First thing first, what does the N in N Gunalan  stand for?

I am a Tamil. So in the nomenclature of Tamil names, sometimes we use the initial of our father’s name. So N is the first letter of my father’s name, Nallathamby.

Back then when you registered the birth of a child, it was common for misspellings to happen. It was all dependent on how the clerk wrote it.

In my family, all my siblings were named differently. I am the only one in the family whose name is truncated as N Gunalan. My brothers’ names include s/o Nallathamby, and in my sister’s case, Nallathamby comes before her first name.

So officially, your name should have been Gunalan s/o …

Well, yes. S/O is short for son of and d/o is short for daughter of.

But these days, most people drop the s/o and d/o.

So for my kids, I have sort of cleared this up. (laugh)

They use their given names and then Gunalan. So my name is the de facto surname.

But the negative aspect of it is that my grandchildren will not bear my name. You lose it after one generation. I am trying to see if my sons will keep my name for their children.

What does Gunalan mean?

Guna means virtue, so Gunalan is one with good virtues. It’s from Sanskrit so you will find similar meanings in other Indian languages and even Indonesian.

Tell me about your childhood.

My parents have seven children and I’m the sixth in the family. Five boys and two girls.

Those days, many families had 10 kids or more so we were considered average.

My oldest brother was born in 1951 and my youngest brother was born in 1970. There is a 19-year age gap between the first and seventh child.

It was actually quite nice because the older siblings could help to look after the younger ones. I have a sister who is 10 years older than me so she was almost like a mom to me when my parents were not around.

We were poor and my dad was the only one working.

What did he do?

He worked for the then environment ministry and his job was to go around spraying insecticide in drains to prevent mosquito breeding. He was a daily-rated worker.

He started his day very early, around fiveish in the morning. I hardly saw him. He went about on his bicycle, with all the insecticide, tanks and sprayers. On most days, he would be done around lunch time.

To supplement his income, he did part-time gardening jobs. He would go to bungalows and help to water the plants.

When I was in secondary school, my brother and I would help him with his work occasionally.

My dad was the silent type who did not always express himself. But we knew he was working hard for the family.

And your mom stayed at home?

That’s right. She stayed home and looked after all of us.

Where did you grow up?

District 3. My childhood house was where the Delta Swimming Complex is now. Roughly between Redhill MRT station and a park along Henderson Road.

The whole piece of land in that area used to be the quarters for those employed by the environment ministry.

My father was given subsidised housing. I think it was a two-room unit.

I was born there and I lived there till I was 10.

The family moved when you were 10?

That’s correct, to a new HDB flat in Henderson Road. I lived there till I was about 21. So the first two decades of my life were in the Alexandra-Henderson area.

When my mom passed away in 1990 and when my third brother got married, we moved again, this time to Bukit Batok.

I moved quite often but I always stayed with one of my siblings.

It must have been a big struggle for all of you.

With seven kids and the entire family surviving on dad’s income, we were very poor. I think dad also had to borrow money.

It was very difficult but I was too young to remember all the details. I know that it was a hand-to-mouth kind of existence.

Being one of the younger kids, were you somewhat cushioned from it? Did things get better?

By the time I was in primary school, my eldest brother and older sister had already started working.

In my family, only my second brother and I had university education.

My father spent quite a bit of money putting my second brother through university.

What was your primary school?

Bukit Merah South School which no longer exists. It merged with Bukit Merah North and Redhill to become Bukit Merah Primary in 1986.

And secondary school?

I went to Victoria School (VS) when it was still at Tyrwhitt Road. We had a beautiful building.

For JC (junior college), I went to RJC (Raffles Junior College). I was in the pioneer batch of RJC, in 1982.

Hang on, why Victoria in the first place?

When I was in primary six, maybe because I was mature and independent, I made all the decisions by myself.

I wasn’t sure if I could qualify for RI (Raffles Institution).

RI would have been the dream school for you?

Correct.

In the end, I chose Victoria, a school I was confident of getting into.

It was very frustrating because in the end, I found out that some guys who did worse than me in school managed to get into RI. (laugh)

Do you think your life would have been very different if you had gone to RI?

My life would have been very different. For a start, RI was then at Grange Road, which was quite near my house. In terms of academic excellence and prestige, RI was certainly better known.

And naturally, I would have then gone on to RJC.

But you did go to RJC?

I did but I never really gelled with the rest because most of them were from RI and RGS (Raffles Girls’ School). Those from Raffles had already formed their cliques.

You didn’t really fit in?

That’s right. Even today. Many of us went to NUS and I got to know them quite well. Although we still meet up, I know I am not really a part of that group.

Isn’t it fascinating that which school you went to still makes a huge difference? But of course those who went to the same secondary school and JC have a longer friendship.

Many of these friendships continued in NUS (National University of Singapore) as well.

Of course I also ended up making new friends, just not so many from the RI/RJC cliques.

You have to remember that JC was only two years, which was really short. By the time we made new friends, we were close to done and heading off to NS (National Service) or university.

My heart is still with Victoria.

But you weren’t miserable at RJC right?

I wasn’t but I did wish I had more friends. There were additional issues because VS was an all-boys school.

Suddenly there were girls in the picture and some of us from all-boys schools just didn’t know how to deal with it.

Although they were the same age as us, the girls looked like our older sisters because they were more mature.

I want to ask about NS, obviously an important part of every male Singaporean.

For medical reasons, I was PES E (Physical Employment Standard) so I did not have to do BMT (Basic Military Training).

I was in an office environment in CMPB (Central Manpower Base), Dempsey Road. I started out in the pay department, basically clerical work.

Can I ask what was the medical concern?

I had mitral valve prolapse (MVP), a heart valve condition in which the flaps are enlarged and don’t close properly when the blood flows.

Does the condition affect you now?

Well, it hasn’t and I am still alive.

But back then, the authorities were very cautious.

Were you envious of people who went to BMT?

No! Ha ha ha ha. (laugh)

Very honest answer. (laugh)

Yes. (laugh) But my NS days were still fun.

Like your brother, you also did political science in university?

That’s right. I did political science, geography and sociology at NUS.

Did you choose your majors and minors based on what you hoped to do after graduation?

No. Although I did geography, my focus was really on political science. I thought maybe I could get into MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

I had wanted to do law but my grades were not good enough.

Why did you want to be a lawyer?

Prestige is one thing. I guess it was the best job other than being a doctor. I thought I possessed the language skills and could make good use of that if I got into law.

But nobody was there to guide me or to mentor me in my studies or career choice. It was the same when I was in primary and secondary school.

Your teachers did not help?

Not really, and I don’t know why. I figured things out myself. I don’t know if there were advisors available or perhaps because I wasn’t one of the top students, they left me alone.

I did not know anything about Cambridge, Oxford or the Ivy League colleges.

If I had known all the options, and if I could have afforded the tuition, maybe I could have gone on to do something very different in my life.

But you are saying all these not because you have any regrets right?

Not regrets but I do wonder. I know that my life would have been very different if someone had been there to guide me, to tell me what was important, and what I needed to focus on.

Perhaps I could have gotten scholarships and gone to better universities.

What about the rest of your siblings?

They started working early in their lives to help support the family. Things improved but we were still struggling.

However, it also meant that I learned a lot of good things like being frugal and responsible.

I worked during most of the term breaks and pretty much paid my own way through university.

You had mentioned part-time jobs while being a student. What did you do?

During the breaks, I gave tuition and conducted door-to-door surveys. I also worked in retail shops, selling trinkets.

What happened after you graduated?

At that point in time, it was important to just get a job immediately. So many of us just filled in an application form to become a civil servant. We didn’t have much control over where we would be posted or what we would be doing.

Enough to say that my first job lasted two months. I hated the job, knew that it wasn’t what I wanted so I quit without a job.

Why was it important to get a job immediately?

Because I didn’t have the luxury of rich parents. My parents had been struggling to feed all of us. The last thing I wanted to do was to burden them further.

Most of my siblings were already married with their own children.

So I applied to Mediacorp to be a broadcast journalist or current affairs producer. I was offered both jobs.

Would it be accurate to say that this was the first time in your life that you really knew what you wanted to do?

When the opportunity presented itself, I knew that actually I must be good enough to be offered the position.

Most of your jobs are in the journalism area?

Journalism, PR, and government. Not to mention running my own business.

You were also at The Straits Times?

That was after completing my master’s in the UK on a scholarship. I was at The Straits Times (ST) Foreign Desk from 1996 to 1999.

It was fun studying in London but towards the end of the programme, I had to start worrying about getting a job.

Once again, I had two job offers.

One was to join ST which meant that I got to continue in journalism. I had already done broadcast journalism, so print would be a new challenge.

The other offer was in academia. After my master’s, I thought it might be a good idea to pursue a PhD. I actually received an offer from RSIS (S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies), where the late President Nathan was the dean.

I had an interview with him, and he was a really nice man. Throughout the entire meeting, he did not discuss anything about the job. He was more interested to find out more about my parents and family.

Any regrets about not getting a PhD?

No lah. I don’t think my life would have been as exciting being an academic.

Let’s talk about your years at ST.

Not being bonded was a big factor why I didn’t pick the other job. Journalism was a bit more attractive, not to mention that this time, it would be in print, something I had not done before.

Being in the Foreign Desk also meant an opportunity to be posted to one of its overseas bureaus. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.

Eventually, I resigned to join MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore).

Why MAS?

By then I was getting a little jaded with journalism. After all, I had done broadcast, radio and print. I thought it might be a good time to give myself a new challenge and switch to PR.

At MAS, I worked in the international affairs division.

I ended up working on the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Japan and New Zealand. It was a good experience working with officers from other ministries. It was also interesting to see how negotiations were done.

It sounds like you have a close-knit family.

I would say yes. My older siblings are now in their 70s but we are still close. Except for one brother, all of us are in Singapore. We meet quite regularly.

Where does this spirit come from? Did your parents hold the family together?

We grew up together and that matters. The good values were inculcated in us, though not necessarily in a very formal way.

Also, we lived with other large families in the quarters, and that certainly helped to reinforce that thinking.

In Asian families, a mom is usually the one who brings everyone together.
My mom stayed home most of her life and when we came back from school, there was also someone home and there was always food. That was very important. There was no such thing as a latchkey kid, unlike now. I think for that reason, we all wanted to come home.

When my mom passed away, the ties started unravelling a bit but my siblings and I managed to remain close.

How did you meet your wife?

We were working in the same industry.

Can I ask you about interracial marriage?

It is difficult. But it is getting more common. In our case, only my dad had to deal with it because mom had passed away.

We are all in Singapore and being Singaporeans binds all of us together.

Singaporeans, even of different races, have a lot of commonalities.

But there were objections from your families?

Yes, I would say on both sides.

How did both of you win them over?

After a while, time heals everything. In the end, things fell into place.

My wife is good because she is extroverted so she gets along with my brothers and sisters.

My family is bigger with so many siblings so that was harder to navigate. She only has one brother so I guess it wasn’t much of an issue.

Do you think your children’s generation will face fewer difficulties?

I don’t think it is even an issue. Definitely not for me.

One of my nieces is married to a Chinese and I have a nephew who married a Malay woman.

What do you think was the main obstacle?

I think it was not the ‘normal’ thing to marry someone from another race. People needed time to accept it.

But if you look around, you will probably see that 20-25% marriages are interracial now.

I assume there are more pluses than minuses for your children to grow up in a bicultural environment. Am I correct?

Lots of pluses in my opinion but my children don’t think of themselves that way. Of course sometimes they will joke about it.

One of my girls said, “Appa, thanks to you I have long eyelashes and curly hair.”

And longer names.

On top of their Indian names and of course my name, they all have Chinese middle names.

I want to ask about your parenting method.

I think I am more involved as a parent than most guys.

Do you think you are more involved in the parenting because you were making up for what you did not receive?

Yes. Naturally, we want to do the best for our children. We are educated and have gone through life so we are in a position to help.

I tell my children what they should aim for academically. I also teach them about investments.

Do you worry about your children’s future?

I don’t worry about their future. As parents, the one important thing we need to do is to let them have a good education. Then I think they will be fine.

We have three daughters and two sons.

The first one, our eldest daughter, is 21 and a second year medical school student. She will become a doctor and we can tick off one box.

Our second daughter will turn 18 soon. She is quite a smart cookie, studying mass communications at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

The third one is also a daughter. She is 17 and she’s in Hwa Chong. She is planning to be a lawyer.

Our twin boys, 13, are in secondary school, one in Hwa Chong and the other in SJI (Saint Joseph’s Institution).

I know they are all in the right schools and the schools will also take care of them.

Are your children close to their cousins?

Yes, we are a very close-knit family and when we get together, it is easily 30 to 40 people with my wife and I contributing the most, with five children.

Is it a heavy responsibility to be the Chief Editor of Tamil News and Current Affairs at Mediacorp?

I have a team of 30+ people. We produce all the news and current affairs content for all the Mediacorp platforms in Tamil.

I have been in the English media most of my life so when I was given this opportunity, I was very happy.

Before I took on this job, whenever I watched Tamil programmes, I had many ideas on what I would do if I had the chance. I wanted to do a lot for my community.

Chinese kids are struggling with Chinese and Indian kids with Tamil. Do you think that makes your job even more important?

What we do in our unit is not just produce the editorial output. I tell my staff that we are more than a platform for content. We are also a bridge to the community. We have a lot of influence, and therefore a lot of responsibilities.

Was this something you added to your job scope?

Yes. Since I assumed the leadership role, I have organised a lot of outreach events. We are into the sixth edition of our spelling bee competition for kids in primary four and five. Every year, 70 to 80 schools will participate.
We have several other community engagement initiatives.

Many people have said that Singapore students’ command of Chinese language is below par, is it the same for Tamil?

It is the same issue. Statistics will show that many kids don’t speak their mother tongue at home. Most speak English at home. This is across all ethnic groups.

The big challenge for non-English media platforms is similar — how do we capture new audiences? If the younger folks don’t continue coming to us, then who are we producing the content for?

Therefore we think that it is also our responsibility to inculcate in the young the importance of preserving and maintaining the language.

So in many ways, this is a much more fulfilling job than when you were in the English media?

Definitely. It is not a 9-to-5 job.

Is it also an age thing? That you are getting older and want to be more in touch with your roots?

Not really. In my previous jobs I had fewer opportunities to speak Tamil. But I continued to keep in touch by watching the news and listening to radio programmes. Apart from speaking Tamil with my siblings, I also try to use Tamil with my friends whenever possible.

How else are you involved in the promotion of the Tamil language?

I am part of the Tamil Language Learning and Promotion Committee, an MOE (Ministry of Education) entity to promote the use of Tamil. They also have the same committee for Chinese and Malay.

By virtue of my job, I am also involved in the National Translation Committee and Programme Advisory Committee.

All these involvements have the same goal — to keep the language alive.

I am going to switch gear and ask about your health.

I had an enlarged prostate and I think that happens with age for many men, especially among those past 50.

Generally, it is manageable through medication.

In September 2024, I could not pee and the doctors said that they needed to do a procedure to clear the passage.

They also did a biopsy and that was how they found out that I had Stage 4 prostate cancer. There was no indication before that.

So you have gone through several rounds of chemo?

Six rounds of chemo. I’m also undergoing hormone therapy. I’ve started daily radio therapy sessions which last for seven weeks. I’m doing regular scans to see how I am responding to the treatment and check if the cancer has reduced. They will then decide on the next course of treatment.

Do you remember your family’s reaction and your own when you first found out you had cancer?

It was quite devastating for my wife.

I think I didn’t feel as much, my reaction wasn’t dramatic.

I remember asking my urologist, “Is this life threatening?”

Then I asked what stage is my cancer and he told me it is a rare form of cancer and the equivalent of stage 4.

So you just asked all the practical questions?

Yes I did. But it was nothing like what you see in the movies.

I didn’t ask questions like how many months do I have left.

How are you feeling now?

I am fine except that I have no hair at this moment.

I have lost some weight, otherwise I think I am okay.

During the treatment cycles, I did not feel as perfect and my appetite changed.

But that did not change your life perspective?

Hmmm … no. I guess it is because I don’t think about it.

A friend told me, “Just treat it like a flu.”

I tend to agree that if I don’t think about it, I can focus on other things.

So I don’t think of it as a life-changing kind of situation.

So all you have to do is listen to the doctor?

I know the doctor is doing the right thing.

Everyone has told me that my positive mindset will make a huge difference.

Are you still on medical leave?

No, I continued to work even after the diagnosis.

It really helped that my job allowed me to work from home.

Apart from not thinking about it, what else is helping you stay positive?

I can sense that I am feeling better with the treatment and that this is just another phase in life.

I also tell myself there must be a reason for this to happen but my wife doesn’t like to hear me say that.

I also tell myself that it is better I get it now than when I am older.

It is treatable with early detection?

Yes, very treatable even though it is stage 4.

Can you imagine getting it when you are in your 70s? Things would have been much more difficult.

I get it now, I get it over with, treat it as a big life experience. And then I move on.

You mentioned that you love reading.

I always tell my children that when I was in primary six, I read all the books in the library. It was a small library and there were not enough books for me. I also used to go to the library in Queenstown.

When I went to secondary school, the reading stopped quite a fair bit because of school work.

What do you read? Biographies?

My interest is more non-fiction.

I read a lot of biographies and later in life, I also read a lot of Paulo Coelho. Of course I read a lot of stuff on politics, PR, and journalism.

I try to read as much as possible but I also listen a lot to the BBC when I am driving. It is an occupational hazard.

Recently I became interested in this series of books by Japanese writer Toshikazu Kawaguchi. His first book “Before The Coffee Gets Cold”, is set in a cafe where customers can travel to a time of their choosing. There are five books in the series.

Have you written any books?

I think every journalist wants to write a book.

If you were to write one, what would it be about?

Maybe science fiction.

How come?

When I was young, I wanted to be an astronaut.

But seriously, perhaps later on in life, I think I would like to write something historical, maybe something about Singapore.

You said later in life. At 60, are you still very optimistic?

Of course, I still have time. I think the writing part is not an issue.

But what to write? Once I have figured that out, it should be easy.

How would your friends describe you?

I am an introvert. I don’t have that many friends, just a small group.

My friends know that I am very quiet but they also know that I am funny in a certain way.

They think I am very knowledgeable.

Because of my jobs, I read a lot and I have interests in many areas.

So I can think I can hold a decent conversation on many different topics.

What about your detractors and enemies?

I don’t have enemies. (smile)

What kind of Singaporean are you?

Recently a bunch of secondary school kids stopped me on the street and one of them asked, “Sir, we have this project in school. We are trying to find out if you have a dream for Singapore, and what will it be?”

These were kids around 13 or 14 years old.

I said, “I want to make sure I do my part to make this country safe for you guys.”

I think I am a very cosmopolitan Singaporean. A Singaporean who wants to ensure that we continue to strive to make this place still viable for my children to live and work.

Would your thinking be very different if you were not a parent?

I think I would have left Singapore. When you don’t have kids, the attachment is not there. I mean maybe go live somewhere for a few months, then come back to Singapore. And if my job allows me to work remotely, it would be even easier.

Where would you have gone?

I would still stay in Asia. If we are thinking of a relaxed lifestyle, some parts of Thailand or India would be nice. A place where I can actually stretch my dollar.

After Covid, we all know that working remotely is totally possible.

My kids are still rooted in Singapore but I can envision that maybe some of them will not be working here in the future.

You’ll accept that?

Yes and I encourage them to study overseas. I think they will have a very different perspective of life.

Singapore is too small. If you only live in Singapore, you won’t really understand how the world works.

Do you travel a lot?

When I was working for a travel publication, I travelled every month, mostly in Asia. There were also trips to Europe to attend trade conferences once or twice a year.

That was the best job in my life. I could combine two of my loves — travelling and writing — at the same time!

What is the one thing you would like to change here?

I want people to be a lot more knowledgeable. A lot of the world views of the younger generation are fashioned by social media. The way the algorithms work is that if you have a certain viewpoint, whatever that comes to your feed will serve to entrench that viewpoint further.

I would like the younger generation to read more, to listen more and to think more.

The media can provide facts and viewpoints but the individual needs to think for himself about the ramifications and permutations of each world event.

There are different ways of interpreting things and analytical skills come from the absorption of knowledge.

In this interconnected world where everything can be Googled, you have quite a small digital footprint. How did you manage to keep your life private?

My professional and private lives are quite intertwined so I am careful with what I post or share.

I also need to be cautious and think about the impact of my posts on my children. I have to respect their privacy as well.

Is there any significance at all that you were born the same year as Singapore?

That is very significant.

I feel blessed that I was born during this era.

We all started in offices without a computer, then we had computers, and then the internet came.

I remember the thrill I felt when I discovered that I could interview people overseas via email.

I have witnessed the decline of print media and the rise of social media.

Now it is about AI and there will be more new things to come.

We have learnt to embrace new technologies. In our newsroom we are experimenting how we can do our job better with the new tools.

With AI we can write faster and better. And then we can think about doing it more creatively. There is no need to worry much about translation because AI can take care of that as it learns.

Looking back, I grew up in living quarters where there were no attached toilets. We all showered in common bathrooms shared by different families. We played in the longkangs (drains) and made our own toys.

So your own success story is also a mirror of Singapore’s?

In a sense, yes. You know that in one generation, you can really change your life. My father did not have much education.

In Singapore, if you have an education, your life will and can change completely.

That, to me, is really revolutionary.