felt
he had failed were he not able to convince his Cabinet colleagues,” he
said.</p><p>He pointed out that when Mr Lee spoke as Prime Minister, he
repeatedly sent drafts of his speeches to colleagues for their views.
“The idea that he expected his team to follow him like a herd of sheep
without question completely misrepresents the man and his values,” Mr
Dhanabalan said.</p><p>Mr Sidek Saniff, a former Senior Minister of
State for Education and environment, noted in his eulogy that when Mr
Lee asked him to stand as a candidate in the 1976 General Election, his
decision to accept his offer caused a stir in the Malay community. “I
had expressed differing views from the Government on education just a
few years earlier,” he said.</p><p>He also spoke of Mr Lee’s frugality,
recounting Mr Lee’s concern about whether he was prepared for a trip to
China in 1979, given the harsh winter there. When he told Mr Lee he
would buy an overcoat, Mr Lee exhorted him not to “waste money” and
instead borrow one from former Cabinet Minister Ahmad Mattar. He also
told him to borrow boots from Mr Goh Chok Tong. “Mr Lee believed in
frugality, both in his personal life as well as nationally. And he
walked the talk. This episode is an example, and also showed his
fatherly character and sharp eye for detail,” said Mr Sidek, who spoke
in Malay.</p>
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