His compassion for the poor and workers remembered by those at Ho See Beng's wake
By
Goh Chin Lian
MM Lee pays his last respects. In his condolence letter, the Minister Mentor described Mr Ho as a staunch and loyal trade union leader. -- ST PHOTOS: ALBERT SIM
Often, Mr Ho Cheow Teck would catch his dad rummaging through his pile of books and those of his siblings.
'He would ask us: 'Do you have any to give away?'
'He wanted them for the poor families in his constituency,' the 63-year-old recalled at the wake of his father, a member of the first generation of People's Action Party (PAP) MPs who helped secure Singapore's future.
'Because of his poor background, he always had a very deep empathy for the less privileged, and always went the extra mile to help them.'
Mr Ho See Beng was the son of a trishaw rider and a washerwoman and had to quit school at 17 after his father died.
His compassion for the poor and the ferocity with which he fought for the rights of workers and their welfare were hailed by many who visited his home in Katong yesterday.
Mr Ho, 90, died on Friday night, after pneumonia led to failure of his organs.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who was responsible for bringing him into the PAP, described him, in his condolence letter, as 'a staunch and loyal trade union leader and a man of principle and courage'.
Mr Lee was among eight ministers who came to pay their last respects. Others included Deputy Prime Minister S.Jayakumar and Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong, as well as labour chief Lim Swee Say and his predecessor, Mr Lim Boon Heng.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who spent more than half an hour with family members recalling Mr Ho's contributions to Singapore, said he was 'committed to improving the lot of workers and the plight of marginalised groups'.
In his condolence letter, PM Lee said Mr Ho 'spoke up on the need to help pirate taxi drivers find legitimate employment'.
'This paved the way for Comfort to be set up a few years later,' he added. The NTUC cooperative was formed in 1970.
Mr Ho, the National Trades Union Congress' first president, was an MP for about 20 years, from 1963, serving in Bras Basah and later Khe Bong, a ward with many one-room Housing Board flats.
Said his youngest child, Madam Ho Geok Choo: 'From him, I have learnt many values - love, compassion, going the extra mile for the needy and underdog.'
The 52-year-old is now an MP for West Coast GRC. Last night, grassroots leaders from her Boon Lay ward arrived in two packed chartered buses.
One of the earliest at the wake was former MP Lai Tha Chai, who had known Mr Ho for more than 40 years.
Mr Lai, 72, told reporters in Mandarin: 'Although his education level was not high, he demonstrated the character of the intelligentsia: integrity, honesty and foresight.' He did not go beyond a secondary education.
Mr Peter Lim, 70, a former editor-in-chief at Singapore Press Holdings who knew Mr Ho as a colleague and fellow unionist in the 1960s, said his biggest contribution to NTUC was that he was one of Mr Devan Nair's most trusted lieutenants, 'during a time when Devan was struggling very hard to build up a trade union movement to rival Satu'.
The then-powerful Singapore Association of Trade Unions was linked to the communist-influenced Barisan Sosialis.
Mr Ho is survived by his wife, Madam Lee Beng Kiow, 86, five children, 11 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
His son Cheow Teck, who runs an investment holding company and is the Honorary Consul of Morocco to Singapore, said his father had been ill for the past year.
But he was still very particular about his routines, taking two baths a day - one at 8am and another at 6pm.
'My father had a routine that helped his quality of life,' he said.
The funeral service for Mr Ho will be held on Thursday, at 1.30pm, at St Andrew's Cathedral. He will be cremated at Mandai Crematorium.
