Singapore Founding Fathers---- Othman

Wok
Background on Othman Wok
Born on 8th October, 1924, as a descendent of the Orang Laut,
Othman Wok was one of Singapores founding fathers. The Orang Laut is a
small population of 200 Malay families who were living in Singapore when
Stamford Raffles arrived in 1819. He became the first Minister for Social
Affairs in 1963 and held the position up till 1977. During his time, he
actively contributed to Singapore such as solving the issue of racial
tension as well as being involved in the development of sports and
recreation.
Background on needs and challenges Singapore had during his
time
Up until Othman Woks time as a Minister for Social Affairs,
Singapore had experienced racial tensions and racism. Racial tension
refers to the difference in ideology between different ethnic groups in
Singapore. As Singapore merged with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form
Malaysia, the politically communal Federation of Malaya constantly
emphasized on how the Malays1, even in Singapore which traditionally
practiced non-communal politics , should have been treated with special
privileges, hence discriminating against the Chinese in Malaysia at that
time. Islam was also the sole official religion of Malaysia. Racial tension
reached a peak whereby racial riots took place, such as the July and
September Racial Riots in 1964. In the July racial riots, a procession took
place to celebrate Prophet Muhammads birthday, but soon turned violent
when Chinese bystanders escalated the matter with verbal taunts and
insults, resulting in a total of 22 were found dead with 454 injured.
(Singapore Press Holdings, 2000) In the September racial riots, a Malay
trishaw rider was stabbed to death at night, resulting in a total of 12 killed
and 109 injured. (Tan, 1997) The racial riots were a show of the severity of
how racial tensions could possibly turn Singapore into a chaotic and
violent place, and hence there was a need to ease racial tensions and
enforce racial harmony in Singapore.
After Singapore became independent, the government saw sports as
a way to ease racial tensions and accept each other through teamwork on
the field. However, despite efforts to promote sports, the growth of sports
was slow then, as voluntary sports bodies lacked financing and proper
executive functionaries. (National Library Board, 2011) There was a need
1

In July 1964, the Singapore UMNO even held a indoor rally at a cinema in Pasir Panjang,
of which Othman Wok was the ambassador to embarrass him. Ultra-UMNO leaders, such
as Syed Jaffar Albar accused all Malay members of PAP to be anti-Islam, anti-Malay and
traitors of their own community, giving away the benefits Malays should have had under
the communal UMNO. This ended with angry shouts of Kill them! Kill them! Kill Othman
Wok! being heard from even outside the cinema.(Wok, 2000)

to help speed up the growth of sports for Singapore then, to foster a

healthy nation, enhancing the living standards and contribute to nation
building in the early years of Singapore.
Overcoming the challenges
As the Minster for Social Affairs, Othman Wok introduced a series of
policies to erase the problem of racial tensions; in particularly to aid the
Malay community. There was a need to please the Malays then, so as to
secure their support once again after clashes and conflicts with the UMNO,
which had claimed that PAP was a Chinese party that would not look after
the Malays. To do this, he promoted free education from Primary to
Tertiary level among them, who were once seen to be lagging behind the
other races academically (Teo, 2008), so as to make them on par with the
other races. This would then ensure that they would not feel
disadvantaged when compared to the other races, and promote racial
equality. To better please the Malay community, he had also implemented
the Mosque Building Fund, which required working Muslims to contribute a
certain amount of their salary every month, with the minimum being
$0.50 and this would ensure the presence of Mosques for religious
activities to be carried out. The Singapore Pilgrimage Office was also set
up to look into Malay pilgrimage affairs, which Singapore previously
lacked: there was no registration or order of pilgrim brokers before. This
soon led to the Majlis Agama Islam Singapura(MUIS) acting as a regulator
for haji activities. The Administration of Muslim Law was also introduced in
1966, creating a system of administration, and covered the various
portions of Muslim life, and aided in making the MUIS a statutory board.
(Omar,2008), The MUIS would ensure that the interests of the Malays
would be looked after, and by doing so, various concerns the Malays had
could be voiced in an orderly manner without the violence Singapore had
once seen in the riots.
Othman Wok was also actively involved in the area of sports
development and promotion. He first started by creating a sports division
under his Ministry, the Ministry for Social Affairs.(National Library Board,
2011) It was responsible for raising funds as well as getting the help of
foreign coaches for voluntary sports organizations to aid sports growth
and appeal to the masses. Soon after, in 1970, the National Sports
Promotion Board (NSPB) was established and commenced operation in
1971 with Othman Wok as its chairman. It aided voluntary sports
organizations just as the sports division did; however, it was also
responsible for promoting competitive and recreational sports, and
researching on sports and physical education. It also helped maintain
sports facilities and helped organize major competitions as means to
spread the knowledge and interest of sports within the Singapore
community. Examples include the Singapore Grand Prix, the 1973
Southeast Asian Peninsula Games, as well as the grassroots level InterConstituency Games. Othman Wok was also responsible for introducing
the Singapore Sports Council, to merge the NSPB and Singapore Stadium
Corporation (NSC), to better administrate promotion of sports as well as
sports excellence in Singapore, and saving a considerable amount of

finances, not have repetitive movements or promotions

committees, speeding up the sports promotion process.

by

both

Benefits of Contributions
Thanks to his contributions in Malay Affairs, Malays now enjoy better
living standards and education, so as to be able to work for a stable
income for their families, as well as for the good of Singapores economy.
It also ensured that Malays would be treated more fairly when compared
to the other races and that there would be no discrepancy with regards to
how they would be treated, and hence a racially equal society. This goes
on to promote racial harmony in Singapore; we currently still enjoy peace
amongst the four races. By solving the problem of racial tensions in
Singapore, Othman Wok is helping the people living in Singapore to learn
to work together, regardless of the ethnic groups, so we can better
prevent a chaotic scene, like the riots, in Singapore in the future.
By aiding the promotion sports growth in Singapore, racial tensions
have also been eased by promoting a common national identity amongst
Singaporeans on the international stage, in sports, and thus helping
Singapore maintain racial harmony as well. It also eased tensions through
teaching people how to work in teams and therefore gain better teamwork
and a better understanding of one another. It also ensured that voluntary
sports organisations then would be able to more actively promote sports
by aiding them financially. After Othman Woks introduction of the SSC, it
has also gone on to organize mass sports events ranging from walking to
swimming, and Learn to Play schemes to aid the public learn the basics
of popular sports, including tennis and squash, guided by its Sports for
all policy back then in the 1960s(National Library Board, 2011) , to
maximize participation rate regardless of socio-economic class and
athletic ability and hence promoting sports growth on a national scale
instead of being restricted to only a small group of athletes in Singapore in
the earlier stages. Today, the SSC continues to promote sports growth, an
example being the Lets Play movement to encourage Singaporeans to
embrace sports in their lives. Also, by promoting sports growth in
Singapore, today, Singapore enjoys economical benefits too - through
tourist dollars whereby tourists come to Singapore to watch the
competitions going on, and in the midst of their stay, spending money on
accommodation or other leisurely activities. An example would be the F1
Night Race which Singapore holds, and this serves as an attraction,
helping Singapore attract more tourists, who will spend more money in
Singapore and therefore aiding Singapores economy.
What Othman Wok done has benefited the people then, and its
effects are still felt today, where we still see it being carried out, such as
sports being promoted actively and also racial harmony. This is also a
continuation of what the people in the past have enjoyed due to what
Othman Wok has done. Thus, we can say that what Othman Wok did to
help the people in the past was also a long term benefit for Singapore.
Evaluate Contributions

Our group believes that among all Othman Woks contributions, the
most outstanding ones are the ease of racial tension and the development
of sports in Singapore. However, we have determined that the
development of sports is a more significant contribution due to its long
term impact. Impact refers to the effect brought to the public through
the actions one make. In this case, Othman Woks contributions are the
actions and the benefits or disadvantages brought to the people are the
effect. The development of sports could bring about a sense of pride for
Singapore, which would aid in connecting the 4 different races together.
Through this, the idea of bringing all ethnic groups together as one was
promoted. When they go out on the field, they work as one to win the
game, to work as a team and cooperate with one another. This benefited
Singapore in the long run as it brought about a common identity to the
Singaporeans. Sports bring a common experience and common goal for
one team. The racial tensions between Malays and Chinese would not be
resolved just because of the change in policies and government decisions.
Sports, on the contrary, were a platform to the people as an opportunity
to work together and know each other through the common experience
shared. By comparing the effects brought to the public, the long term
impact of promoting sports was a greater contribution to Singapore than
easing racial tensions. As mentioned above, sports will also bring about
economic benefits by attracting tourists to Singapore to expend. Hence,
our group believes that based on both the long, short term impact and the
links made from one to another were both logical to prove that the
contributions on developing sports to the public has a greater influence on
bringing Singapore together, with economic benefits through sports
events organized, compared to easing racial tensions which will only
benefit Singapore socially.
Values he demonstrated
One important value Othman Wok demonstrated during his time
was perseverance. He had been steadfast in achieving his goals and
fulfilling his responsibilities despite facing difficulties. Though not well
received by Malays, Othman Wok let nothing put him down and continued
striving for the best. At the same time, Othman did not allow his personal
life to interfere with his work. To overcome the problem of racial tensions
in Singapore, he implemented policies which appealed to the Malays. The
Malays hated him2, calling him a traitor of Malay community for he chose
to join the PAP instead of the communal UMNO which supported special
treatments for Malays. They would take his leaflets and throw them away
in front of Othman himself, and even smear faeces on his posters.
2

They would accuse Othman of joining the PAP for a comfortable income and status in
exchange for what they thought they had deserved, which were the benefits under a
communal UMNO in hate mails. One read: Othman Wok!! The person who is too
pampered until his country is sacrificed. At this time you are a traitor to the community
and religion. It is due to the money that you receive from Lee Kuan Yew that these
foreigners are getting big-headed until the Malay people are destroyed. If you persist in
doing this to the Malays, we dare to sharpen the long parang that youve been asking
for. (Wok, 2000)

However, he was able to disregard their actions and continue to strive

towards making them happy instead, in order to serve a greater purpose
of unifying the four races in Singapore together and promoting racial
harmony. Furthermore, perseverance had helped him promote sports as
well as sports excellence in Singapore. Allowing sports to be an important
aspect in Singapore indirectly helps ease racial tensions, for instance,
promoting teamwork within races and more importantly, racial harmony.
Faced with much social difficulties, he thought of all the aspects which
could possibly help solve these challenges. Up till today, Singapore
remains excellent in sports. Excelling in sports; ensures the racial equality
and harmony our country has, and also serves as a source of financial
income which aids Singapores economy. Perseverance was hence a very
important factor to help ease racial tensions in Singapore as perseverance
would mean possessing strong determination and far-sightedness, giving
one the ability to fulfil his responsibilities in the face of adversities.

Word Count: 1984

Citations
Singapore Press Holdings. (2000, January 10) Headlines, Lifelines
The story of Singapores racial relations as seen through the eyes of
Othman Wok. Retrieved April 11, 2012 from
http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/independence/ref/race.html
Marsita Omar. (2008, March 4) Singapore Pages
Othman Wok. Retrieved April 11, 2012 from
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_995_2009-07-01.html
Tan Lay Yuen. (1997, September 29) Singapore Pages
Communal Riots of 1964. Retrieved April 11, 2012 from
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_45_2005-01-06.html
National Library Board Singapore. (2011) Singapore Pages
Establishment of Singapore Sports Council. Retrieved April 11,2012 from
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/d93dd666-6f68-4cef-94046c8a163ad0e5.html

Faith Teo.(2008) Othman Wok : The Dashing Peacemaker. Singapore: The New
Paper.
Othman Wok.(2000) Never In My Wildest Dreams. Singapore: Raffles