Bullied kampong boy, Lee Kuan Yew’s interviewer, and CEO of a consultancy are three seemingly disconnected labels on Viswa Sadasivan, local current affairs presenter and former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP).
Born into a humble family, Viswa had a happy childhood and made his way into Raffles Institution (RI) with a mixture of determination and advice from – oddly – a gangster.
After university graduation, He jumped into broadcasting, specialising in current affairs. During the process, he interviewed multiple globally renowned leaders.
Now, the CEO of a communications consultancy, Viswa applies the knowledge and skills he acquired in the field of politics and has helped a variety of companies from around the world achieve their goals.
Read on for more about the life of one of Singapore’s maverick thinkers from his interview with Vintage Radio SG, a digital radio station available online and via mobile app.
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Viswa Sadasivan: "Everybody has something redeeming about them"
Viswa grew up in the former Kampong Bahru with five older siblings. Their father worked with the British forces and earned $250 monthly. Still, he raised six children without ever borrowing a penny.
However, poverty didn’t get in the way of their happiness. Viswa’s brother would organise a variety of events, like sprint and relay races, in the neighbourhood.
During a period of time in primary school, Viswa was bullied by a gang of young Indian gangsters every day on his way back home. The leader of the gang would ask him for pocket money and then slap him several times.
One day, Viswa vented his frustration to one of his friends, who promised to handle it. The next day, when the Indian gang leader was about to slap Viswa, “seven Chinese gangsters with cleavers” appeared behind him and warned the Indian gang leader to never bother him again.
Viswa ended up being one of the two students of his batch who got into RI. The gang leader asked him to meet under a tree outside their school and gave him a box wrapped in newspaper.
"For me, that was the first experience of multiracialism. If there was any one incident that shaped me for the rest of my life, it was that."
Viswa Sadasivan: "Moments like that made me learn to appreciate what this small red dot actually achieved"
The competitive environment in RI and scouting experience taught Viswa a lot about survival, both physically and mentally.
For tertiary education, Viswa attended the National University of Singapore (NUS) and majored in political science. During the first year, he met his wife, who has now been with him for over 40 years.
After graduation, Viswa worked as a broadcaster at the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). His director was S. Chandra Mohan, a “legend” to Viswa.
He then tried his hand at current affairs – Feedback, Singapore’s first current affairs programme, which he presented, used to be the highest-rated English language programme on TV.
When recounting the numerous interviews he has done, Viswa likes to mention the ones he did with the former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the former President of the United States Barack Obama.
He was 24 when he first met Lee Kuan Yew, and 26 when he had the first full-length interview with the latter. Before the interview, Lee requested to meet him.
After knowing that Viswa had Malayalam origin, Lee started to call him a communist, as Malayalams are mostly from Kerala, the only communist state in India.
Afterwards, Lee asked him to get out of the office.
Despite this episode, Viswa went on to work with Lee during the last four years of the latter’s term, helping him with his National Day Rally speeches.
However, the tension was renewed after Viswa became an NMP. The speech he made in parliament on the sanctity of the national pledge (he argued that the amendable constitution should not have primacy over the pledge) infuriated Lee, who rose to speak out against his words after having not been speaking for two and a half years.
When Viswa was interviewing Obama in 2018, the latter commented that he wouldn’t have had the guts to interview Lee.
Obama also spoke highly of Singapore’s politicians, especially the former finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
"He was not motivated by anything but absolute regard of what we've achieved."
Viswa Sadasivan: "When your heart is in the right place and you reach out, the universe will conspire to make it happen"
Now, Viswa mainly works as the CEO of Strategic Moves, a consultancy with a special interest in policy issues.
His clients include Las Vegas Sands, which worked with him for 15 months and eventually won the bid for building an integrated resort in the central bay area of Singapore. The product is known today as Marina Bay Sands.
Viswa also manages a sociopolitical online series called Inconvenient Questions, usually abbreviated as IQ.
On the basis of IQ, Viswa experimented with the concept of “IQ international” and conducted 12 monthly discussions on international issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Together with his wife, Viswa keeps an exercise regime to stay fit. He also plans to learn new sports and spend time visiting friends he has not seen for a long time.
Moreover, he wants to interact more with the younger generation.
"I want to bring together younger people to take over the driving of IQ. My generation should figure out how to hand over some of the things we initiated and find ways to empower the subsequent generations."
"If you are blessed with the means to do some things, just go there, do them, and have fun in the process."
This content was originally aired on Vintage Radio. To listen to the complete podcast, click here.
