The People’s Action Party Awards and Convention honours PAP members who have served the Party and fellow Singaporeans with distinction. Petir profiles some of these exemplary members.
AS AN active PAP member for the past 38 years, Comrade Gopala Krishnan (“Gopal” to his friends), 74, has helped make life better for his fellow Nee Soon residents. Any given week, his work on the ground might include helping at Meet-the-People Sessions, mediating neighbour disputes, explaining policies, or training new PAP activists for the decades ahead.
Comrade Gopal received the Dedicated Service Award for his contributions at the PAP Awards and Convention 2025.
He has vivid childhood memories of seeing Lee Kuan Yew first-hand regularly at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Changi base. This was when Mr Lee informally negotiated with British colonialists for Singapore’s self-governance.
“My generation, we went through crisis. We saw racial riots, the Indonesian Konfrontasi and their bombs, we saw colonial masters demarcating the civilians and the Europeans,” Comrade Gopal told Petir. “As a young boy at RAF Changi, where Changi City Point is now, I would see Lee Kuan Yew, in his younger days, coming over after giving his talks. He, his wife and children accompanied him to play golf with our colonial masters.”
“And I saw him talking to the colonialists while golfing. ‘Give me independence as soon as possible! Self-governance.’ That transformed me.”
“He’d go to the big fence [at the RAF Changi base] to come and talk to us. Saying ‘I know how you all feel.’,” continued Comrade Gopal about his formative encounters with Mr Lee. “He had the nation in mind. Looking at our wide eyes, he’d say ‘Your aspirations will be fulfilled!’ That he wants to turn Singapore into a great nation.’
Racial riots and building a multicultural Singapore
With identity politics in the news in Singapore lately, Comrade Gopal had important experiences to share about the racial riots of the past.
“During the racial riots there was a lot of misunderstanding. You go outside onto the road, you feel somebody’s going to attack you,” he recalled. “The fear was a fact of life.”
“Even if you’re Indian, you are still caught in the crossfire. I can be Indian-Muslim, called Mahmoud, called Abdullah. Or the rioters may think that we are close to some Malay or some Chinese, because of kampong life [where everyone knows one another],” he continued. “We had Malay friends, and we told them to come over to our place to be protected.”
Comrade Gopal, who is also a trained mediator, credits the PAP for taking long-term efforts to build bridges between ethnic groups, turning Singapore into a successful multicultural society.
“Our multiracialism has worked very well as envisioned by our first Prime Minister. It’s not an easy thing,” he said. “And I must tell you that PAP has done a good job, that we evolved eventually. We can reinforce more of this, for youngsters to see Singapore’s journey; how we developed.”
“We have to be careful still,” he warned. “There are people who will take advantage; use race and religion in politics.”
