A decades-old clip of a debate between Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and Mr K Shanmugam has been unearthed and been resurrected on Instagram.
Some people commented on how young the two men appear in the video from 32 years ago. Others, however, have chosen to contrast Dr Balakrishnan’s more idealistic point of view back then with his recent public pronouncements now that he is Foreign Minister.
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The video opens with Mr Balakrishnan, then in his late 20s, questioning the Government’s concern over the loyalties of certain races: “I’m of the younger generation. We’ve grown up for the past 20 years with a fairly good propaganda machine which led us to believe that we were all Singaporeans regardless of race, language, and religion,” he said.
“Recently, however, you have government ministers questioning the loyalty of certain segments of our society to this nation,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of not sowing such seeds of doubt, he said:
“You have all these figures and playing of games with numbers as to how to ossify the racial proportions in Singapore, as if there were some kind of magic formula for stability. You can’t expect people to be loyal to you when you question their loyalty outright at the beginning as the first premise. That is the surest way of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Mr Shanmugam responded by saying that he perceives that the issue had been “blown out of proportion”.
“The way I perceive it is that for the first 25 years anyway, the focus was on developing that common culture and a strong bond within, ” he said. “And of late, the emphasis…has moved over to emphasizing the individual cultural identities, perhaps as a realization that we were losing what little we had by trying to forge something…Trying to get to the first level of common unity and then from there on, trying to develop the individual cultural identities and hope that the common cultural identity will evolve slowly.”
Mr Shanmugam, now Minister for Home Affairs and Law, celebrates his 63rd birthday on Mar 26, and is just a year older than Mr Balakrishnan but even so, already sounded “older” and more conservative.
At the time the video was shot, Mr Shanmugam was starting to make a name for himself as a litigator. Interestingly, as a lawyer in private practice, he has acted for and against all three of Singapore’s prime ministers in civil actions.
Back when Dr Balakrishnan, appeared in the video, he was a medical doctor, an opthalmologist who became medical director of the Singapore Eye Centre and then chief executive of the Singapore General Hospital before he entered politics. He also had a stint hosting a local TV programme called Health Matters.
In the clip, which appears to be taken from a TV forum, Mr Balakrishnan’s response appeared calm and collected: “How can you get to the first level by questioning someone’s loyalty? What evidence does the Government have or what facts does the Government have to make a statement questioning the loyalty of certain segments of our society?”
Responding to this video throwback, many netizens commented on the young Mr Balakrishnan as well as his eloquence. Others, however, contrasted his tone then with how he now he now presents himself.
“The way (he) speaks feels a lot like an opposition member,” said one commenter. Another said “When you’re young you’re idealistic and your views are more liberal…then you grow old and are comfortable with the established process.”
Another netizen recalled an instance in 2021 when Mr Balakrishnan was called out for an off-the-cuff hot mike comment he made about opposition politician Leong Mun Wai’s educational background. Said the netizen: “Honestly, I’m shocked that in 30 years a man can go from fighting for racial equality to judging a person’s school.”
