KUALA LUMPUR: Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong paid tribute to India’s Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, highlighting the enduring relevance of the poet’s timeless message of compassion and inclusion.
Quoting a line from one of Tagore’s famous works ‘Gitanjali’ – “Pride can never approach to where thou walkest in the clothes of the humble among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost,“ Sim noted that the verse had been central to both his personal philosophy and his ministry.
“The verse has been one of the guiding values for the Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA) and for myself, and since my appointment almost a year ago in December last year, it has been my commitment to embrace and empower the poorest, the lowliest, and the lost,” he said.
He said this in his address at the Life At Work Awards (LAWA) 2024, held recently, with the theme of ‘Old Malaya’.
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Tagore was a Bengali poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter, widely recognised for his contributions to the Bengal Renaissance.
His work, which influenced Bengali literature, music, and Indian art through Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, for which he received a gold medal featuring the image of Alfred Nobel, a personalised Nobel diploma, and prize money.
Sim recalled Tagore’s visit to Malaya in 1927, where the poet journeyed through Singapore, Muar, Melaka, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang receiving a warm reception from large crowds.
“Everywhere he went, he gave public lectures, recited poetry, and was greeted reverently by large crowds of fans and followers.
“After all, just 14 years before his arrival in Malaya, he became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature,” he said.
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Sim said ‘Gitanjali’, Tagore’s famous collection of poems that earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, was central to the former’s reflections on the power of literature to shape both personal and societal progress.
“I don’t understand Bengali, but sometimes I listen to Gitanjali (English version) in a song on YouTube. The lyrics are very beautiful, and the tune is lovely as well,” he added.
