Tag: Othman Wok

Pioneer Leader Othman Wok Gets Special Mention During Friday Prayers At Mosques

The late pioneer Cabinet minister Othman Wok was remembered by Muslims at prayers on Friday (April 21) in mosques across the island.

Mr Othman, who died on Monday (April 17) at the age of 92, received special mention in the second sermon for his contributions to racial harmony in Singapore.

“Racial harmony does not come easy. It requires courage, countless sacrifices, and careful planning from various individuals and community leaders. Among those who have significantly contributed to the growth and development of this nation is the late Mr Othman Wok,” the sermon said.

“His efforts in spearheading the development of multiracial policies have established Singapore as a successful pluralistic society.”

Mr Othman was the first Malay Cabinet minister in independent Singapore and was committed to multiracialism, despite intense pressure from Malay supremacists in the 1960s.

In the sermon, which was prepared by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) to be delivered by imams at all 71 mosques in Singapore, worshippers were reminded of their role in preserving the peace that Mr Othman worked to build.

“Maintaining peace and harmony is especially crucial for a country with a multiracial society like Singapore. As such, it is imperative that we continue playing our roles in ensuring the preservation of peace and harmony that we have so enjoyed thus far,” the sermon said.

The racial riots of the 1960s are a reminder of the importance of socio-religious harmony, and maintaining this is a shared national responsibility, not just that of the country’s leaders, the sermon also said.

“We need to ensure that future generations have the opportunity to enjoy the peace and harmony that we have so inherited… May the efforts of the late Mr Othman Wok spark interest in our hearts and the future generations to contribute to the betterment of our state and religion,” it added.

Mr Othman received a state-assisted funeral, and was buried at Choa Chu Kang Muslim Cemetery on Tuesday. A memorial service was held in his honour on Wednesday at Victoria Concert Hall.

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Source: http://www.straitstimes.com

April 21, 2017
Osman Sulaiman: Objective Review Of Policies Implemented By Allahyarham Othman Wok Will Benefit Malay Muslim Community

Othman Wok has passed away. In my community, many believe that we cannot talk about the dead. I disagree. Strongly.

The belief that we cannot talk about a dead man past has its roots from Islamic teachings that forbid anyone to air out a dead man’s shameful/disgraceful past. This, I agree.

But what many would do the moment we tried to discuss about a man’s past, his beliefs, his stand, his deeds, his contributions, his ideology and his political leaning, we are swiftly reminded not to talk about it even if it has nothing to do with exposing of the dead man past.

As with Othman Wok, many would know about the infamous words he uttered on the burning of the corpses. Many also would know of his loyalty to LKY.

When speaking about this, I dont think this is shaming the man for bringing back what he said before because Othman Wok still stands by it and has never apologized nor is he ever contrite for his words.

Othman Wok was the de facto leader of the Malay community by virtue of being appointed a minister in the 60s and 70s. As a leader back then, we should be allowed to study and discuss his actions and contributions as it has bearings on how our community socio-cultural environment developed.

We can see the mainstream media pouring praises on Othman Wok. Are we then not allowed to counter with facts on his actions? If we take on the line not to discuss a dead man past, we would never have known how evil Hitler and Saddam was.

No, we are not shaming or airing out his personal details and discretion, but rather to visit history and discuss the impact he, Othman Wok has contributed based on his actions and words.

Othman Wok was never a leader to me. In fact, it was during his time as a minister, policies that were detrimental to my community went unchallenged, passed without much fun fare that ultimately, led to a whole generation of my community to be weakened economically.

It shaped the political environment my community faced today. Because whatever we fight today, we fight for our future generation. He, Othman Wok never fought for us. He acquiesced and was complicit with the gov questionable act.

As a Muslim, I pray for his well-being in the afterlife. May god bless his soul.

But In this life, I cannot put him on a pedestal.

Source: Osman Sulaiman

April 20, 2017
Osman Wok Chose PAP, Angered UMNO, Branded As Infidel

Othman Wok suffered many an assassination on his character in his 18 years in politics, standing up for a multi-racial Singapore, where he was denounced by Malay supremacists as an “infidel” and “traitor to the Malay race”.

He never wavered. But he was threatened repeatedly as an election candidate for the multiracial People’s Action Party (PAP) over the United Malays National Organisation (Umno).

He received a flurry of death threats in the fractious months leading to independence. One such missive was from an anonymous Malay letter-writer using the nom de plume Anak Singapura in early July 1964: “At this time you are a traitor to the community and religion … if you persist in doing this to the Malays, we dare to sharpen the long parang that you’ve been asking for.”

That same month, Umno leader Syed Jaafar Albar said in a July 12 speech in Pasir Panjang to thousands of Malays: “If there is unity, no force in this world can trample us down, no force can humiliate us, no force can belittle us… not one Lee Kuan Yew, a thousand Lee Kuan Yews… we finish them off… kill him, kill him. Othman Wok and Lee Kuan Yew.” Mr Albar’s words were, ironically, published in Utusan, the newspaper where Mr Othman had worked for 17 years.

Pasir Panjang was Mr Othman’s ward, after he won the nationwide poll there in September 1963. He quit journalism shortly after, when Mr Lee appointed him Minister for Social Affairs, making him the only Malay in Cabinet then. He was, however, not Singapore’s first Malay Cabinet minister, as the late Ahmad Ibrahim had been Minister for Health, and then Labour, between 1959 and 1962.

Nine days after Mr Albar’s invective, at around 4.30pm on July 21, 1964, Singapore’s worst racial riots erupted. Mr Othman was then leading a PAP contingent in a procession from the Padang to Lorong 12 Geylang, to celebrate the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. When Chinese and Malays began hurling bottles at one another and punching policemen, Mr Othman led his group to safety within the old Kallang Airport building – and called his comrades in Cabinet to impose a curfew. A total of 23 people were killed, and 454 others injured.

A week later, a former Utusan colleague admitted to him that he had known the riots would break out – a good two hours before they happened. In Mr Othman’s 2000 biography Never In My Wildest Dreams, he recalled his colleague telling him thus: “We knew beforehand. We have our sources, you know.”

Mr Othman mused later in Men In White, the 2010 book on the history of the PAP: “I believe the riot was planned; it did not start spontaneously. They were very smart to choose a religious procession so that if we had stopped it, we would be called anti-Muslim. The inflammatory communal and racial speeches made by Malaysian Umno leaders worked up Malay sentiments in Singapore.”

In the aftermath of the riots, Mr Lee relied heavily on Mr Othman, his old unionist friend whom he found “capable, dedicated and with integrity”, to defuse tensions among all the races here.

Source: www.straitstime.com

April 18, 2017
Alias Ismail: Othman Wok May Championed Multiracialism But Didn’t Champion Rights Of Malays

The man who suggested that the Muslim be burned on their death because Singapore has a land shortage.

The man who kept quiet when Malay youth was not called for National Service and many become drug addict BecoS to find a job u must complete ur National service and many Malay man had no letter to say they were exempt .

YES THIS IS THE MAN.

Maybe we should burn his body as he was so into it

Source: Alias Bin Ismail commenting on ST video on Othman Wok

April 18, 2017
Family Remebers Othman Wok As Humble, Kind And Loving

Pioneer Cabinet Minster Mr Othman had been warded at SGH since April 6 for a chest infection and stomach complications.

Madam Lily, 60, said she usually does the night duty in caring for him.

“I will read some prayers for him and pat him to sleep before I go off,” she recounted his final hours to The Straits Times on Monday (April 17), after Mr Othman died just after noon. He was 92.

“We hope that he will always be remembered as part of the Singapore Old Guard and a contributor to the harmony of Singapore,” she added.

“We tried our best to take care of him to the best of our ability, but I think God knows better, and you know we are quite happy to let him go. He passed away…peacefully, so we are happy with that,” Madam Lily told reporters during the wake for Mr Othman outside the family home in Kew Avenue in Bedok.

Madam Lily, a housewife, described him as a kind and loving father who was also devoted to his work when he was MP for Pasir Panjang constituency from 1963 to 1981.

“We know that we are more or less like his second family compared to his political work. We totally got it and we appreciated that as well,” she said with a laugh.

But he always made time for the family, especially when he returned from his overseas trips as Singapore’s first Minister for Social Affairs, a post he held from 1963 to 1977.

“Whenever he (came) back from his travels, he (spent) at least one night with us, sharing his overseas stories, souvenirs,” she said.

One lesson he often drummed into them was the importance of racial harmony as he lived through the 1964 race riots. He also emphasised humility, she said. “You could be the president’s daughter or the king’s daughter, but humility should be your middle name,” she recalled him saying.

Mr Othman had been in and out of hospital since last November, and his last message to his children was to live peacefully with each other and maintain good relationships with one another, she said.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

April 18, 2017