8/10/2011

The greatness of Benjamin Sheares

Who is Benjamin Sheares? In case you are still scratching your head, he was a highly regarded and prominent doctor in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, the doyen of the profession in his time. And he was also the second President of this country. A quiet and dignified man who did his job without blowing his own trumpet, without pretensions.

Today in the ST, a Dr Chew Shing Chai who had worked with President Sheares, shared a little insight of this great man. At that time, before the high salary is good mantra struck this land, his income was a paltry $2000 as a medical doctor, maybe slightly more. When he was appointed as the President, his monthly salary was $17,000, big by the standard of the day. And unknown to the public till now, he donated his entire salary to charity, according to Dr Chew.

What the people don’t know, now they knew. My respect to this great man. I didn’t know either. Thank you Dr Chew, for this enlightenment.
I am sure many ministers and presidents too would have donated a handsome chunk of their salaries to charity without declaring it. Some may, like President Sheares, donate their entire salaries to charity too.

God bless them. Cheers to President Sheares.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Redbeans,

did you know the latest donation trend of MIW ? They will definitely donate, but not with their money, but with lesser mortals.

How did these MIWs eat both side of the cakes ?

Simple. Invent something like President's challenge charity show.

Soon we have LKY's challenge, Minister's Challenge. And those clowns will think that it is them that have donated the money nevermind it is on behalf of lesser mortals's donation.

And these clowns and confirmed PAP lackeys like Josephine Teo will once again appear in media to praise how caring and loving they are to people of Singapore compare to opp party !

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Ssssssh. It takes a lot of creative juice to come up with such charity drives.

Anonymous said...

None of the ministers inclusive of PMs and MPs of the last twenty years can compare even to a strand of hair of President Sheares. They are ungracious, full of greed and deceit, self serving and have all the characteristics of hyenas and wild dogs.

Anonymous said...

So, what is all that shit about people not willing to serve if they are not paid well?

No wonder this is one secret that they wanted to keep but could not, all thanks to Dr. Chew.

Anonymous said...

A philosophet once wrote, I quote :
"To a person who is possessed by the lust of power, even the most selfless,benevolent actions of others will appear as cunning moves, undertaken to gain power. Similarly, to a person who has a strong desire for fame, actions based on conviction and consideration will be seen as publicity stunts. Those who have become slaves of money simply cannot believe that there are people in the world who are strangers to the desire for wealth"
This philosopher is a strong propagator of "Human Revolution"; the need to change inner self. When this is achieved, we can then see the environment changes around us too. Perhaps, the MIWs needs a strong dose of "Human Revolution" if we were to see any progress in our environment.
I need not name this person, perhaps you may have already heard or read him.

Anonymous said...

Apologies. Should be philosopher, not philosophet !