Tribute to Dad

WORDS by Hsuan Boon
(Eulogy to Dad, read by May Yun)

Words. What words can we use to eulogise you, Dad? A journalist, writer, poet, historian, lawyer, son of Malaya. And above all, a dedicated husband, a doting and loving father and grandfather.

Over these past few days, your friends and relatives have given us a greater glimpse of how much you gave of your life and energies to help others. You clearly lived a life so full even before you received us into this world.

Even prison walls could not contain you. And from those dark days sprang forth life-long friendships – friends welcomed at home, whom we greeted as uncles and aunties with regularity, perhaps without fully knowing the extent of the bonds that bound all of you.

Then you went to England to secure a fresh start. And you returned as a lawyer, and a husband.

You excelled in the law, yet stepped away after a brief twenty years in practice, as all three of us were finally finding our feet. You retired from the law, but not from life. You returned to your first love – of books and writings.

Your pursuit of a new life in academia was restricted by your failing eye-sight. Undeterred, you compiled your thoughts and writings, accumulated over the years. You continued to read widely, and think deeply. And as the sun began to set, and your body began to fail you, you struggled against a second prison that was so cruelly imposed upon you – a prison not of brick and cement, but of dim vision and deadened nerves.

Yet quietly you soldiered on, convinced there was a history which had to be told. And your prodigious output has left a legacy for us all – The Comet in the Sky, Love’s Travelogue, The Chempaka Tree, Our Thoughts Are Free, The Fajar Generation. And in so doing, you taught us that our thoughts truly are free – free to take flight and scale any prison that might befall us.

In the weeks before you left us, you foresaw a change in the political climate of Singapore, and were heartened by the results of the General Election. A week later was the launch your final works – The May 13 Generation, and the translation of The Mighty Wave. We were hesitant about your proposed trip for similar launches in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, but eventually accepted that it was what you wanted to do, and had to do. You met friends old and new along the way, and were feted for showing that the pen is mightier than the sword. You returned to Singapore tired. You went to the hospital complaining of pains. Two weeks later, on June 14 you breathed your last.

We will miss you dearly. The gaping hole left in our hearts will ache beyond these few days we have spent in rowdy remembrance of you. And now what words are left for us?

Only the simplest of words from hearts that owe you an eternal debt of gratitude – Thank you Dad. We love you, and farewell.

Saturday June 18, 2011

Mandai Crematorium