3 - Searching for a Place in the Sun: 1927–1934

Summary

WITH THE LABOURING MASSES

David arrived back in Singapore in 1926. By this time, his father's business had recovered and was thriving. Overall, Singapore's economy was flourishing. The price of tin rose to its peak in 1926 and 1927 and huge fortunes in commodities — mainly tin and rubber — were made overnight. One of the most remarkable businessmen of that era was Tan Kah Kee, nicknamed the Henry Ford of Malaya, who made $8 million in 1925 alone. Others made spectacular fortunes as well, though perhaps not on the scale of Tan's. Among these were Lee Kong Chian (Tan's son-in-law and a great entrepreneur in his own right), Tay Koh Yat, Aw Boon Haw, and Tan Lark Sye.

The Marshall family was still living at Bluebell Cottage at 1D Sea Avenue. Gerald de Cruz, who would later work for David in the Labour Front, lived nearby. He was taken to the cottage one day after being knocked unconscious by a coconut that David's two brothers, Sonny and Meyer, had been throwing at each other on Katong Beach. This visit to the Marshall household sparked a friendship that would last a lifetime.

Having lost the opportunity to win the Queen's Scholarship and being now eighteen years old, David decided that he had to work hard and save up enough for his university education. His first job was in a stockbroking firm, E.A. Brown & Company, where he worked hard and was apparently very successful. Unfortunately, David has said very little about this period except that he was successful but that his health suffered as a consequence. He had a relapse of his tuberculosis. By 1928, he was back in Switzerland — in Obersee, Arosa — to recuperate. This time, he spent eight months in recovery, spending his spare time reading French literature.

When he recovered, David went to Brussels, where he attended the Ecole Pigier, obtaining a typewriting certificate in May 1929. Not content with that, David then learnt the French system of Prevost- Delaunay shorthand to complement the Pitman shorthand he had already mastered in Singapore. He began writing his diaries in English that was encoded in Prevost-Delaunay shorthand, figuring that there were very few English-speaking people who knew the French system. In retrospect, it was a bad idea. David mixed up the French and Pitman systems and “the whole thing was a jumble”.