David Marshall

Today morning while at the Marine Parade library I stumbled onto a beautiful exhibition on David Marshall. David Marshall was a prominent Singapore criminal lawyer and politician. He lived a long and illustrious life in which he served as a diplomat, criminal lawyer and time in Japanese captivity as a prisoner of war. The exhibition was particularly moving as it provided an intimate insight into the man with both words and old B&W photography from the time he was a little boy and all the way up to his death. Some of the fascinating things I discovered about him was that:

1. He was considered an "Asian" by the European rulers and therefore given half the pay for work he did with the colonial powers. He stood up to them and successfully fought for equal pay.

2. He had a difficult start to his legal career. None of the English firms would hire him. Through his father's contacts he eventually landed a job with a small local firm run by one of his father's friends who was also a very influential local man.

3. He took whatever work that came his way. He did not start his career in criminal law. But whatever work he did he did it with exceptional pride and excellence. As such he won the respect of his peers in the bar. He used to go to bed at 8pm at night and wake up at 2am in the morning to prepare for the case to be heard that day at 10am. His dedication and hardwork was renowned.

4. He had various health problems throughout his life. Towards the end of his life his eyesight was very bad and he had great difficulty reading cases. But yet Drew & Napier allowed him to serve as a consultant as they felt he was a shining role model for the younger lawyers and had a depth of experience and wisdom to impart.

5. He also worked at Allen & Gledhill and at one point started his own law firm. His career was also interrupted by the war and when he was captured and made to do menial work in captivity he suffered deeply. Some of his friends died in captivity and he was reduced to a mere 53kg.

6. He married at 53 years old after spotting a beautiful woman in her graduation attire at the University.

The above tapestry of personal facts struck me. I always thought that David Marshall had a privileged life and like many white men had privileged opportunities that were denied to others. In fact it was apparent from the exhibition that this was far from the truth. David had to overcome many struggles in his life and had faced many many obstacles. Yet he fought courageously and stayed true to his ideals and his legal profession. I guess there is inspiration all around us if we care to look up and around us.