malayish name, but chindian :
Like father, like son: Bilahari Kausikan is known to speak his mind, like father P. S. Raman
Jawharilal Rajendran and V.K. Santosh Kumar
PUBLISHED
DEC 3, 2018, 5:00 AM SGT
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Retired diplomat Bilahari Kausikan is known to speak his mind, like his father P. S. Raman
Some diplomats specialise in being nice and tactful. Others adopt the tough approach.
Retired Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan falls into the latter category. The 64-year-old, who had an eventful 37-year career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is known to speak his mind fearlessly about issues confronting Singapore.
Almost certainly, he got his unconventional and independent streak from his father, the late Mr P. S. Raman, Singapore's ambassador to Indonesia in 1968 during the hanging of two Indonesian marines who planted a bomb at MacDonald House in Orchard Road.
It was one of the most delicate moments in Singapore's history, one that required nerves of steel and all of Mr Raman's diplomatic skills.
Exactly two decades earlier, a disillusioned Mr Raman had landed in Singapore from Madras on his way to Indonesia to join the nationalist revolution. But having run out of money here, he decided to stay on.
Why Indonesia?
Said Bilahari: "I think it was just the tenor of the times. India had disappointed him due to Partition. He was looking for a cause and eventually found it in Singapore.
Mr Bilahari Kausikan got his unconventional and independent streak from his father, the late Mr P. S. Raman, Singapore’s ambassador to Indonesia in 1968 during the hanging of two Indonesian marines who planted a bomb at MacDonald House in Orchard Road. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
"My father was an Indian nationalist who studied philosophy at the Madras Christian College. When World War II broke out, he was in two minds whether to join Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army or the British. He finally decided to join the British and served as an RAF radar operator in Burma.
A file photo of retired Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan’s family (clockwise from left): Bilahari, his father, the late P.S. Raman; sister Kalyani, mother Lim Eng Neo and younger sister Kamala. PHOTO: KALYANI
"But when World War II ended and India was partitioned, he got fed up. Because this was not his idea of India. He decided he didn't want to have anything to do with India anymore and made up his mind to leave.
"He was so fed up with India that the first thing he did in Singapore was to eat beef and pork. He never went back to India except once, when his father died."
Even the name he gave to his newborn son was unconventional - Bilahari Kim Hee Papanasam Setlur Kausikan. "Bilahari Raman should have been my name. But he was so fed up with India that he decided to change the whole concept.
"Bilahari is the name of a raga. Kausikan, as he told me, is a clan name. Setlur is a Brahmin sub-caste. Papanasam is the village he came from (in Tamil Nadu).
"Kim Hee is the Chinese name given by my mother. I don't know how they chose it, I wasn't conscious."
Mr Raman, who had two sisters in India, initially taught at St Andrew's school. Shortly afterwards, he started his own tutorial institute in Mount Sophia for those whose education had been disrupted by the war.
It was at the institute that he met and later married Madam Lim Eng Neo, a Peranakan Chinese. The couple (Madam Lim is 92 now) had three children - Bilahari, and his younger sisters - Kalyani, 60, a retired teacher, and Kamala, a teacher, born in the year Singapore became independent.
"It was at the institute that he probably met Mr S R Nathan (former Singapore president)," said Bilahari. "Then somehow he got into broadcasting, I don't know how. He started with the Tamil section initially, and then moved to English. He was effectively bilingual. At that time, there was the Central Production Unit. Then he became the director of broadcasting."
It was during his tenure as director of broadcasting that he famously told Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding prime minister, that a television clip showing him tearing during a press conference in 1965 announcing Singapore's separation from Malaysia should not be edited out.
Mr Lee recounted that incident in his memoir The Singapore Story.
He said: "Before noon, I arrived at the studios of Radio & Television Singapore for a press conference. It had an unintended and unexpected result. After a few opening questions and answers, a journalist asked, "Could you outline for us the train of events that led to this morning's proclamation?
"I recounted my meetings with the Tunku in Kuala Lumpur during the previous two days... At that moment, my emotions overwhelmed me. It was only after 20 minutes that I was able to regain my composure and resume the press conference.
"It was not a live telecast, as television transmissions then started only at 6pm. I asked P. S. Raman to cut the footage of my breakdown. He strongly advised against it. The press, he said, was bound to report it, and if he edited it out, their descriptions of the scene would make it appear worse. I had found Raman, a Tamil Brahmin born in Madras and a loyal Singaporean, a shrewd and sound adviser. I took his advice.
"And so, many people in Singapore and abroad saw me lose control of my emotions. That evening, Radio & Television Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur telecast my press conference, including this episode. Among Chinese, it is unbecoming to exhibit such a lack of manliness. But I could not help myself. It was some consolation that many viewers in Britain, Australia and New Zealand sympathised with me and with Singapore."
Like many older Singaporeans, Bilahari remembers the incident well. "My father did not say much about it. All he told me was to switch on the TV and watch. Once later, in the late '60s, he did tell me that he told LKY not to cut that crying scene."
Then, in June 1968, Mr Raman was appointed Singapore's first ambassador to Indonesia.
Singapore had become independent in 1965, the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation had ended in 1966 and diplomatic relations between Singapore and Indonesia were officially established on Sept 7, 1967, barely a month after Asean was created with Singapore and Indonesia among the founding members.
It was a period of heightened tension as a bomb exploded in the MacDonald House building on March 10, 1965. The explosion killed three people and injured at least 33 others. It was carried out as part of Indonesian's Confrontation with Malaysia, which at the time included Singapore. Two Indonesian marines were arrested and after a trial, were found guilty of the bombing.
"How my father was roped in to become the ambassador, I don't know. We became unexpectedly independent and had to start a foreign ministry.
"There were a lot of people who were educated and could speak and write English. But nobody had embassy experience. I guess he had some experience with politics and diplomacy because he worked at the Central Production Unit and was director of broadcasting.
"Indonesia was in a mess as I could see when I went there for a visit. Sukarno (the first President of Indonesia from 1945 to 1967) was under house arrest and Suharto (who held the office for 31 years) had taken over. My father had come back to Singapore on leave, when he got word that the two Indonesian marines were going to be hanged at Changi Prison. He rushed back to Jakarta as he had to be at his post."
The two men were hanged on Oct 17, 1968, and it led to a souring of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Indonesia as they were regarded as war heroes.
In Jakarta, public anger saw a mob sacking the Singapore embassy and the residences of Singapore's diplomats. They burnt the Singapore flag and threatened to kill Mr Raman, who had to operate, along with his staff, from Hotel Indonesia.
"After things settled, he asked me to come to Jakarta. He wanted to show defiance, so he took his entire family there. I spent a miserable month there. Could not go out of Hotel Indonesia. Had to skip school a bit."
Mr Raman suffered a heart attack during his tenure in Jakarta. When he recovered, he became high commissioner to Australia for a year and a half. Then he was made ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1971. He served there until 1976 when he passed away after another heart attack, in an underground station in Moscow. He was 56.
"My mother was there. I was in the army, but they were kind enough to give me leave to go there and help my mum pack up. We brought his body back and cremated it under Christian rites. When he met my mum, he converted to Christianity. But I don't think he took it seriously."
Bilahari was "quite close" to his father.
"My dad was loving. He played with us when we were kids. When I was small, he used to tell me stories from the Ramayana. We used to celebrate Deepavali in our grandmother's house at Hillside Drive, Upper Serangoon. We put a kolam (a floor drawing made from coloured flour during traditional Indian festivals) in the house."
But Bilahari also points out that he is "not very Indian actually". "I regularly go to Madras New Woodlands to eat idli. But I eat everything. I don't think all of us are very Indian. All I know about Indian customs is from what I read."
