Ananda Rajah
(in his element, twinkling for Zaheer Baber’s camera eye)
He left us, 9 Jan. 2007
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Ilan Ivory, Chinese language student, National Taiwan Normal University:
I am an old friend of Ananda’s from the early 1980′s at the Australian National University. Ananda was always such a kind, warm-hearted, humourous, gentle, genuine, sincere friend. I fondly remember him inviting me and his friends over to his place for many a meal of noodles and a beer (or two or three…) to have raving discussions about Asian cultures, family, travel, food, etc; it was Ananda who provided me with encouragement and faith way back then as I nervously prepared for my studies in Tokyo. I last saw Ananda in Singapore in August 2006 en route to Taiwan and he was so excited about his anthropological research on one of his favourite topics: food! His friendship will be truly missed.
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Kris Olds, Associate Professor, Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA:
Everyone who has commented so far knew Ananda in one way or another; I never did, but I always noticed him when I walked near him in the open air hallways of NUS between 1997 and 2001. Some people, a few rare people, just exude that special “something”. Now I know why. I feel so sorry for Ananda’s family, his friends, his students, and his colleagues.
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Roxana Waterson, Associate Professor, Sociology, NUS:
Ananda, you were one of the first people I ever met in Singapore, and I have counted you as a friend for more than twenty years. For much of that time you and Elizabeth were also our neighbours, first on Pasir Panjang Hill and then in the Wessex Estate. Your witty, self-deprecating persona, your wry sense of humour and your endless fund of anthropological gossip made an unforgettable impression. I taught with you and learned a great deal from the depth and breadth of your comparative knowledge of Southeast Asia. I had just been reading your latest paper on Naming, admiring the high quality of the ethnography as well as the beautiful style in which you wrote, always eloquent and lucid. I know you were extremely caring to your students; no wonder they were so fond of you. I shall always remember you as a fine scholar, a first class ethnographer, a warm friend and a fantastic cook. Your spirit lives on in memory.
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Paul Sant Cassia, Reader, Anthropology, University of Durham, UK:
At the Department of Anthropology, University of Durham, we learnt of the news of Ananda’s passing with much sad disbelief, which had to be articulated twice, once as a repeated question before each and every recipient could grasp that fact. Ananda had joined us as an RAI Fellow in Urgent Anthropology for a couple of years and he was a joy as a colleague. A quiet unassuming man, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, he combined old world courtesy without pretense or poses, with graceful relaxed charm. Ananda was popular with our students to whom he gave a number of courses, and he always had time for everybody — a gift which a decreasing number of people seem to have in the contemporary word. He was a democratic man; he liked talking to everybody, and I appreciated him particularly for that. Ananda used to stay at my house when in Durham and he was a great companion and a wonderful cook. Ananda was an easy man; how many people are there like that nowadays? And here is the aporia when death takes away the gift of having known and appreciated someone. As one French philosopher said: “Speaking is impossible, but so too would be silence or absence or a refusal to share one’s sadness.” We join all the other contributors in this ev-logia to Ananda in realizing both the impossibility of maintaining our silence and the inadequacy of our words. And we convey our deepest condolences to his family.
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Alice Phua, Honours graduate, class of 00/01, Sociology, NUS:
Ananda was my supervisor for my 4th year thesis. Through Carl Grundy-Warr I had the opportunity to carry out fieldwork in the Karenni refugee camps. Ananda was the natural choice as supervisor. I believe I have taken all of his undergrad classes, but our relationship definitely deepen with our collaboration on my thesis. Many scholars are reluctant teachers; Ananda took delight in his students. It was clear to many who knew him that he was a great mentor and advocate. Without his extra lens, I wouldn’t have been able to see the significance through the obvious. Thank you Ananda for making me an Anthropologist for a year – it was a dream fulfilled.
Our last contact was a year or two ago. He wrote me an email asking if I would be interested to contribute to a book he wanted to edit on the Karens and the Karennis – he thought it would be such a shame that his students’ intensive studies remained unknown. I was surprised that he remembered me and approached me though I have left Sociology already. But that’s Ananda. Students were colleagues.
I am deeply sadden by this sudden news of Ananda’s demise. No doubt it’s a loss to the Karens, for they have lost a voice that spoke about them, but also those whose lives he has so greatly touched.
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Kwanchewan Buadaeng, Researcher, Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University, Thailand:
I met Ananda the first time in 1989 in a workshop he organized in Singapore where I present my research results. In 2000, he is one of the three external examiners on my PhD thesis on Karen religions. His comments on my thesis are the most critical of all, for which I am mostly grateful. We met a few times after my graduation in 2001, usually in seminars in Chiang Mai. In 2004, we exchanged e-mails on how to hold a session to commemorate Peter Hinton who passed away earlier in that year. Although we have not met in the last few years, I always hear his name and news via his students and colleagues who came to work with the Karen and ethnic groups along the border. Ananda, thank for your valuable contribution to this world. I will remember you always.
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Tan See Mieng, Graduate student, Sociology, NUS
I took one of Prof Ananda’s modules, SC 4217 Social Movements and Collective Behaviour, when I was in Honours Year, following a strong recommendation from my senior who took his module the year before. She told me, “Ananda is a very nice person. You will have no worries in this module.” Prior to the start of the seminars, I sent an email to him to enquire if there was a need to buy any textbooks for the module, as I was planning my finances for the new semester. He promptly replied and signed off as “Ananda”, which was a true testament of his genuine intent to eliminate any form of formal teacher-student relationship.
Prof Ananda was very helpful when I consulted him for my term paper. He gave me a lead to start my paper and went the extra mile to Linc to locate this lead (a dated videotape) for me, giving me the call number of the videotape as well. I was very surprised that he would go the extra mile, as it was a pretty straightforward process that could be easily executed by myself, as I could trace the videotape based on the title of the documentary that he gave me. At the same time, I was touched by his sincerity. He also made an effort to remember each student’s term paper topic, so that he could give us brief comments verbally when we went to collect our respective papers from his office.
His sudden demise is a great loss to the department and also to his friends, colleagues and students who enjoyed his company and teachings. He will always be remembered in my heart.
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Winston Chow, PhD Teaching Associate, Geographical Sciences, Arizona State University, USA:
Some say that you only remember teachers who were really bad or really good. Needless to say, Prof Rajah was an exemplar of a great educator. I easily recall his disarming, easy-going nature as a freshman taking Singapore Society all those years ago, as well as his sage advice given during tutorials. NUS has lost a star – he will be sadly missed.
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Chusak Wittayapak, Assistant Professor, Geography, Chiang Mai University, Thailand:
It is with shock and sadness that I learned that Ananda has passed away. The last time I saw Ananda was November 30, 2006, when I was in Singapore for the SEAGA conference. I e-mailed him that I would finish my presentation session by 3.30pm. He replied quickly that he would be there. When I came out from the conference room he was there waiting for me. That’s him. He always kept his word. As usual, we went out for a drink at Holland Village. Ananda explained to me why that place was called as such. We shared a lot of old stories of the days we were in Chiang Mai. My friendship with Ananda dated back to 1980 when he was doing his field research in Karen village of Northern Thailand and I was his research assistant. At that time I just finished my university degree and did not know what to do with my life. Ananda inspired and encouraged me to pursue graduate study. I learned a great deal from him about ethnographic research.
After he went back to ANU to write his dissertation we loss contact until I finished my PhD in 1994 and made a trip to Singapore for a Asian Resource Tenure Networks workshop. I only knew that Ananda was working with ISEAS I thought that I should see him. I wrote to him using his old address, not sure that it would reach him. When I arrived at my hotel he was there with a big smile. We reconnected our friendship after over 10 years of not seeing each other. This time we kept in touch. Ananda often travelled to Chiang Mai for his field research and every time he came over he gave a lecture to my students. They loved him. I realized that he was such a good teacher. Ananda always said that he owed me a lot for helping him in his field research. I think I am lucky to know this great man. His kindness and politeness extended to my family and my parents.
In our last meeting Ananda mentioned that he would like to use his field materials to write a book about the Karen. I was excited and looked forward to seeing him in Chiang Mai. With his rich of humor, politeness and good heart, there is no doubt that Ananda had more friends in Chiang Mai than I do. He had friends from all walks of life, not only in academic community but also or even more in other businesses like the bar owner, local loggers, and so on. I was often amazed how he got to know these people when he introduced them to me. In intellectual world, he was never bored of discussing, debating, and always came up sharp. I will probably never find anybody with these characteristics again in my life. He is so unique and special. I don’t know what it’s like when I go to Singapore next time, without Ananda there. It’s so empty. Memories of Ananda will live forever.
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Priyambudi Sulistiyanto, Flinders Asia Centre, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia:
Ananda is a lovely person indeed. I had a chance to say ‘good bye’ last month, just a few days before I moved to Adelaide, Australia. Through Niti Pawakapan (my old friend from the SEASP-NUS and who is now at Chulalongkorn University) that I met Ananda and talked to him on a number of occassions. Pray for him and his family.
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Myrna and Bob Tonkinson, Honorary Research Fellow and Emeritus Professor, Anthropology, University of West Australia, Perth:
There are almost no adjectives unused by all those friends, colleagues and acquaintances who have written in heartfelt tribute to this very special person. We knew Ananda way back in his student days at ANU, and immediately warmed to his conviviality, quick wit, and joie de vivre. We followed his career and always meant to catch up with him after he’d established himself in Singapore. Easier said than done, as it turned out, but just a couple of weeks ago we were reminiscing about him fondly with our ex-student and friend, Daniel Soon, who confirmed that this was the same old Ananda: bright, helpful, a great mentor and above all, a man whose generosity of spirit had never left him. We were warmed by our memories of him, and resolved that, next time in Singapore, we would make sure we took the time to have that reunion with our old friend. Alas…..
We send our sincere condolences to his grieving kin; he is sadly missed.
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Charlotte Setijadi, PhD Candidate, Anthropology, La Trobe University, Australia:
As were many of us, I was extremely shocked and deeply saddened when I received news of Ananda’s passing that Tuesday afternoon. I was so shocked because only a few days before, I was just thinking about what Ananda had said to me the last time we met only a little over a month ago. During our last conversation at Tango’s in Holland Village (a favourite hang-out, I soon learnt), Ananda told me not to be overwhelmed by the task ahead of me. That time, I had stopped by in Singapore for a quick visit before going-on to do my first major field research in Jakarta for my PhD thesis. Ananda was right in guessing that I was feeling a little nervous about the task. With his reassuring voice, Ananda told me to never feel that my research is insignificant in any way and that no research topic is too mundane to be pursued (a message that is also evident in other tribute postings). Most of all, he also told me that I have to believe in myself as that would be my strength. In what is testament to Ananda’s encouraging nature, he went on to tell me to, ‘come back here to Singapore after your research is done to present your work at NUS and I look forward to hear about your fantastic work!’. I was so amazed to hear these encouraging words from him as I had met Ananda only once before.
Before I left Melbourne, I told my supervisor Dr. Alberto Gomes that I was going to have a quick stop in Singapore and he immediately recommended that I e-mail Ananda to arrange for a meeting while I’m in town. I e-mailed him and his reply was so warm and welcoming. He insisted that I call him Ananda instead of ‘Professor Rajah’ and he even gave me all the phone numbers he had (including his home number, something other scholars are reluctant in doing) so I could definitely contact him. He offered to give me a tour of the new food exhibit at the new National Museum that he co-curated and he gave me a list of contacts for other scholars who he thought I should meet while in Singapore. I was amazed at the kindness that he gave, even for someone that he had never met before!
This kindness was even more evident after I met him for the first time where after showing me around the museum, we (along with my friend, Angela) went for a few drinks while continuing our conversation about my project at Tango’s. He offered academic advice not only for me but also for Angela who is pursuing her further studies on children’s learning disabilities (a topic that Ananda also knew a lot about!). Ananda was fantastic to talk to, not just about academic matters but also when talking about everything and anything. Afterwards, I recalled Angela telling me how kind, welcoming and generous Ananda was. I said I couldn’t have agreed more.
We met only once more after that, where he introduced me to a few fellow postgraduate students (Daniel Soon and Keng We) and I could see how close Ananda was to his students/colleagues and how they in turn respected Ananda, not only as a mentor, but also as a friend. The kindness and generosity he showed me – someone who he just met and not even his own student – are examples of the person that Ananda was. Although I only knew him briefly, I am thankful that I got the chance to have known this truly wonderful and inspirational man. I will always remember Ananda and if in my own career (and life), I can possitively impact others around me the same way Ananda did, then I will truly be a blessed person.
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Daniel Soon, Teaching Assistant, Sociology, NUS:
I first met Ananda some 3 years ago when, by chance, we were both invigilators at an exam. I hadn’t spoken to him before, nor did he ever teach or know about me. This casual meeting soon opened the door to a world of opportunities and knowledge through Ananda himself, which I will always cherish. He immediately struck me as a gentleman with no airs, paving the way for our friendship to develop beyond any formal “teacher”-student relationship till this very day. “Call me Ananda”, he would insist, when I initially practiced the usual self-censorship towards superiors.
When he realised, at that very first meeting, that I was about to embark upon my fieldwork in Perth, he immediately offered to introduce me to various contacts, who helped me tremendously. Always remembering his friends from years gone by, he reminded me to “Send my regards to Bob and Myrna (Tonkinson)”. I subsequently realised that helping others with no strings attached was a hallmark of Ananda’s. Indeed, he gave much more than he ever took from anyone, especially — but not only — when the drinks tab had to be picked up.
It was therefore during our informal sessions away from the confines of the university campus when I was his teaching assistant that I learned most from the man, and about him. Ananda is blessed with a wealth of knowledge about many things, and it is difficult to catch him in a situation where he isn’t able to contribute constructively to a debate, always ensuring that casual, mundane topics were turned into intellectually stimulating ones. On many occasions, we chatted into the wee hours of the night (and early morning at times) about practically anything, ranging from anthropology to food, the current political climate or latest local fads and, most recently, my plans to do a PhD. Tango’s and Wala Wala’s, Brewerkz, and the coffeeshop on the corner of Holland and Commonwealth Roads (until the no-smoking ban was imposed) became frequent watering holes. Occasionally, my partner Alice would join us, and I remember her being amazed at his humility when she first met him.
I will miss the times when he would pop by to my office — AS1, #02-20 — and chirp to me and my room mate Harry with wide opened eyes “Time for a beer!”. His canny talent to listen to others — especially students — naturally made him more of a friend and mentor rather than simply a teacher. He never intrudes, but is always there, selflessly helping in whatever way he can. Despite his stature and immense anthropological knowledge, Ananda was immensely unassuming, genuine and deeply humane with a strong sense of integrity, always focusing on people’s positives and complimenting their strengths without ever patronizing them. No amount of words can ever describe my gratitude to the man nor his influence on me throughout the short time that I have known him.
The last significant conversation we had was on Nov 26th at Graze, a restaurant at Rochester Park. In Ananda’s own words, “I’ve been experiencing this carving [sic] for the last three weeks for a good solid, high cholestrol ang moh breakfast – eggs, sausages, bacon, baked beans, grilled tomatoes”. Ever the curious foodie, he had read about the restaurant from Aun Koh’s website. After the high cholesterol stuff had been ingested, “normalcy” was then re-established with several rounds of bottled beers (which I am sure would have lasted into the evening if I did not have dinner plans with my family), while we chatted away at length about my PhD application for which he had played no small part. Thus, it is with mixed feelings now that I say to you, Ananda, that I was accepted into ANU the day after you left us. The greatest gift that you have imparted into me is to always uphold my integrity in the face of adversity.
While I’ve lost a drinking buddy, a mentor, a friend, and a teacher, your spirit will forever live on. Thank you for coming into my life.
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Koh Keng We, PhD Candidate, History, University of Hawaii, USA:
I shall always remember Ananda as a kind, generous and considerate teacher, who was always thinking of ways in which he could help us, as we struggled with our academic endeavours and other things in life. He always gave much more than you ever took, and even when he said “pai seh” for seeming to “take”, it was never really taking, and certainly not for himself but to help others like me, students in search of inspiration, support, advice, and most of all, a challenge. He was ever trying to open doors for his students and for visiting researchers, helping them by introducing them to his social circles, from Hainanese clan associations, to his former teachers and colleagues in the sociology department or ISEAS, his colleagues in the national museum, and his old friends from Singapore, Indonesia or Thailand, unselfishly sharing them. He had hoped to create opportunities for us, whether for research, for work, or just for the sake of enriching our social lives and sharing yours.
He was someone who was always out to connect people, in different fields, in different walks of life, and also between different generations within the disciplines of sociology and anthropology. Block 40 and other eating or drinking places in Holland Road became the bases from which he sought to create a community (even allowing a kopi-drinker like me to be part of this – thanks), and to connect us with his friends from outside the university, in the hope that we could benefit from his contacts. It was never about the drinks or the food. He was always keen to remind that these presented opportunities to learn, from outside the university environment, from our meeting his friends (Did you see all of them at your wake Ananda? All of them came, even Mr. Tey from Chiangmai, whom I saw for the first time!). It was perhaps with this desire to connect people that he floated the idea of a Singapore Anthropological Society.
He also dared us to aim higher than we could ever imagine ourselves to be capable of doing. “An Juah Buay Sai????” he used to say. Nothing was impossible. If Napoleon once said, “there is no fear greater than fear itself”, he had a Singaporean Hokkien equivalent, “Mian Gia Mian Gia, Long Dio Wu Sia” (don’t be afraid, when you hit something you will know because there would be noise). Just like his Hokkien-peng medic used to say to him. That was the gung-ho spirit that you sought to impart. That was also the unique way in which he bridged academia and the society-at-large in Singapore. There must be an endless range of anecdotes in Hokkien, Hainanese, Cantonese, and Thai that you could have drawn from, and that was what made you special. What better advocate of cross-cultural understanding and empathy could there be than a person who could move from one language to another effortlessly. I could only be amazed and inspired.
He had that keen eye for the sociological or anthropological significance of things we sometimes took for granted in our everyday lives. Nothing was mundane or “obvious”. His most revealing analyses of the social often started from the very basic tenets of the everyday life around us. Food was an example. Just on Thursday I was having some popiah, when my parents was talking about the manufacture of the skin, the make-up of the ingredients and the “famous” stalls in Singapore, I could almost hear his voice, as he used to do the same, especially during the last two years, as he prepared the exhibits for the museum. Eating will never be the same again [You really knew how to pick a topic!].
Through a combination of analytical rigour, wit and humour, he led us along, like the Pied Piper, through different plateaus of analysis, across different disciplines, and through a myriad of topics, from state formation and tribal communities, to ethnicity and identities, through religion, language, cognitive anthropology, and of course food. Most of all, he treated us as equals, and was always ready to listen, to point out both good ideas and oversights, and to stimulate.
He was working on a myriad of things when he left so suddenly. It will be really nice if his work on the Karen, especially his thesis, could be published, as Prof. Fox had suggested, not to mention his other works on food, language, cognitive anthropology etc that were unpublished. Some of his former students were hoping that this would be done. I am sure others share the same hope.
I think I am just one of many students who had benefited thus, and who were planning to drop by after their PhD to say thank you personally for all the things you have done for us, and hoping for many more sessions at block 40 or some other new places of congregation. I would liked to have come up to him some time in August with a loud “ho seh bo???” (How are you? Are you doing well?). Now I only want to say to him, “mana eh sai ah ni kuan? Bo kong jit sia jio gia?” (How can like that? You left without making a sound). I am sure he will understand. His presence was something that I seemed to take for granted. I guess all I am left with now are memories, but nonetheless memories that I could share with many others you have taught, mentored, and who had benefited from your help, encouragement, and friendship. The falling star, the crying heavens, and the window of sunshine in the afternoon after Ananda was laid to rest all seemed to suggest more than the passing of a friend. For me, he is just that person who had deeply touched my life and that of many others. I hope we can help to continue what he had set out to do, connecting people, building a community, and trying to match his analytical rigour, his desire for making anthropological or sociological sense of things around us, and most of all his pure zest for life.
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James Weiner, PhD Australian National University (1984), Visiting Fellow, RSPAS, ANU:
Ananda and I were graduate students and friends together at ANU in the 1980s and I remember most of all, along with Wayne Warry, many beer-fueled discussions late into the night on anthropology, fieldwork, family, National Service, East vs. West, colonialism, academic supervisors, and just about everything else. I visited him several times in Singapore en route to and from Europe from Australia after we all went our separate ways. He was one of the most even-tempered, cheerful, generous, good humoured, irreverent and dependable friends I have ever had, and I will miss him.
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Siri Gamage, Senior Lecturer, Education, Health and Professional Studies, University of New England, Australia:
I met Ananda Rajah about 10 or so years ago during a visit to the National University of Singapore. I made an appointment to meet him and another colleague from NUS sociology department. When we met I was invited to go for a meal and a drink. We had an engaging discussion about the issues of concern in the disciplines while enjoying good food.
Unfortunately since that meeting I did not have an opportunity to meet Ananda Rajah because my visits to Singapore in the last decade had been minimal due to other priorities. We remained in contact via email. Whenever I thought about NUS, his name remained frozen in my mind as a colleague who was kind enough to devote his valuable time for a visiting academic.
Looking at the other tributes, it appears that Ananda was not just an average academic in the ever expanding corporate world of higher education but someone who was able to maintain a humanist perspective to work, research, supervision, and most of all human relations. His passing is a severe loss to those who knew him.
May he attain the spiritual goals that he aspired to!
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Lee Sang Kook, Ananda’s PhD student, Sociology, NUS:
My relationship with Ananda dates back to 1999 when I was spending some time at NUS as an exchange student. At that time I was planning for fieldwork for my master’s thesis in a Karen refugee camp in the Thailand-Burma borderland but I did not have any clue to get into the place. I approached him for help and he kindly and wonderfully guided an innocent student coming from Northeast Asia to carry out field research by introducing valuable materials and people, even though I was not his student yet.
My impression about his cordial attitude and academic in-depth remained for some time even after I went back to Korea, engaging in busy everyday life in Seoul. When I decided to pursue PhD study, I, without second thought, chose to study under his tutelage: he was the reason that brought me to Singapore. This time his warm welcome was extended to my wife who was really touched by his kindness and generosity. He treated us as if we were his close family members. He took care of not only my study but my wellbeing in general. He treated us to various range of food and made my life in Singapore joyful.
My study with him was not restricted to the confined university. He showed me how study is possible over informal talks, of course, with beer. The coffee shop at Holland Drive was another study place of mine. While talking with and listening to him, I, little by little, stepped into wide and deep world of his knowledge.
While I was conducting ethnographic field research for one year, especially when I was struggling to adapt to the alien environment and collecting data, his encouraging messages made me stand up again and take my steps further. I tried to emulate the way he relatead to people in my field site, as real people and not as mere objects of study.
When I came back from my fieldwork, he did not hesitate to give me a big hug. It was a real comfort. When I went through the painful writing period, confessing my absurdity in doing seemingly insurmountable work, he encouraged me to carry out the job while showing patience and enthusiasm. Thanks to his devotion to me, I saw the ending of my study draw near.
I did not rush to absorb all his scholarly wisdoms and intellectual assets. I thought that time is enough and he would always be around. I even dreamed that one day he and I would go to my hometown in Korean, where we would fish, work in a chicken farm, and make Kimchi, which he was very keen to learn. I never expected my relationship with him to end in such a way. It is lamentable that he did not see the ending moment of my study that he guided over the years. Moreover it is deplorable that his endowment of academic asset to me was incomplete. But I believe this incompleteness would resonate deep in my mind in the form of a perpetuating question for the rest of my life: what would Ananda say on this? I am proud that I was his student.
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James J. Fox, Professor, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University:
Ananda was a dear friend and a marvellous colleague.
Word of his death reached me when I had just begun reading his recent, as yet unpublished, paper on the Karen naming system. He had sent it to me before Christmas because he knew I would be interested in it.
I was one of the advisors on his PhD thesis here at the ANU and through Ananda, I have developed an interest in the Karen. His paper on Karen names is vintage Ananda: good clear ethnography set in an historical and regional context. It is a work of mature reflection and sound analysis.
I have always enjoyed Ananda’s company. While on a fellowship in Singapore some years ago, I spent about a month staying with him at his apartment. We ate well and talked every night about anthropology and, of course, about mutual friends in the field.
Ananda was a gentle and affable scholar who enjoyed the conviviality of good company and he never tired of engaging conversation.
I have often said that good ethnography lives on long after theorizing has passed. In Ananda’s case, his friends will remember the times they spent with him but others, even a generation hence, will certainly get to know him through his splendid accounts of Karen life.
What is needed is a collection of his papers, featuring his writings on the Karen, as a tribute to his memory.
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Hui Yew-Foong, PhD Candidate, Anthropology, Cornell University:
I woke up on Tuesday morning (US Eastern time) to emails with Ananda’s name in the subject, and I feared the worst might have happened. Over these last three days, shock gave way to grief as both my wife and I come to the full realization that we have lost an invaluable teacher, colleague and friend.
I have never taken classes with Ananda, and have only gotten to know him when I did my Master’s under his supervision. Right from the beginning, our relationship was informal – he treated me as a colleague rather than a student. It was not long before he introduced me to the pleasures of intellectual debate over beer. For Ananda, coffeshop talk was never purely coffeeshop talk – there was always a sociological angle to the most pedestrian musings. It was in this way that I got my academic training, engaging in rigorous social analyses over anything and everything while trying to retain my sobriety.
Ananda’s generosity is inexhaustible, and perhaps the greatest evidence of this is his capacity to learn even from his students. In one of our last meetings before I finished my Master’s and left NUS, he thanked me sincerely for having taught him so much. There is still much to learn from this man.
He has an innate capacity for seeing value in people, valuing people and relating to them. He has friends from all walks of life – and he can relate to almost anyone given his repertoire of Cantonese, Hokkien and Hainanese. (He is probably also the only platoon commander ever to issue fire movement orders using Hokkien). And when he missed my wedding because of a prior engagement, he insisted on bringing my wife and I to a fancy Italian restaurant.
I last met Ananda in April 2006, when he arranged dinner with two eminent anthropologists, and mooted the idea of forming a Singapore Anthropological Association. I was hoping to continue that conversation with him over beer after I return this year, but he left too soon.
On Tuesday night, my wife Pik and I opened a can of beer in tribute to Ananda. I raised my glass, only to be met with the silence of debates that would not be. Cheers, Ananda.
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Lim Zong Han, Honours graduate, class of 05/06, Sociology, NUS:
My first experiences with Ananda came in LT11 during SC1101E lectures. There he was, clad in his usual attire of shirt and jeans, talking with a swagger about Marina Square and Far East Plaza kids during a lecture on deviance. An inspired speaker, he was one of the reasons that made Sociology came alive to me at the beginning of my varsity days. Impressed with his wits and humour, Culture and Society soon followed. Ananda took me on an anthropological journey that never failed to amaze me. His work with the Karen people showed how passionate he was about these people and their struggles. Working with him in my honours year was a privilege to me, for I have learnt tremendously throughout the course in Social Movements.
Ananda’s passing was and still is a shock to me. His smile, his passion (especially for Anthropology), his efforts to remember every single individual student, as well as his friendliness (He would insist to be addressed as Ananda, and not Prof Rajah), will be missed. He was more than just a lecturer. He is a friend. You will be greatly missed, Ananda.
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Ch’ng Kim See, Head, ISEAS Library, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore:
ISEAS LIBRARY MOURNS LOSS OF GOOD FRIEND
Ananda Rajah was a good friend and supporter of the ISEAS Library. Every time he returned from his fieldstrips (mostly to northern Thailand where he studied hill tribes) he would bring back research materials and publications for the Library’s collection. He documented the anthropological and sociological culture of the vanishing tribes on slides and photographs and generously shared them with the Library, depositing them in the Library’s Southeast Asia Cultural Collection. Some of them have become rare and unique, and researchers have had the good fortune to examine and study them. We have 656 slides of his collection which are accessible as digital copies.
Until he left ISEAS to join the National University of Singapore in 1993 Ananda was seen frequently in the Library. Library staff knew him as an appreciative and understanding user. He was helpful in collection building and ideas to improve library services. He would vigorously defend the Library and its staff if he thought they were criticized unreasonably. A dedicated scholar, he was a special friend of the Library.
Ananda was affable, polite and charming. He had a wonderful sense of humour and wit, and indeed was pleasant company. His untimely departure is a shock and he has left a void which is difficult to fill.
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Emmanuel Wee, Honours graduate, class of 05/06, Sociology, NUS:
Warm, compassionate, sincere, genuine, honest. These are not traits that you would easily associate with anyone, but with Ananda, he possessed all of these in abundance. Despite his formidable intellectual prowess, he never used them to put his students down. Instead, he made his classes comfortable, every one felt so easy in his presence, that it was a sheer pleasure learning from him. When personal tragedy struck my life in the final stages of my honours year, he was the only Professor that showed so much healtfelt empathy with my situation, that it moved me to tears. Tears that stemmed not from me feeling sorry about myself, but because someone I barely knew on personal terms could care so much for me. Such humanity could only come from a person of the highest caliber, and my sorrow and regret lies not only with his passing, but that I could no longer get the opportunity to know him better.
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Yeo Jiahui, Honours student, Sociology, NUS:
I believe I speak for most when I say that we were shocked and grieved to hear of Ananda’s sudden passing. My first thought was that we lost a good man and passionate academic, and I can’t even begin to imagine how his family must feel.
Several of us made our way to the memorial outside his office to say our final goodbyes after class the following day, and it was then when I started learning more about the man. Before, he was a teacher whom I never conversed with outside of class but whom I realised had the most generous and humble spirit. He was never damning of students’ works but always saying what was good about them, not to mention that he was always opened to contradictions and constructive debates.
Standing in front of his office, door opened, presumably a symbol of his open-door policy, I learned, in an instant, more about the man than I had ever known: his favourite brand of cigarettes, beer and what those who loved him thought of him. As I turned the corner, exiting by the rear door of the department, I saw a cup of coffee and a few cigarettes sitting very presently on the ledge, a place which presumably was his favourite hangout, accompanied by a stalk of white rose.
And I lamented. I lament that I did not know this man who is loved by so many, and that I only knew him now. At his wake, with the overwhelming turnout, and the faces of those who knew him well and who knew him only as well as I did, I realised what a fulfilling life Ananda led and how many lives he unknowingly changed, my own included. I didn’t know him enough, but yet I feel this tremendous sense of loss, which speaks volumes about the extent to which he impacted the lives he came into, if only for a while.
I now know that we didn’t only just lose a good man. We lost a great man but his legacy remains and I know his spirit will be forever kept thriving by all who love him.
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Filomeno Aguilar, Professor, Ateneo de Manila University:
I am deeply saddened to know about the passing of Ananda. He was a good scholar, teacher, colleague, and friend. I learnt much from his scholarship on the Karen, and have used his works in the classes I taught in Australia, and now here in the Philippines. He was always ready with a smile and very accommodating, even self-effacing. He was generous with his comments and with what he knew. The study of the Southeast Asian mainland is the poorer with his passing. I am sure he is deeply missed in the Department. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, his students, and the Department.
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Chris Oh, 2nd Year Undergraduate, NUS:
This is just a simple tribute for a man who deserves to be remembered, and whose passing deserves to be mourned. Associate Professor Ananda Rajah, Anthropologist, Sociology Lecturer, and much cherished teacher in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in the National University of Singapore (NUS) has left us.
I was not a close associate of his, neither was I a confidant, I am not even in his age group, far from it. Among my peers undertaking the study of sociology in NUS I am neither outstanding nor accomplished, nor could I name Ananda as a friend or as a personal mentor. But having taken two modules under his tutelage in the space of a year, and looking forward to another module this semester, I count myself blessed to have benefited from his guidance and insights this far into my university education. It was with shock and much sadness to receive news of his passing, and even now I cannot imagine not seeing him around school with that wide grin on his face and his trademark jeans, perpetually surrounded by protégés and friends while sharing his thoughts, not to mention his cooking recipes freely. His Man Ap (Braised Duck) recipe was a fond favorite, one which he brought up with much enthusiasm in both classes and one which will be very much missed.
It is my opinion that it is the mark of a great man that an average student in a crowd too many to number will be saddened and moved enough by his passing to eulogize him so glowingly. Ananda Rajah was in many ways the model educator, a caring and gentle guide whose candor, humility, passion and wit served to illuminate the path ahead for students not only of sociology but of life. A lighthouse in a sea of chaos. He will be dearly missed and it will be a great loss for generations of students to not have the chance to be enriched by his laughter and teachings.
At the end of the day however, words fade away when reality sinks in hard. The thoughts of my friends and I who have had the opportunity to be taught by him turns to his family whom he loved and was very proud of. We regret that we will never get to know him better, as a man, as a teacher, and most of all, as a friend. We regret that he is gone. He will be dearly missed and always remembered.
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Vivienne Wee, Associate Director, Southeast Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong:
I still find it hard to believe that I will never see Ananda again. The last time I met him was around August 2006, when he had invited Geoffrey and me for dinner at a coffee shop on Holland Drive (one of his hang-outs), together with other friends who he thought shared common interests with us. Throughout that dinner, he praised each of the ten persons present to the others. That was so like him – self-effacing, other-enhancing, generous to a fault.
One of the things he spoke enthusiastically about that night was the idea of forming a Singapore Anthropological Association. He thought that enough of a critical mass in anthropological research had developed in Singapore for this to happen. This was something he was going to spend time on, if time was what he had. But alas, time has run out for him.
I first knew Ananda in 1974 when I was his first-year tutor in SC102 ‘Introduction to Anthropology’ in the Department of Sociology at the then University of Singapore. I was kept on my toes by this avid, widely read student. I remember thinking at that time ‘Who is this guy? Is he really a first-year student?’ Right from the beginning, we communicated as intellectual equals and friends.
Despite his undoubted brilliance as a scholar, Ananda always approached his work with humility and respect, more concerned about what he did not know, rather than by what he knew. Because he regarded his state of perpetual learning as always tentative, he sometimes found it difficult to bring closure to his writings, which would thereby foreshorten the reality to be studied. Indeed, he took immense pleasure in learning for its own sake, rather than as a means to some other more mundane end.
This did not prevent him from enjoying other pleasures in life. The first time I went to his home, years ago, I was confronted by the largest speakers I had ever seen then or now, because he wanted to have as much as possible of a real-life sound. Years later, when I was getting my own speakers in Hong Kong, I was emboldened by my memory of Ananda’s speakers to get not the very largest, but those somewhat larger than one might expect for a small flat.
He also took great pleasure in good food, hunting this down wherever it could be found. I remember traipsing to Serangoon Gardens for a meal of chili crab with him, which he said was better than anywhere else.
His puckish sense of humour enabled him to see the funny side of things, including those that others may not see as such. Knowing Ananda as I do, if there is any afterlife, he would perhaps get a big kick out of how his office has become a kind of keramat, a subject on which he was an expert. Oh, Ananda, why did you have to leave so soon?
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Mathew Mathews, Teaching Assistant, Sociology, NUS:
I was assigned to Ananda when I began my PhD in Jan 2002. I had prior to that, never been taught by him and so had no impression of him apart from Prof Hing’s reassurance that he was a kind person and that I would enjoy working with him. My first appointment however not only put me at ease but greatly made me appreciate Ananda. From his correcting my use of Prof Ananda, to “please call me Ananda”, to his taking interest in my research although it was not his primary research interest, to his asking me to read through his draft paper, really made me feel as a graduate student that I was valued. Ananda extended to graduate students the sense that they were equals with him, and never a sense that he had arrived and “you were down there”.
When I started my thesis, my main focus was on help seeking behavior. Ananda on reading one of my initial drafts out loud, in between his coughs which lasted for quite a while, remarked in between gasps for air, “I know I have emphysema but I am not going to ask for any help for this”. From his discussion on the hill tribe communities he often remarked that they seldom complained about having personal problems. He wondered why people here (in Singapore) had so many. I think he modelled the life of the hill tribes and that’s why I guess few heard complaints from Ananda.
I was also touched by Ananda’s concerns about other graduate students. He stopped by one day at the bus stop while I was waiting to board the bus, and asked about a graduate student whose mother had passed away. He did not personally know the student but had heard of the demise and told me how sad he felt about the loss and how he felt for the student. My prayers go now to Ananda’s own children as they struggle through the loss of their father. I hope those of us who were supervised by Ananda will do our part to keep the memory of this great academic alive through the book prize or something!
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May Tan-Mullins, PhD NUS Sociology:
Ananda’s last words to me were: “Hi May. Yes, I fully agree we should do this again. Let’s do so when I get back from England! Cheers. Ananda.” (13 December 2006)
To my disbelief and sadness, this agreed meeting will never materialize.
This was after the pre-christmas celebration for the completion of my thesis, which we had in Tangos, one of his favourite places in Singapore. I never expected that my thesis would be the last that he examined. He gave me so much encouragement, and positive comments about the thesis, and tried his best, to complete the re-examination within a weekend. He did. And with that, I now have the conferment letter in my hand.
At Tangos, Holland Village, I remembered I was teasing him, as all the waiting staff at the pub/restaurant knew who he was. We shared, with Carl, some beer, cigis and his favourite dish, spaghetti sauce meatballs. We discussed about future plans, for both of us. Indeed, missing his family, who are in UK, was something always on his mind. He was excited about the Christmas holiday, when he would spend time with them.
I still can’t believe that he has left us.
This is for you, Ananda, thank you so much for doing all you have done, for us students. Your willingness to impart knowledge, your selflessness and your ability to stimulate and inspire. We will always remember you very dearly, and for me, especially so…. THANK YOU.
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Pushpa Thambipillai, Senior Lecturer, Public Policy and Administration, University of Brunei:
It is a great loss to all of us who knew him. He was a simple yet warm and sincere individual. And the best I will remember him by is his humour; he always had a word or two that brought smiles to our face. And I always asked him for more jokes, even over the phone from Brunei this past September. Farewell dear Ananda.
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Amanda Wise and Selvaraj Velayutham, Centre for Research on Social Inclusion, Macquarie University, Australia:
I got to know Ananda when I came to the Asia Research Institute as a visiting fellow with my husband, Dr Selvaraj Velayutham, last year. My husband had known Ananda since he was a PhD student. We spent many an evening with Professor Rajah eating seafood, drinking and solving the problems of the world together. We became quite close by the end of our three month stay.
We will remember him as a wonderful, lively and very likeable character, and also as a great scholar. He was one of a dying school of well rounded traditional scholars. He always seemed to know so much about just about everything! His reputation spanned far beyond Singapore’s borders. We wanted you to know that he has many friends and colleagues here in Australia who will all mourn his passing.
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Alfred Choi, Associate Professor, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, NTU:
I am so sorry to hear the sad news of Ananda. It was a shock to me when Eddie Kuo came to my office to inform me of passing away of a dear ex-colleague. It is hard to believe such a nice man and friendly professor passing away at this young age. Those were the days when we used to hang around the rear corridor area puffing away and chattering. Although Ananda has left us, those fond memories will remain.
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James Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology, Yale University, USA:
I was very fond of Ananda and his large-spiritedness. I learned gradually to respect and admire the high quality of this work (I know it especially as it concerns the Karen) which he managed to carry on wonderfully behind a ‘devil may care’ facade. So, to paraphrase our poet e.e.cummings, “How do you like your blue-eyed boy, Mr. Death?” I hope in my own work to please Ananda’s ghost.
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Geoffrey Benjamin, Associate Professor, Sociology, NTU:
Ananda: an appreciation
My close association with Ananda goes back well over thirty years. It was my special privilege to have him in my classes in two different universities. He took several courses with me, including his Honours thesis, back at the Bukit Timah campus; later, he took at least one of my classes at ANU in Canberra. I was delighted when we eventually became colleagues.
In a sense, Ananda was already a colleague while he was still a student. I regularly fall back on the discoveries he had made in the anthropological literature and which he recommended to me. The adventurous intellectual spirit that everyone recognised in him was there from the beginning: widely read, philosophically rigorous, yet never pompous or closed off.
I was on the committee at ANU in the late 1970s that decided the award of PhD scholarships. When Ananda’s application came up, I withdrew from the discussion, confident that his special qualities would not need any partisan support from me. The decision to award him a scholarship was, as I expected, unanimous. More recently, his award of a special anthropological fellowship in the UK, in the face of wide international competition, was further proof of his qualities as a scholar and researcher.
Ananda’s researches in Thailand, and his more recent studies on Burma (unavoidably from the outside), involved him in the sort of culturally and linguistically ‘mixed’ situations that are difficult to manage. But in making such a choice, he was also extending his own very cosmopolitan background. He spoke English, Malay, Hokkien, Thai, Karen, and probably some other languages I don’t know about. (In my ‘Language’ class at ANU, he once gave a devastating analysis of Hokkien obscenities as used in the Singapore army.)
Added to his first-hand experience of a wide range of religions, and a highly developed sense of the macro-political dimension behind daily life, this made him as thoroughly both Singaporean and Southeast Asian, in real terms, as it was possible for any one person to be. His love for the region, commented on by others, was certainly not uncritical, but it was deeply felt. This was apparent yet again a few weeks ago when I worked with him in a small way on preparing the Singapore Foods display at the National Museum. His meticulous concern to get things right, combined with a delight in the foods themselves, was obvious. And of course, he was not only an excellent companion at dinner; he was also a first-class cook of Southeast Asian dishes.
It is clear from what has been said in the last two days that Ananda was greatly appreciated by his colleagues and his students. This confirms what Vivienne wrote in an email this morning: ‘He was such a nice guy’. I still remember how, in 1976, Ananda spent the whole day driving me selflessly around Singapore so that I could tie up the loose ends before joining ANU the next day. He leaves a big hole in our lives.
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Angelique Chan, Assistant Professor, Sociology, NUS:
Ananda had the most beautiful smile. He was completely gracious and had an intensity about him that left no doubt that he was a scholar and a man of honor. I will miss him greatly.
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James Jesudason, Associate Professor of Liberal Arts and International Studies, Colorado School of Mine, USA:
It is very difficult for me to pen these few words about my good, old friend because so many feelings, thoughts, and memories bombard my mind when I think about his passing. My relationship with Ananda was not just a personal one; it extended to our families getting together from time to time and having a wonderful time. These times were filled with banter and teasing, the generous flow of spirits, and occasionally, serious intellectual talk, which one couldn’t avoid with Ananda. I had always imagined in my future “must-do” list that Judy, my boys, and I would meet up again with Ananda, Elizabeth, “little” Adam, and Scarlet some day. This nice, warm picture has been shattered, and my deepest thoughts are with Elizabeth, Adam and Scarlet. How much he would express his love for his wife and kids during some of our private moments together!
Always welcoming in his office, Ananda was one person I could go and talk to about ideas for ideas sake. He delighted in the twist and turns of an argument, whether it was about religion, ethnicity or something so far afield as state security. One always waited to see that twinkle in his eye, as Daniel also noted, when Ananda saw the promising possibilities of some idea being tossed around. He was so unlike many academics I know who needed to write voluminously to fatten the CV. Ananda, in a way I do not fully understand, loved Southeast Asia, its languages, its people, and its contradictions. I once got a thorough scolding from him for not behaving in a “Southeast Asian way”! His intellectual efforts were first and foremost to give vent to his deep curiosity and attachment to Southeast Asia, and his writings were deeply analytical, playful, and always elegant and original. He enriched my stay in NUS, and I will always be grateful for crossing paths with this most engaging human being.
Ananda was a Singaporean in the best way possible. He was multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and cosmopolitan, who enjoyed his food and delighted in cooking for his friends. Perhaps he was not so Singaporean in his drinking, smoking, and mischievous sense of humor, but as a package, he was unique, complex, razor sharp, kind, and thoroughly likable. I will miss him acutely.
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Habibul Khondker, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE:
Yesterday minutes after his collapse when I got the emails from Anne, Sonia and Mizan I did not know what to say. I have passed on this distressing news to Zaheer yesterday asking him to forward it to James.
Ananda Rajah was one of the kindest persons I have ever met. He showed interest in working in the Gulf. I talked to him in his almost empty office during my visit to Singapore last Summer. He was in his usual self – friendly, generous and full of good humor.
A brilliant social scientist, he was gem of a man. I have never seen him in a grumpy mood despite everything. I fondly remember his presentation along with James Jesudason and Zaheer Baber to a large group of Junior College Students on what was sociology some years back. The straight-faced students fell over each other laughing their hearts out – that was vintage Ananda. He once described “Sociologists as western men studying fellow western white and black men and women” and “Anthropologists as western women studying native men”. His sense of humor was endless. So was his love for scholarship and life. I learned so much from him. He was a great friend to his students, He would often ask me to see him at his favorite drinking hole in Holland Village, an invitation I took up only once. One lesson I learned from him is to be generous with time while meeting students.
He always had my highest regard as a scholar and a guide and he will remain in my memories as a generous soul.
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Zaheer Baber, Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, Canada,
It all seems so unreal. At 4am on Tuesday (Toronto time), I woke up feeling very uneasy. I checked my email to find the shocking, sad message from Habib. For much of time at NUS, Ananda and I had offices on the same floor. I would invariably run into him and his impish smile that would light up his eyes. Every chat with him was a feast, particularly because, unlike most academics, Ananda was completely unencumbered with, to borrow Max Weber’s words, “convulsive self-importance”. His wit, his wry sense of humour and above all of course, his permanent but sincere impish smile so evident in the picture on the Sociology Department website. I took that picture and no, he did not pose! As a genuinely sincere person, he was incapable of posing.
In addition to his cultivation of the life of the mind, I will always remember Ananda for his sense of humour. For a number of years at NUS, he and I were responsible for producing the departmental handbook listing all the course outlines, schedule of classes etc. Impressed by the prevalence of acronyms for almost everything in Singapore, I naturally put in TBA for the lecture room locations that had not yet been announced. Ananda came in one day and said “Zaheer, putting in TBA is probably not a good idea!”. I went, “Really? Why not?”. He smiled impishly and said, “I bet many students will end up searching for the non-existent The Botany Auditorium!” It seems like yesterday when Ananda, James and I talked to the visiting Junior College students, attempting to impress them of the attractions of sociology and anthropology. Ananda had all the students doubling over in laughter. I am sure a lot of them sought admission to the department. His genuinely caring, warm and sincere personality was evident in the manner in which he interacted with children. He always had something nice to say to my three year old Anissa. James’ son Aron was particularly attached to Ananda.
His ready smile notwithstanding, over the past few years Ananda was under considerable stress. Among other things, it was increasingly difficult for him to be away from his wife, and his kids, Adam and Scarlet. My last meeting with Ananda was during the farewell party at Ho Kong Chong’s house. The image of Ananda there is how I will always remember him: imbibing his favourite beer, puffing away and surrounded by sincere, good friends who, amazingly enough, happened to be colleagues too. I will always remember Ananda as a sincere, non-egotistical, non-careerist, genuinely warm, and caring scholar with a great sense of humour and taste for good beer. In fact, I always jokingly called him the Carl S. Berg Professor of Sociology. I was looking forward to having beer with him this “summer”. I miss you a lot Ananda.
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Stephen Appold, Senior Research Associate at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, UNC Kenan-Flagler:
I have many memories of Ananda but let me relate just two that, although minor moments in the flow of time, are especially vivid to me.
The first, shared by many others, is standing in the third floor stairwell back with Ananda, both of us leaning slightly over the ledge while he was smoking, in a not quite serious conversation. My best memory of doing so took place several years ago when some on-campus cell group decided to use the area immediately outside the bathroom as a meeting point. The possibility that the group chose the spot to discourage his smoking only encouraged Ananda.
My favorite Ananda moment, however, occurred on the service balcony of James Jesudason’s Kent Vale apartment. James and Judy invited a number of people over for the evening. Ananda took a cigarette break. With a beer can in one hand and a cigarette in another he sat on a wicker chair next to the washing machine. My daughter Lindsay, then perhaps five or six, began to interrogate Ananda about his bad habits – especially the smoking. This probably went on for five to ten minutes with Ananda unable to defend himself against Lindsay’s arguments but laughing good naturedly through the whole thing.
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Jasmine Chan:
I am completely shocked by the news, and really sad, especially when I saw the picture of Ananda surrounded by students doing what he does best – teaching. I just can’t imagine not seeing him again.
Somehow when you leave a place, you keep a static mental picture of the place, and Ananda was always one of the steadfast figures I see in my mind when I think of the Sociology Department. I have never had the privilege of having him as a teacher, but as a new and untried lecturer I was fortunate enough to have taught with him on those 101 courses where he would provide guidance in his quiet way.
Written words are so inadequate during times like these. All I can say to his family – so very sincerely – is that I am so sorry for their loss.
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Carole Faucher, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand:
I would like to offer my deepest condolences to Ananda’s family members and to all my friends and former colleagues at NUS. I remember Ananda as a cheerful person, a sharp scholar and a wonderful human beings loved by everyone. He will be missed greatly.
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Chan Kwok Ban, Selina Chan and Gina Lai, Hong Kong Baptist University and Hong Kong Shue Yan College:
We were shocked and were indeed depressed by the sad news. Ananda is such a mild-tempered gentleman, unassuming, polite, warm and always with an easy smile. We have vivid pictures of him; his cheerfulness and good sense of humor have made deep impressions on us. He is not afraid to make his views heard, often doing it with firmness and convictions but always willing to listen and to understand. His rare combination of intellectual sharpness and good-naturedness makes him stand out as a great friend, a colleague many would enjoy to have. The department of sociology at NUS will have to take years to complete their grief work.
For Kwok Bun, Ananda was his next door neighbour when he first came to NUS to teach in 1987, indeed a welcoming, warm-hearted neighbour. Kwok Bun could sometimes hear in his own room Ananda’s moans and groans which, now in retrospect, are all enchanting sounds. He will miss Ananda.
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Carl Grundy-Warr, Senior Lecturer, Geography, NUS:
Just before he left for Christmas with family in the UK I met with him and one of my PhD students, Tan Poh Mui (May). Ananda had done a fantastic job – intellectually challenging and constructively encouraging – as May’s thesis examiner. Her thesis is on four small fishing villages in Pattani Bay in a time of great political upheaval. Ananda was sharp, exact and inspiring! We were actually celebrating the fact that May had completed her thesis revisions and (re)submitted. Today, irony of ironies that official letter of the conferment of her degree came through, just one minute before reading your news of Ananda’s untimely death.
During that uplifting pre-Christman meeting we remembered our research journeys in the 1990s to the Thai – Myanmar borderlands, our work with the Karenni refugees, and many fond memories of quietly taking in the small villages, countryside and places we both knew so well in Mae Hong Son. I told Ananda that he should consider a semi-retirement in Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai after NUS. He thought about it carefully and snorted (laughter) saying that he would certainly contemplate it!
Ananda believed in detailed ethnographic involvement and research commitment over long periods of time. For a researcher like him the new era of “publish fast or be damned” was not quite his style, and perhaps even less to his liking. His knowledge of the Karen language and culture was very impressive to me when I first got to know him. His engagement with and sensitivity to differing ethnicities and cultures was consistent throughout his career. His deep concern for the (geo)political predicament of the Karens living in Myanmar’s easternmost states is reflected in his writing. Some of this stemmed from having a close association with his old supervisor from ANU, Gehan Wijeyewardene, whom I also shared some time with in the mid-1990s. Ananda wrote a wonderful tribute to his old comrade and friend in The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology (Volume 2, number 1, May 2001). Gehan was a colourful, vibrant intellect whose work was as varied as his own life. He did something few scholars would have time, passion or patience for these days, translating Khamman Khonkhai’s “Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp” about a teacher living in a remote Isaan village, which was later made into an accalimed film. Gehan and Ananda shared a huge and rich interest for this region. It is quite shocking news that Ananda is following his intellectual mentor and dear old friend so soon!
Just a couple of weeks ago I printed out “Political Assassination by Other Means: Public Protest, Sorcery and Morality in Thailand”, a fascinating article, and one that castes a very different light on contemporary nation-state making.
And in our pre-Christmas get-together, a happy occasion, for this event brought Ananda and I back together as old friends after some “distance”, and particularly following what was for us a hard teaching semester, we talked about rekindling some of our former work and were actually planning to meet up in northern Thailand during the next Field Studies module!
Ananda has many friends in Chiang Mai. Today, I shall contact them with this sad news.
Last night I thought about this meeting, our discussions about retracing old steps, and those displaced people we met, carrying such tragedies, sorrows, yet with enormous dignity.
We’ve lost a dear friend and colleague.
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Liang Yongjia and Aga Zuoshi, Sociology, NUS:
We are tremendously saddened by Ananda’s departure. In Singapore, he is our best friend. He helps us in our difficult time. He inspires us with his great mind. Most importantly, he teaches us with his upright life. Ananda makes Singapore lovely. We miss him so much! With tears, we will dedicate our work to him, Ananda, the greatest man we ever meet.
At this moment, I don’t know what to say. Ananda gives me so much, and I even don’t have a chance to tell him. Exactly at the moment of his passing away (2:30p.m.), I was in the street. Suddenly, I felt very sick, and rushed to the hospital. The doctor tested my blood and decided I caught a cold. Aga said in her society, people believe this happens between friends: when one dies, the other will feel very uncomfortable.
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Alberto Gomes, Senior Lecturer and Program Convenor, Sociology/Anthropology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia:
I am sitting here in a state of shock. I have tears in my eyes. Ananda was a wonderful person. One of my postgraduate students, Charlotte Setijadi, met with him recently and commented about his generosity. Charlotte just emailed me upon hearing about Ananda’s passing and had this to say: “I was very sad although I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to encounter this kind man.” I first met Ananda in 1981 at ANU and I recall being instantly drawn to him by his gentleness and affability. He is such a likeable person. I have always been impressed with his scholarship and that’s why I nominated him to be one of the examiners for my postgraduate student who is about to submit her thesis on Laos. I grieve the loss of a colleague and friend who will be sadly missed.
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Vincent Chua, Graduate Student, Sociology, Toronto, Canada:
I am greatly saddened by the sudden passing of a wonderful colleague. Professor Ananda taught me in 2001, a graduate course on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations. I looked forward to every class not just for the learning but more so, the privilege of sitting under the mentorship and guidance of a very pleasant and gentle man. There was one class, after my presentation which I struggled through, that Ananda came up to me and said I did a very good job. He was so sincere and encouraging, I was moved with gratitude. I will greatly miss Professor Ananda, a man whom I have learnt many important lessons on how to be a warm-hearted man.
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Haydon Cherry, Graduate Student, History, Yale University, USA:
I knew Professor Rajah only as an undergraduate in his class on society and culture in Southeast Asia. It was one of the most important classes I took. In his quiet but animated voice, Professor Rajah conveyed both his deep feeling for Southeast Asia and an enormous sense of fun and intellectual mischief. It was in his class that I was introduced to the the richness of Southeast Asian anthropology and some of the writings of scholars such as Edmund Leach, Clifford Geertz, and Stanley Tambiah.
Professor Rajah had a great ability to convey the richness and complexity of argument, but also the fact that in the end they might all be a bit silly. It was better to go and see and experience the way other peoples did things.
I did not know Professor Rajah well, but I am sorry that others will now no longer have the privilege of taking his classes. He was a fine, fine teacher.
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Desmond Lim, Section Head, Business School, Temasek Polytechnic:
Will always remember you as a sharp and open intellectual with a pleasant disposition and open mind. You were open to our ideas and provided constructive feedback. I enjoyed your sharing about your experiences in Thailand as well as life’s lessons. You had made the classroom real and will be dearly missed.
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Grace Tan Swu Yi, Teaching Assistant, Sociology, NUS:
I am deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Prof Ananda Rajah. It was the enthusiasm he showed towards my research that had placed me firmly onto the path of anthropology, and it was his encouragement that had fired me to go on even when the path has become rocky. We mourn greatly the departure of this great man. He was a mentor, an unassuming intellectual, and a man with a big heart. The void he left, no one can ever replace. In the words of W.H. Auden,
… The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun…
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Sonia Ambrosio de Nelson, Graduate Student, Sociology, NUS:
My thoughts and prayers are with professor Ananda’s family, friends, students and the staff of the department of sociology. His is a very sad and premature departure. Despite our brief encounters as a student, I will be forever grateful for his attention, time and positive comments. Professor Ananda will be greatly missed.
As the poem says,
The tide recedes, but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand.
The sun goes down, but gentle warmth still lingers in the land,
The music stops, and yet it echoes on in sweet refrains…
For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains.
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Anthony Reid, Director, Asia Research Institute, NUS:
He was an exceptionally likeable, obliging and humane person, of the rare kind who restores faith in the academic system as a sympathetic and caring environment.
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Surin Maisrikrod, Senior Lecturer, Political Science Department, James Cook University, Australia:
Ananda was one of the closest friends of mine when I was working in Singpore between 1991-95. He indeed remained so after even after I moved to Australia. He was always very understanding, generous and helpful to me and my family. My family and I had a good time together when we all stopped over in Singapore two years ago. The kids still remember him very well. We once had a good fortune of receiving him here in Townsville, Australia. I consider meeting Ananda and having him as my friend as one of the best things in my life. I truely miss him very much. I hope that Adam and Scarlet and Elizabeth are coping well with this great loss.
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Tim Yap Fuan, Hashimah Johari, Gabriel Yeo, Thavamani Kumar, Hayati Abdul, Vimala Nambiar, NUS Library:
We are all very saddened to hear of Ananda’s passing, He was a familiar sight in the library. We at the Central Library will remember him for his kind manners and gentlemanly ways.
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Cheryl Tan Shiling, Graduate Student, Sociology, NUS
I always have fond memories of my SC1101E lectures taught by Ananda as that marked the beginning of my journey to unravel the wonders of Sociology and it is without a doubt that he is an inspirational figure in my academic life. A lively lecturer dressed in his blue shirt with rolled up sleeves, neatly tucked into his faded jeans. I will never forget this first impression that was etched in my mind and his distinctly unique “blue- jeans- cool- lecturer” image.
I certainly enjoyed every moment of his lectures which were filled with surprises as he never fails to entertain with his witty jokes and intellectual comments. I will never forget his gracious smile, his patience, the warm greetings and genuine concern he had for his students. His dedication in his work and excellent teaching is admirable. I will always remember you , the way you stood at the stairwell as you flipped through your book, the times when you twirled your specs and listened intently to our class presentations and those laughter and joy you shared with your students. Thank you for the lessons you shared and all your invaluable advice. I will miss you…
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Daniel Goh, Assistant Professor, Sociology, NUS
The sudden departure of Ananda saddens me tremendously. He was a mainstay of the department, a colleague whose presence you cherished and took for granted. His fast and quiet pacing down the corridor with a shy greeting and an occasional mischievous twinkle in the eye, his reading breaks near the washroom with his thoughts supplicating reason through the smoke, his paradoxically soft-spoken sonorous voice warming the chilly silence of academia – these will be sorely missed.
He was my teacher first and opened my mind to a vista of anthropological knowledge. His intellectual curiosity led him into many tangents and detours, but when he was focused on the logical rigor of an argument, he was a formidable philosopher. Ever keen for a good debate, he made for an excellent intellectual foe. Most importantly, he had the modesty and honesty of a great teacher, eager to point to both shortcomings and strengths. When I woke up this morning, I realized I’ve lost my greatest fan.
He had lately become a friend. The time was way too short for me to appreciate him in all his humanity. He was always an engaging conversationalist, his witty commentaries on life sometimes peeled open windows of existential insights and sometimes revealed a little of his prejudices. Like everyone, he had his dark side and hid it well, surfacing as bits of frustration and, perhaps, desolation in the final hours of a long night of musings about the meaning of it all. Otherwise, he was genuinely concerned, wise and never patronizing. I will miss him dearly, I already do.
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Taken by Alexius Pereira, Sociology, NUS, 10/1/07
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Please email Daniel Goh at socgohd@nus.edu.sg to contribute or comment.
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