Tan Howe Liang, Singapore’s first Olympic Games medallist (silver), has passed on at the age of 91 years.
May he rest in peace, knowing that his place in the pantheon of Singapore’s sporting champions has been recognised and appreciated. I hesitate to say “at last”. It’s more like “about time”. But we have to do more.
No less than President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who was himself a sportsman, has paid heartfelt tribute to Tan:
“Tan … achieved so much with so little. … how he grew up as a kid in the cramped quarters of Chinatown. How he became a dock worker and then electrician and other jobs, trained himself with great discipline and had set world records by age 25 …
How he won a silver medal in the Rome Olympics of 1958 despite injury.”
Be that as it may, Singaporeans, at least the more discerning ones, are at a stage where they are beginning to realise that being a nation cannot only be about economic achievements or building super iconic structures.
Yes, they are key to our survival. But there are also other softer, equally important milestones or markers that give us a sense of what Singaporeans are as a people.
Successes in sports both inspire and add to our worth as a people.
Why do you think older Singaporeans like to talk about soccer stars like Dollah Kassim or Quah Kim Song? They have warm and happy memories of the Malaysia Cup years, of which they had been such a big part.
Even older Singaporeans would not forget how Wong Peng Soon captured the All-England badminton singles title four times.
More so, the importance of remembering our sports stars when there have been so few international champions, compared to, say, a sports-loving nation like Australia.
We must treasure them in a more concrete way. Not just by paying what would amount to just transient tributes. Make sure they are part of Singapore’s landscape.
When I started writing for TheIndependent.Sg in 2013, I suggested that some of the lanes around the Sports Hub be named after a few of our sports heroes, following the example of what Sydney did to the mini-roads around its Olympic stadium in 2000. There, you can find Herb Elliot Avenue, Shane Gould Avenue and Rod Laver Drive. Hence, we should have our Howe Liang Lane, Kunalan Way or Peng Soon Link.
A former Straits Times colleague has asked me to update my suggestion. He thought remembering our sports heroes has become even more timely as the Kallang Wave becomes an active part of the Sports Hub. Visitors cannot but be reminded of the sports heroes.
Perhaps Tan Howe Liang deserves more than a Lane or a Way as the first Olympic medallist. He was a pioneer. Maybe a Howe Liang Road, no less.
The arts already have their illustrious pioneers honoured by having streets named after them. Examples: Zubir Said Drive and McNally Street. Zubir Said was the composer of the national anthem, and Brother Joseph McNally was the founder of the La Salle School of the Arts.
Tan Howe Liang was an incomparable trailblazer. In 1958, there was no Singapore government or Parliament to honour him. Now we have. Let’s do the right thing by him.
Tan Bah Bah is a former senior leader writer with The Straits Times. He was also managing editor of a magazine publishing company