By JEFFREY LOW ST Sports 25.6.2003
OBITUARY
Pala, the tireless visionary
FEW outside football knew it, but it was R. Palakrishnan who started the Goal 2010 ball rolling, a personal dream that became a national aspiration.
In 1988, when he mooted the idea of Singapore reaching the World Cup Finals, the immediate reaction was: 'Don't be ridiculous, you must be dreaming'.
'Precisely,' he said. 'What is life without hopes, aspirations and dreams? It will be empty.'
Today, the emptiness that is being felt in the football fraternity is like a deafening silence, a numbing sense of the loss of an irrepressible man who knew not the meaning of stopping, defeat - or sleep.
Lawyer 'Pala', 60, died of a heart attack in Melbourne yesterday morning.
The Football Association of Singapore vice-president leaves behind his wife Deby Sarojiny, 60, Tan Tock Seng Hospital's care and counselling manager, daughters Shoba, 28, a lawyer in England; and Rathi, 27, a United Nations staff member stationed in Rwanda, Africa; and son Sanjay, 22, a law undergraduate at the University of Melbourne.
According to his close friend, sprint legend C. Kunalan, 60 - at whose wedding Pala was the best man - he was in Brisbane for a law meeting over the weekend and then stayed with Sanjay in Melbourne. Said Kunalan: 'Last night, he complained of chest pains and told Sanjay to call an ambulance. He died on the way to hospital, in the arms of Sanjay.'
As Kunalan, his wife Yoong Yin and relatives helped out at Pala's home in Jalan Tua Kong, no one was certain when his body would return to Singapore.
Said Kunalan: 'Because he was a foreigner, the Australian authorities will be conducting a post-mortem first. It might take a few days, but the Law Society and their Australian counterparts are working to expedite matters. Shoba and Rathi are also flying home now.'
Kunalan was almost in tears as he spoke about the good friend he first met when they were school teachers: 'He was a 400-metre runner for Gan Eng Seng School and, when he joined the Teachers' Training College, we were in the same relay team.
'After teaching for awhile at Dunearn Technical, he left in 1967 to read law.
'He was also a good marathon runner. There was this 20-mile race in 1964 from Nanyang University to Singapore University for the undergrads of Nanyang, Singapore U, Polytechnic and TTC, and he finished first.
'He was also a speedy winger for the Singapore Teachers' Union football team, a recreational hockey player and a 400m hurdler. He was not a champion in races but a champion in spirit. He was meticulous. Everything had to be well-planned and arranged.
'He would work till way past midnight, because work was uplifting to him. People say he worked too hard.
'But time was nothing to Pala. He'd work so madly, the next day he would be up early, put on his tie and go to court looking forward to more work - free of charge to the poor.
'Every year, at our wedding anniversary dinner, he would be the guest of honour. Last year, he hosted it, right here in his patio.'
His work ethic was not lost on Goal 2010 director Jan Poulsen, who said: 'Just last week, we held a 2010 review and Pala was still going great guns. He was the 2010 driving force; his passion for youngsters is unquestioned.
'To see a volunteer work so hard like a full-time professional is inspiring and this is a big loss to Singapore football.'
Added FAS marketing director Winston Lee: 'Such was Pala's passion that he rang me from Australia on Sunday, after midnight, to say he would dedicate more time for our mini football scheme for kids. He told me, 'We have to make this a success, I'll see you on Wednesday'. '
Without the fast-walking, fast-smoking and fast-talking Pala and his vision, it is an empty Wednesday today - and beyond.
Tan Choong Yan, Ex-Principal of Dunearn Secondary Technical School
Passed away on 28 Oct 2002
At the age of 73 Year Old.
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