SPECIAL Workers’ champion MP Patrick Tay, who is the assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress, said in his eulogy that unionists knew Mr Ƥ Ǥ In 1951, Mr Othman was elected secretary of the Singapore Printing ǯ to secure better pay and working conditions for workers of publishing houses. Mr Lee Kuan Yew was the In his eulogy, labour MP union’s lawyer. Patrick Tay said unionists knew Mr Othman Wok Minister Chan Chun Sing, NTUC ZRXOG ƩJKW KDUG IRU WKHP secretary-general, and its president Mary Liew, penned in a letter that Mr Dz ǯ dz Dz dzǤ
Party leader Fang Chuang Pi. Ƥ ǡ and later compiled them into two books. Former MP Abbas Abu Amin called him a great storyteller who “knew how to immerse the reader in the story and help them to dzǤ
Gripping writer As a reporter, Mr Othman handled the war beat and was often in the jungles covering the guerrilla war between the British and the Malayan Communist Party. In 1946, he joined Utusan Melayu and made a name securing exclusive interviews with the Dalai Lama and Malayan Communist
Former cabinet minister Othman Wok and his granddaughter Indriana who ORRNV RQ DV KHU ŚGDWXNś JUDQGIDWKHU ZRUNV RQ WKH RULJLQDO W\SHZULWHU WKDW churned out the dozens of ghost stories that he wrote for Utusan Melayu since the 1950s.
A simple and humble man with a sense of humour
Mr
Othman Wok was a leader who led by example. After Separation, Singapore needed to quickly build up its armed forces. Mr Othman, even though he was a minister, volunteered @R @M NƧBDQ B@CDS HM SGD /DNOKD R #DEDMBD Force (PDF) to set an example and underlined the importance of national defence to the people. They trained on weekends and his fellow cadets recalled how he did not receive any special treatment. He was 41 when he joined the PDF. Mr Tien Chao Heng, 70, said at his funeral: “It was an inspiration to all of us, because here was someone who was a minister who was getting the same tongue-lashing and shouting as us.” Mr Othman, or Ozzy as his fellow cadets nicknamed him, was humble and a joker too, recalled Mr Tien. “He never talked down to people... he behaved like he was one of us.” Former MP Abbas Abu Amin, who later succeeded Mr Othman as MP for Pasir
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Panjang in 1980, said he always respected NƧBDQR VHSG @ GHFGDQ Q@MJ 3GDM @ B@OS@HM Mr Othman always saluted Mr Abbas who held the more senior rank of major. “We all thought that no matter how high your rank was in the army, you should always respect a minister, but the moment Mr Othman is in uniform, he would be respecting you as a RDMHNQ NƧBDQ ŗŗ QDB@KKDC ,Q AA@R ,Q .SGL@M SNNJ O@QS HM SGD ƥQRS -@SHNM@K Day parade in 1966 as a cadet and then as a lieutenant the following year when he led the PDF contingent. Mr Othman’s son-in-law Munir Shah also QDLDLADQDC GHR GTLNTQ ř6GDM +HKX ,TMHQ R wife) told him late one night that someone was coming to ask formally for her hand the next day, his reply was, ‘Who is the unlucky man?’ ” People also remembered him as charitable, kind and humble. Mr Othman had donated a piece of his father’s land in Mattar Road to build the Darul Ihsan Orphanage.
Ms Sharon Yeap, his former secretary at an HMUDRSLDMS ƥQL VGDQD GD V@R SGD CHQDBSNQ said: “He was a wonderful boss. He never raised his voice, never acted as if he was a former minister." Humility was clearly an important quality to Mr Othman. As he once told a reporter: “Although I had very little time to talk to the children, there were some values that were very important for them to have... I taught them never to be stuck up.”
Former MP Abbas Abu Amin paid tribute to Mr Othman Wok.