Original sentence: During his tenure as foreign minister of Singapore, Rajaratnam was one of the five 'Founding Fathers' of ASEAN in 1967.During his term, he implemented tough labour laws to attempt to restore stability in the Singaporean economy and attracted multinational corporations to invest in Singapore.He was also actively involved in organising major political campaigns against Singaporean groups on the far left.Throughout his political career, Rajaratnam played a key role in the successive pragmatic and technocratic People's Action Party governments that radically improved Singapore's economic situation, alongside huge developments in social development on the island with massive expansion of healthcare programmes, pensions, state housing and extremely low unemployment.When Rajaratnam joined the Singaporean People's Action Party in 1959, he became popular among his supporters for being able to effectively follow the 'mood of the people'
Edited sentence: During his tenure as foreign minister of Singapore, Rajaratnam was one of the five Founding Fathers of ASEAN in 1967.During his term he implemented tough labour laws to restore stability in Singapore and attracted multinational corporations to invest in Singapore.He was also actively involved in organising major political campaigns against the Communists and communal extremists.The vision he and the Old Guard leaders had for Singapore was critical in steering the direction of Singapore's development.This is well underlined by his following statement:.Throughout his political career, Rajaratnam played a key role in leading Singapore from the uncertainities of the 1960s to new peaks of prosperity from the 1980s onwards.We believe in a democratic society by governments freely and periodically elected by the people ... We believe, in the virtue of hard work and that those who work harde society should be given greater rewarrds ... We believe that the world does not owe us a living and that we have to earn our keep.When Rajaratnam joined the PAP in 1959, he stood out for his ability to understand the changing mood of the people