David Saul Marshall

David Saul Marshall (né Mashal; 12 March 1908 – 12 December 1995) was a Singaporean barrister and statesman who served as the inaugural Chief Minister of Singapore from 1955 to 1956 and the Singapore Ambassador to France from 1978 to 1993. He resigned after just over a year at the helm after his delegation to London regarding negotiations for complete home rule and eventual independence of Singapore was initially rejected by the British. However, Marshall was nevertheless instrumental in forging the idea of sovereignty as well as in subsequent negotiations that led to its eventual self-governance from the United Kingdom in 1959.

While Marshall had a privileged upbringing, he was a left-wing nationalist who sought the self-determination of the former British Crown colony—having founded the Labour Front and the Workers' Party. From 1963 onward, he renounced partisan politics and became an independent politician for the rest of his life. Singapore eventually gained its complete independence in 1965 as a sovereign country – his foremost political goal coming to fruition.

In 1978, Marshall became a diplomat and was Singapore's inaugural ambassador to various countries, including France, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. During this time he defended Singapore's interests abroad, despite his old political opponent and fellow barrister Lee Kuan Yew (under the People's Action Party) having long led the government as prime minister. Nevertheless, he publicly maintained constructive criticism of some domestic policies with which he disagreed. Marshall retired in 1993, and died two years later in 1995, at the age of 87.

Early life

Background and ancestry

Marshall was born on Selegie Road in British-occupied Singapore as David Saul Mashal on 12 March 1908, the second child of seven to Baghdadi Jewish parents Saul Nassim and Flora Ezekiel Mashal. His father, Saul, arrived in Singapore in 1900 from Baghdad after being insipired by the Jewish Manasseh Meyer's own trips to Singapore. He had initially left his wife, Flora, in Baghdad when he moved to Singapore, setting up a business at Change Alley; Saul typically sold things from the Middle East and India.

His business did well financially, and he soon brought his wife over to Singapore. She was from a sadik family that was from Isfahan, Iran. Upon her arrival, they began their family; their firstborn, Rachel, would die young from a fever. Marshall was their second child, followed by his siblings George, Rose, Samuel, Meyer, and Reginald. In 1920, Marshall's family name, which was originally Mashal, was anglicised to Marshall on the advice of a family doctor; Saul's brother's family had already changed their's to Marshall as well, which was another reason why they changed to Marshall.

Marshall's father was described as a "tall, well-built man howas an unusual combination of business dynamism and a reticence." Additionally, Saul spoke English, Turkish, and Arabic. In later years, Saul and Flora would separate; Saul died in 1953 in Sydney, Australia, while Flora died in 1948 in Israel.

Early life, upbringing, and education

Marshall spent his early years moving frequently, depending on his father's fluctuating wealth. He was said to have moved from Selegie Road to Wilkie Road, then to houses in Katong, Marine Parade, Sea Avenue, and Chapel Road. In 1914, Marshall went with his mother, his brother George, and Chinese amah Ah See Kah to visit his mother's family and a doctor in Baghdad. However, this was during World War I, and the Turks placed them under house detention, especially after discovering that they had British passports. Marshall would be interned at six-years-old, but was able to attend kindergarten classes in Baghdad where he learnt Hebrew and Arabic. He and his family would return to Singapore in March 1917 following the British liberation of Baghdad.

His parents were " ultra-orthodox Jews", and Marshall was given a strict Jewish upbringing, frequently going to the synagogue and practicing the Sabbath. He learnt the Old Testament in Hebrew at the Maghain Aboth Synagogue and had his ''bar mitzvah'' when he was thirteen. His parents instilling judaism into him from a young age would shape his beliefs for the future. However, after an incident where he was expelled from Saint Joseph's Institution for skipping class due to Yom Kippur, Marshall would begin questioning and rebelling from his parent's beliefs. Upon his return to Singapore from Baghdad, Marshall would attend kindergarten at the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus at Victoria Street, where he would face anti-semitism.

After his time at the kindergarten, he studied at Saint Joseph's Institution in 1918 and was expelled just a year later. His mother would then convince Saint Andrew's Secondary School's principal to enrol him with them, which he began attending until reaching Standard VII. Afterwards, Marshall would be transferred to Raffles Institution in 1923 for their science facilities which Saint Andrew's did not have. He suffered from various illnesses as a teenager, including malaria and tuberculosis; he was treated for his malaria in Jakarta at fourteen and tuberculosis in Switzerland at sixteen. His initial goal was to obtain a Queen's Scholarship for a medical degree, for which he studied for fourteen hours a day over six months in 1925. However, the day before he was to sit for his examinations, Marshall fainted and was thus unable to take them. He was subsequently sent to Switzerland to recover from his "lung complaint", during which he spent his time taking French classes over the nine months he was there.

Upon his return to Singapore, Marshall began working at a stockbroker's firm in 1926, but he fell sick with tuberculosis and had to be sent to Switzerland again, where he studied German and French. He would recover eight months later, travelling to Renaix, Belgium, to study textile manufacturing. Around this time, Marshall would develop anti-colonial sentiments towards the British in Singapore. In 1927, when he returned back to Singapore from Europe, he would deliver a speech at the YMCA titled "Who Is Responsible for this Cesspool?", in response to a ''The Straits Times'' report that a British parliamentarian had described Singapore as a "pestilential and immoral cesspool". This led to Marshall being banned from public speaking by the Department of Education.

Marshall would travel overseas again before returning in 1930, during the Great Depression. He had unsuccessfully held down a job as a textile representative before joining N. V. Straits Java Trading Company, where he liquidated departments of the company. Following a salary cut due to the Depression, Marshall left N. V. Straits and worked as a salesman for Sternberg and Company. At Sternberg, he was an assistant for their passenger department and made , additionally holding French classes at YMCA for some extra money; Marshall wanted to pursue an overseas education. After making enough money, Marshall decided to study law in London, attending the University of London in September 1934; he had originally wanted to study medicine, but it was costly. To get his law degree and join the Bar at the same time, Marshall decided to register himself with Middle Temple and take his Bachelor of Laws at the University of London externally.

He would pass the Bar's finals, eighteen months after his arrival, with honours. Afterwards, Marshall wanted to return to Singapore to practice law, but he had to participate in eighteen month's worth of dinners (now known as qualifying sessions) with Middle Temple before he could be admitted with them. He met with Middle Temple's Under-Treasurer of the Inn to get exempted from the eighteen months, partly because he was poor and wanted to join the workforce, but was ultimately given an exemption of only six months. After a year with Middle Temple, Marshall returned to Singapore in February 1937, where he officially registered as an advocate and solicitor.

Law career and war service

Upon his return to Singapore in February 1937, he was called to the bar in February 1938. Marshall then joined law firm Rodyk & Davidson with a monthly salary of . However, he soon discovered that the chief clerk of Rodyk & Davison was being paid more than him, facing prejudice for being a local and thus receiving less than the chief clerk. Marshall subsequently applied to join Aitken & Ong Siang, a law firm co-founded by Sir Song Ong Siang, a prominent member of the Chinese community. With the help of his father, Marshall was eventually accepted by Song to join Aitken & Ong Siang in a special arrangement; he would be paid no salary and would pay for his own desk space, office supplies, and secretarial services. Despite this, in his first month, Marshall would make . From 1938 to 1939, he was involved in a few minor cases for Aitken & Ong Siang. To make himself further known in the local scene, he began taking criminal cases at the low cost of , eventually charging up to per case once he had become more well-known.

In October 1938, sensing that the Japanese might soon attack Southeast Asia, Marshall decided to volunteer with the British's Singapore Volunteer Corps (SVC), which was a branch of the larger Straits Settlements Volunteer Force (SSVF). The SVC had multiple companies, and Marshall was assigned to the "D" Company, a company composed mostly of Eurasians. This made him upset, as he was being grouped with the Eurasians despite being a Jew, and he complained to the commanding officer. Marshall was subsequently moved to the "B" Company, a European company that included Czechs, Yugoslavs, and Poles, but did not stop facing issues within the SVC. With "B" Company, Marshall found that he was receiving a lower salary as compared to his fellow European colleagues, earning daily, which was the "Asian" salary as opposed to the "European" salary, which was daily. After complaining to the commandant about this discrimination, he was confined to his barracks, but found that he was paid more daily.

During his training with the SVC, Marshall found that their schedule interfered heavily with his law career, and he was unable to continue his business with Aitken & Ong Siang; he had once gone away for two months to train in Telok Paku. He then applied to join Allen & Gledhill as an assistant as their schedule was more convenient for him, and he was hired with a monthly salary of , the highest at the time for a non-European. As he continued to train with "B" Company, Marshall would make acquaintances with William Goode, then a minor official, and they would train weekly with "B" Company at Beach Road. Following the possibility of the war affecting Singapore, by 1941, Marshall had sent his family to Perth, Australia, to avoid it, with only his mother staying in Singapore.

World War II and prisoner-of-war

In December 1941, Marshall was mobilised following the Japanese's bombing of Singapore. When he saw the first bombs from his camp in Geylang Serai, he and many others assumed the sirens going off were practice, as the street lights were still on. During that time, Singapore's support for the British was still high, but was diminished after learning that the ''Prince of Wales'' and ''Repulse'' had been sunk. Marshall's role at "B" Company was a runner, as he was said to have made noise like a "baby elephant" and would run through active bombing. On 15 February 1942, the day of the British's surrender to the Japanese, he had received the news that the British were surrendering and relayed it to the outlying sections. After the official surrender at 8:30 pm that day, Marshall, as part of the SSVF, was with a southern garrison that included the 1st and 2nd Malayan Infantry Brigades.

On 17 February, he was marched from Pierce Road to Changi Prison as a prisoner-of-war (POW). They travelled in groups of eight to prevent any revolting, but were made to carry their equipment on the way there. While heading to Changi, Marshall ran out of energy and could not proceed further. His commanding officer then took his equipment and left without him, leaving him by the roadside while using a jeep to head the rest of the way to Changi. Marshall eventually made it after an Australian vehicle picked him up. At Changi, the POWs such as him frequently suffered from a lack of food, water, shelter, and blankets; after only a few months there, Marshall dropped from to . His food was typically rice with boll weevils.

After fifteen months at Changi, Marshall was transferred to a camp at Serangoon Road Race Course, which only had around 3,000 POWs, as compared to Changi's 30,000. He spent his time labouring by cutting grass for the Japaneses' horses. In August 1942, the Japanese began distributing POWs to camps in Japan and Taiwan with "proper amenities", while others were sent to Burma and Siam to work on the Death Railway. In May 1943, Marshall was apart of 2,000 POWs drafted to Japan. It took three weeks to reach Honshu by boat, with stops at Saigon and Taiwan, and when they reached they were told that their's was the first with no deaths. Marshall was then sent to Hakodate, Hokkaido, by train to an industrial camp. This camp's conditions were poor, and they were subsequently moved to Yakumo, then to Muroran, and lastly to Nisi-Asibetsu.

At Nisi-Asibetsu, they were to work at the coal mines for the Japanese. However, Marshall had grown too weak by then to mine, so he instead was part of a pick and shovel group. They mainly cleared land for airfields and moved iron delivered from Manchuria using trucks. By 1944, the Japanese were beginning to lose the war, and Marshall learnt of it through a Chinese POW who could read Japanese that told them after he read some Japanese papers in the colonel's office. Following this, he and his camp began receiving food and supplies from Red Cross parcels and American planes. Soon after, Marshall was flown to Okinawa and then to Manila to be debriefed with his fellow POWs. They were to give statements of their conditions during the war, and during his interview he requested repatriation to Perth to visit his family. The American officials agreed, and Marshall was sent to Sydney before taking a train to Perth. By then, he had only weighed . He would stay with his family briefly before moving back to Singapore in February 1946.

Reflecting later on his experience as a POW, Marshall commented:

Post-World War II

Marshall returned to Singapore in February 1946, shortly before the British Military Administration (BMA) ceased on 1 April. He found that his original home had been destroyed and looted during the war. Despite widespread unemployment and struggles under the BMA, he was able to easily rejoin Allen & Gledhill as the legal business was performing well in the aftermath of the war. Right after he joined Allen & Gledhill, his friend Gerald de Cruz recruited him to join the Malayan Democratic Union (MDU), a political party that aimed for internal self-governance and public reforms. De Cruz assumed that Marshall would join without delay, but he rejected him as he needed time to rebuild himself after the war.

Despite not being active in politics with the MDU, Marshall began getting involved with the Jewish Singaporean community shortly after the war, setting up a Jewish organisation, the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB), which focused on Jewish interests and issues. Marshall served as its first president on 27 June 1946, being reelected as its president over the next six years. JWB would create an old folk's home at Waterloo Street and a Transient's Committee to aid Jewish immigrants travelling through Singapore. With JWB, Marshall remained unaffiliated with politics; he tend to receive visiting Israeli officials, but would remain non-partisan.

Outside of the JWB, Marshall was involved with other causes. Following the BMA's choice to not recognise the Japanese government's " banana currency", many who had saved up this type of money were practically poor in post-Japanese occupation Singapore. This included many members of the SVC, who were now waiting for the payments from their salaries by the British, as it was interrupted during the Japanese occupation, along with the return of their properties. In March 1946, the British announced that it would pay back members of the British government and army up to per person, for the period of their internment during the war in Malaya. This upset those who had not been interned, mostly consisting of Asians, and the fact that locals were paid less than European POWs, which raised issues on racial discrimination.

Following this, Marshall was a part of a group of POWs who were against this scheme, and they subsequently founded the War Prisoners' (Singapore) Association (WPA) on 24 April 1946, with Marshall serving as the honorary secretary. The WPA included POWs, internees, political prisoners, and civilian prisoners, with their main goals focusing on the compensation of people affected by the war. As the WPA's secretary, Marshall found himself acting as the main spokesperson for them, and he typically commented critically on the colonial government. The demographic makeup of WPA had a majority of Europeans, which caused Marshall to be accused of working for European interests, although most of the Europeans members were poor and the WPA also focused on affected Chinese, Eurasian, and Indian POWs.

In August 1946, the Secretary of State for the Colonies George Hall stated that they would be repudiating civil liability claims made by SVC volunteers. The WPA responded by informing the Governor of Singapore Franklin Gimson in November that the liability claims were still in force as they had not been repealed, and asked Gimson to set up a tribunal. Marshall stated in an interview with ''The Straits Times'' that Gimson was talking to the Attorney-General John Davies, but that "we have not heard from the Governor since then ut wereawaiting his promised communication." In March 1947, he sent a letter on behalf of the WPA to the Secretary of State for the Colonies Arthur Creech Jones, writing: "I must be forgiven if I sometimes gather the impression that there is no government in this colony, only a bureaucracy of lazy clerks."

From the late 1940s to early 1950s, Marshall's law career would prove to be successful, and he would become well known as a prominent lawyer. In January 1950, he decided that he wanted to fufil his original plan to study medicine, and went to the University of Sydney in Australia after getting a correspondence from them; at that point, he was a partner with Allen & Gledhill. After reaching Australia, he travelled to Perth first to see his family, where he met a psychiatrist who worked at the Royal Perth Hospital called White. Marshall asked White for advice as he wanted to study psychiatry, and was given some books about the concept of time by him to read. After reading the books, Marshall could not understand the concepts presented in psychiatry, and decided that he was to return to his law career in Singapore. He had received a letter by Ramsay Wilson of Battenberg and Talma while in Australia, and returned to Singapore as a junior partner with their firm on 26 January 1950.

He became a successful and prominent criminal lawyer. Known for his sharp eloquence and imposing stance, Marshall claimed that he had secured 99 acquittals out of 100 cases he defended for murder during Singapore's period of having trial by jury. When Lee Kuan Yew later abolished Singapore's jury system (1969), he cited Marshall's record as an illustration of its "inadequacy".

Political career

Chief Minister and MP

In April 1955, Marshall led the left-wing Labour Front to a narrow victory in Singapore's first Legislative Assembly elections. He formed a minority government and became Chief Minister. He resigned in April 1956 after a failed delegation to London to negotiate for complete self-rule.

After resigning, Marshall visited China for two months at the invitation of Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Premier. Contacted by a representative of a group of over 400 Russian Jews who were being refused exit from Shanghai by the Chinese authorities, Marshall spoke with Zhou and managed to have them released.

After returning from China, Marshall stayed on the backbenches before quitting the Labour Front and as a member of the Legislative Assembly in 1957. On 7 November 1957, he founded the Workers' Party of Singapore (WP), which has remained one of the major political parties in Singapore, just after the PAP.

Marshall lost his seat in Cairnhill Single Member Constituency to Lim Yew Hock, the Chief Minister, in the 1959 general election as a WP candidate, but won in Anson Single Member Constituency in the 1961 by-election. He resigned from the Workers' Party in January 1963 after a spat with some members of the party.

After losing his seat again in the 1963 general election as an independent candidate, he decided to return to practice law but would remain active in politics, offering his opinions and viewpoints.

Diplomat

From 1978 to 1993, at the invitation of Foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam, Marshall served as first Singapore Ambassador to France, concurrently for Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland from 1978 to 1993. As ambassador, Marshall always defended Singapore's interests, despite his differences with Lee Kuan Yew's government. He retired from the diplomatic corps in 1993 after 15 years of service.

Views on Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP

While Marshall consistently praised Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP government for developing Singapore along with its economic prosperity, he also condemned the government for limiting freedom of speech and public freedoms. "We should keep in mind the horrors of hina'sCultural Revolution, brought about by the cult of subservience to authority and primacy of society over the individual before we point the accusing finger at those who believe that respect for the individual is the basis of human civilisation", he said.

Personal life

Marshall married Jean Mary Gray in 1961, an Englishwoman. Jean was born on 13 April 1926 in Kent, South East England, and came to Singapore in 1953 to take up a post with the Singapore Red Cross Society as a medical social worker. They had four children and six grandchildren. Marshall died in 1995 of lung cancer. He was 87.

Jean Marshall died in Singapore on 29 March 2021, at age 94.

He was recognised with the following honours:
*1965: Dato Kurnia Johan Pahlawan, conferred by the sultan of Pahang.
*1978: Legion of Honour, France.

Legacy

Marshall has been considered by some Singaporeans as being one of the founding fathers of Singapore. A life-size cutout of him is present at the National Museum of Singapore's Singapore History Gallery, along with some of his favourite iconic smoking pipes that were donated to the museum by his wife which accompanied him wherever he went, as well as other items such as his campaign cards.

He is also well-regarded by lawyers in Singapore. In recognition of his impeccable service, he was appointed as an Honorary Member and Fellow of the Academy of Law in 1992 by the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL), and the David Marshall Professorship in Law was set up in 1995 by the National University of Singapore (NUS). In 2007, the Singapore Management University's School of Law (SMU Law) introduced the David Marshall Prize for the top student in criminal law. In 2017, the Yale-NUS College introduced the David Marshall Scholarship for double degree law students. There is also the David Marshall Scholarship by the School of the Arts, Singapore (SOTA), which are awarded to SOTA students who demonstrate artistic talents and excellent academic standing, as well as maintain excellent conduct and participate actively in school events.

Due to his love of art, Marshall had commissioned and gifted the Botanic Gardens with three bronze statues: ''Girl on a Swing'' (1984), ''Girl on a Bicycle'' (1987), and ''Lady on A Hammock'' (1989) by the British sculptor Sydney Harpley. Through these sculptures, he wanted to inspire the people of Singapore, to smile and feel the excitement and joy of living.

In 2011, the Marshall estate donated a bust of Marshall created by Hungarian sculptor Peter Lambda to the SMU Law's moot court, which is named after Marshall. His widow Jean expressed the hope that the tribute would inspire all law students at SMU to pursue the qualities of passion, diligence, courage and integrity that had distinguished her late husband's remarkable achievements.

See also

* History of the Jews in Singapore

References

Citations

Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, David Saul
1908 births
1995 deaths
20th-century Singaporean lawyers
Alumni of the University of London
Ambassadors of Singapore to France
Ambassadors of Singapore to Portugal
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Ambassadors of Singapore to Switzerland
Deaths from lung cancer in Singapore
Jewish Singaporean politicians
Jewish socialists
Labour Front politicians
Members of the Middle Temple
Members of the Parliament of Singapore
Raffles Institution alumni
Saint Andrew's School, Singapore alumni
Singaporean Jews
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20th-century Singaporean politicians
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