Kartar Singh Dalamnangal
Inaugural Excellence Award For Social Welfare Service
The story of the late Mr Kartar Singh Dalamnangal is fraught with a number of perilous occasions.
Like any outstanding individual worth his or her salt, Kartar always prevailed in the end.
At the young age of just eight years, his mother made the difficult decision of sending him to Singapore with his uncle in the hope that he would get an education and make a better life for himself. She bet on his prospects and future being better in Singapore than if he stayed on to become a farmer in Dalamnangal, a small village in north-western Punjab. His hopes of attending school were quickly dashed when, shortly after arriving in Singapore, his aunt fell ill and was incapacitated until the time of her death.
As his uncle had to work full time to support the family, Kartar took over the responsibility of caring for his two younger cousins. The lack of a formal education did little to dampen the spirits of the young Kartar, as his later life would attest.
In 1942, Kartar was only 17 years old when the Japanese occupied Singapore during World War Two. His wife, Bibi Mendro recalled that her bold and bright husband started serving the tea her mother made to the Japanese. Eventually, he found favour with them and got a permanent position as a ‘coffee boy’ for a Japanese trading firm.
He was then given a promotion with an assignment to start providing labourers for the construction of the Jurong shipyard. It was here that Kartar first displayed his business acumen — while the other suppliers were only paying labourers on a monthly basis, Kartar paid them ona daily basis. It is no surprise then that he became the agent of choice for many of the labourers and this just at the fresh young age of 20 years. In ashort period of time, he became responsible for a few hundred workers.
Unfortunately, after the surrender of the Japanese, all the money he had prudently acquired during the war was worth nothing. Before long, however, Kartar bounced back from this tragedy and
never look back.
Throughout all the ups and downs in Kartar’s life, the one unshakeable constant would undoubtedly be his staunch faith in God.
Bibi Mendro attested that, from the onset, for every S$100 they made selling refurbished furniture, S$25 would be set aside to be donated to needy individuals.
Kartar was truly a selfless man who lived his life in the service of others. There are stories abound of the numerous times that he benevolently gave freely so that others would have a roof over their heads. The moniker he earned of jarabanwala (the stocking man) immediately conjures the image of his humble all-white attire, complete of course with the knee-high socks, which was essentially the uniform of a British Admiral. His family shared that the success in the form of wealth he had achieved personally “was never as important to him as the good that he could do with it.”