Silver Arrow - My Country & Cultures - National Identity

Task : Find out about the two Founding Fathers who wrote the National Anthem and the Pledge.

The two Founding Fathers are, Zubir Said, a musician who created the National Anthem, Majulah Singapura and Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, then the Minister of Foreign Affairs who drafted the the finalised version of the Singapore pledge.

Zubir Said was an Indonesian born, Singaporean composer who composed the national anthem of Singapore, Majulah Singapura (Onward Singapore).

In 1958, the City Council of Singapore approached Zubir to compose a song for the city to be titled Majulah Singapura, which was a motto to be displayed in the Victoria Theatre after its renovation. Zubir's song, Majulah Singapura (Onward Singapore), was first performed by the Singapore Chamber Ensemble during the grand finale of a concert staged in the Victoria Theatre on 6 September 1958 to celebrate its official reopening. When Singapore attained self-government in 1959, the Government felt that a national anthem was needed to unite the different races in Singapore. It decided that the City Council's song, which was already popular, would serve this purpose. After some revisions were made to the song, it was adopted by the Legislative Assembly on 11 November 1959, and on 30 November the Singapore State Arms and Flag and National Anthem Ordinance 1959 was passed. This statute regulated the use and display of the State Arms and State Flag and the performance of the National Anthem. Majulah Singapura was presented to the nation on 3 December at the launch of Loyalty Week, replacing the colonial anthem God Save the Queen. After Singapore's full independence from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, Majulah Singapura was formally adopted as the Republic's national anthem.

Sinnathamby Rajaratnam was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, he moved to Malaysia at a young age to join his father, who was working as a supervisor at a rubber plantation in Seremban. He studied at Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur, and later Raffles Institution in Singapore.

The finalised version of the national pledge was largely drafted by then Minister for Foreign Affairs S. Rajaratnam in February 1966 as a way to promote national loyalty and consciousness among citizens following Singapore's separation from Malaysia on 9 August 1965.

According to S. Rajaratnam, the Pledge emerged against the backdrop of a vital struggle to forge a sense of nationhood and build “a Singapore we are proud of”. He believed that language, race and religion were potentially divisive factors and used the Pledge to emphasise that these differences could be overcome if Singaporeans were united in their commitment to the country

Resources from:

-National Library Board (The National Pledge)

-National Library Board (Zubir Said)

-National Library Board (S. Rajaratnam)