Sinnathamby Rajaratnam (25 February 1915 – 22 February 2006) was a Singaporean statesman, journalist and diplomat. He served as the first Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1965 until 1980, and subsequently as the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 1980 to 1985. Rajaratnam was pivotal in shaping Singapore's foreign policy framework during its formative years of sovereignty, helping secure the nation's position on the global stage. Alongside his foreign affairs portfolio, he also served as Minister for Culture from 1959 to 1965, Minister for Labour from 1968 to 1971, Deputy Prime Minister from 1980 to 1985 and Senior Minister from 1985 to 1988. Throughout his entire political career, he represented the constituency of Kampong Glam. Rajaratnam is remembered for authoring the Singapore National Pledge in 1966. Rajaratnam is widely recognised as one of the founding fathers of modern Singapore and a key architect of ASEAN.
A founding member of the People's Action Party (PAP), which has governed Singapore continuously since independence, Rajaratnam was deeply involved in the country's political transformation. He was among the pioneering leaders responsible for securing self-governance of Singapore from the British Empire in 1959 and navigating the complex process leading to the independence of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965. His statesmanship extended beyond national borders as one of the five founding fathers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967, an organisation created to promote regional cooperation and peace in Southeast Asia.
Rajaratnam's legacy is commemorated through several institutions bearing his name, reflecting his lasting impact on Singapore's development. These include the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), a centre dedicated to research and education in international relations, as well as the S. Rajaratnam block of Raffles Institution, honouring his contributions to education and public service. His career remains emblematic of pragmatic governance and diplomatic foresight during a formative period in Singapore's history.
Rajaratnam was born in Vaddukoddai, Jaffna District, British Ceylon in 1915, the second child of Sabapathy Pillai Sinnathamby and his wife N. Annamah, both of Jaffna Tamil descent. His father wished for him to be born there for auspicious reasons following the premature death of his elder brother. Soon after his birth, Rajaratnam was taken back to Malaya and raised in Seremban and Selangor. His younger brother, S. Seevaratnam, was born in Seremban and went on to become a founding member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP). His nephew, Vijayaratnam Seevaratnam, was affiliated with the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia.
Rajaratnam received his early education at St. Paul's Institution, followed by studies at Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur and Raffles Institution in Singapore. In 1937, he enrolled at King's College London to pursue a degree in law. However, due to the outbreak of World War II and the resulting financial constraints within his family, he was unable to continue his studies. Instead, he turned to journalism to support himself in Singapore.
In London, Rajaratnam wrote a series of short stories that received favourable reviews from J. B. Trend of The Spectator. He also gained the attention of George Orwell, who was then working in the Indian Section of the BBC's Eastern Service and recruited him to contribute scripts for the network. Rajaratnam's short stories, written primarily in the 1940s, were published in literary journals and anthologies and explored themes of poverty, social injustice, leadership and community in South and Southeast Asia.
One of his short stories was included in the 1947 anthology A World of Great Stories: 115 Stories, The Best of Modern Literature, which also featured works by Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Rabindranath Tagore.
His short stories and radio plays were later collected and published by Epigram Books in The Short Stories & Radio Plays of S. Rajaratnam (2011).
Rajaratnam returned to Singapore in 1948 when he joined The Malaya Tribune and stopped writing short stories. In 1950, he joined Singapore Tiger Standard that was founded by Aw Boon Haw. In 1954, he joined The Straits Times as a journalist. He was bold in writing about the way Singapore was governed by the British. This incurred the displeasure of the colonial government. His column, "I write as I please", attracted so much attention that he was called for questioning by Gerald Templer, who tried to cow him by showing him a gun in his desk drawer.
In 1954, Rajaratnam co-founded the People's Action Party (PAP) together with Lee Kuan Yew, Toh Chin Chye, Goh Keng Swee and others. He became popular among his supporters for being able to effectively follow the "mood of the people". He thought of a multiracial Singapore and envisioned her to be a "global city". He was also actively involved in organising major political campaigns against far-left political groups in Singapore.
Rajaratnam had served in the Cabinet as Minister for Culture in 1959, Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1965 and 1980, Minister for Labour between 1968 and 1971, Deputy Prime Minister between 1980 and 1985, and Senior Minister between 1985 and 1988.
Rajaratnam was Singapore's first Foreign Minister, following its abrupt independence in 1965. During his tenure as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rajaratnam helped Singapore gain entry into the United Nations and later the Non-Aligned Movement in 1970. He built up the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and helped to establish diplomatic relations with other countries and secure international recognition of Singapore's sovereignty. He carried out the foreign policy of international self-assertion to establish Singapore's independence during the period when the country faced significant challenges including the Konfrontasi conflict in the 1960s and the withdrawal of British troops in the early 1970s. Rajaratnam was one of the five "founding fathers" of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967. In this diplomatic arena together with the United Nations, he helped to draw international attention to the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1978. At the 1979 Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Havana, Rajaratnam led Singapore's opposition to the Vietnamese-backed Heng Samrin government in Cambodia. According to diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, Rajaratnam strongly challenged efforts by Cuba and other Soviet-aligned states to recognise the Cambodian delegation installed following Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia. Despite the delegation's acceptance within the Non-Aligned Movement, it subsequently failed to secure Cambodia's seat at the United Nations General Assembly.
Rajaratnam was also the first Singapore leader to visit the People's Republic of China in March 1975, where he met Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. He later welcomed China's economic modernisation and expressed the view that a prosperous and modernised China would have positive consequences for the global economy.
Rajaratnam was a leading advocate of an independent and non-aligned foreign policy for Singapore. He argued that alignment with a major power could compromise the foreign-policy autonomy of small states, and maintained that non-alignment allowed countries such as Singapore to adopt positions based on the merits of individual international issues rather than the interests of larger powers.
Consistent with his policy of maintaining relations with all major powers, Rajaratnam visited the Soviet Union in 1976, where he met Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. According to diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, Rajaratnam emphasised that although Singapore was non-communist domestically, its foreign policy was not anti-communist and sought constructive relations with both Western and communist states.
Rajaratnam opposed the inclusion of Sri Lanka for ASEAN membership in 1967 based on the country's domestic situation which was unstable and not good for a new organisation.