Yusof bin Ishak (12 August 1910 – 23 November 1970) was an eminent Singaporean politician and was the first President of Singapore. If you love to collect money, you might have noticed that there is a picture of a man on every Singapore dollar note. That man is actually Yusof bin Ishak himself. These notes were introduced in 1999.
Yusof bin Ishak was President during one of the most tumultuous periods in Singapore's history, when the young Singapore nation struggled for economic survival and was divided by racial conflicts. He contributed significantly to containing the latter challenge by steadfastly promoting multi-racialism in Singapore. He went out of his way to interact with people of different races to help restore trust and confidence amongst the different ethnic groups during the 1964 race riots. His appointment as President also convinced Singaporeans of different races that citizenship did not depend on the color of their skin but on their contributions to their shared homeland and their merit as individuals.
You might be surprised to know that he did EXCELLENT in sports!
He represented RI in several events: hockey, cricket, swimming, water polo, basketball, boxing and weightlifting. He won the Aw Boon Par cup for boxing in 1932 and in 1933, became the national Lightweight weight-lifting champion. He was also in the Scouts and was a school prefect. He went on to become the first student in the history of the National Cadet Corps to be made 2nd Lieutenant. He was indeed outstanding!
As President of a pledging nation, Yusuf Ishak was a class of his own, setting the benchmark for future presidents of Singapore. As before, his life mission became the nation's mission. He was committed to bring honour and prestige to Singapore on an international arena, to uplift and inspire his people and more significantly, to instill in Singaporeans that "survival of (the) nation rests on the ability of all races and religions to live in mutual respect and tolerance." He was the embodiment of everything that was Singaporean.
Yusof was also resilient (one of our school core value) :
During his last term in office, President Yusof Ishak was often ill. Yet it did not deter him from reaching out to his people - against medical advice, he continued making his presence felt at functions and weekly constituency walk-abouts. Unfortunately, he passed away on 23 November 1970.
