I think both of them are good role models for us, their contributions to Singapore should be carved in one's mind. Actually, I do not really understand what their achievements are. Are their contributions that help in the development of Singapore counted as their achievements or are their academics and awards counted as their achievements? What I think are their achievements is things that they should be proud of, things they made them proud about.
My Reflection
I think Dr. Goh Keng Swee creation of Jurong as an industrial hub is simply fantastic. From a swampy and wasteland to industrial hub, he must be very determined. Yet problems that arise bring out even more of his creativity. I think that the Economic Development Board (EBD) was a very clever idea. The EBD, created with the purpose of furthering the economic development of Singapore by attracting foreign investments. Also, the idea of forming Singapore Armed Force (SAF) is amazing. As Singapore population is not as much as other country, our soldiers are limited, therefore making national service compulsory for all male Singaporeans above the age of 18 ir brilliant. If we do not protect our own country, who will? I think that we should learn from him his perseverance, intelligence and his other good characteristics. Mr. S Rajaratnam had overcome or erase the doubts at first about the legitimacy of Singapore’s birth prove me that he has strong leadership which came from his ability to make other believe him and his confidence. I think we should learn from him his leadership and his other good characteristics.
In your opinion, who contribute more to Singapore’s progress, explain your answer.
I think both of them contributed greatly in the development of Singapore. But if I really had to choose, I think Dr. Goh Keng Swee contributed more to Singapore’s progress compared to Mr. S Rajaratnam. Dr. Goh Keng Swee , being the First Finance Minister and later as the First Defence Minister had put in a lot of effort in shaping the development of Singapore into a prosperous nation. Among his most notable contributions was the creation of Jurong as an industrial hub when at that time, Jurong was just a swampy wasteland. The formation of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) was also one of the most notable contributions and so were the Economic Development Board (EDB), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and the Government Investment Corporation (GIC). All these key pillars of Singapore’s success bear the imprint of Dr. Goh Keng Swee.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Dr. Goh Keng Swee
His background
Dr. Goh Keng Swee was born October 6, 1918 in Malacca, Malaysia . He was born into a middle-income Peranakan family in Malacca, he came to Singapore when he was two years old. His early education was at Anglo-Chinese School from 1927 to 1936 and later at Raffles College from 1936 to 1939. Armed with a diploma in arts, he entered the colonial civil service in 1939, however, his career was interrupted by the Japanese Occupation. He rejoined the civil service in 1946 and his outstanding performance earned him a scholarship to study statistics at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1947.He started the Malayan Forum, an anti-colonial political group, with some fellow students including Lee Kuan Yew and Toh Chin Chye during his stay in London. Goh Keng Swee became its first chairman.
He had graduated from LSE with a first class honours in economics and won the William Farr Prize in 1951. He resumed work in the civil service back in Singapore, but later returned to LSE for further studies in 1954 and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1956.
After the Japanese Occupation, Goh Keng Swee joined the Social Welfare Department, where he achieved the position of director in 1958. He formed the Council for Joint Action together with K. M. Byrne to seek equal pay for Asian civil servants during his time in the colonial civil service.
In 1959, he quit the civil service and competed the general elections as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate. He won the Kreta Ayer seat and represented the constituency in the legislative assembly and later the parliament of Singapore till his retirement from politics in 1984. He led various ministries during critical periods in Singapore's history, introducing bold measures to deal with issues in the economy and in the areas of defence and education.
Appointed Minister for Finance in 1959, he introduced an industrialisation programme with the target of creating jobs for Singaporeans. Jurong, a swampy wasteland at the time, was turned into Singapore's first industrial estate. To jumpstart the area’s development, he offered incentives and drew in foreign investments. He also initiated the setting up of the Economic Development Board (EDB), which was made in August 1961 with the purpose of furthering the economic development of Singapore by attracting foreign investments.
When Singapore gained independence on 9 August 1965, he became the first defence minister and saw an urgent need for a strong defence force. To quickly build up the Singapore Armed Forces, he made national service compulsory for all male Singaporeans above 18 years old.
During his term as Minister of Education, the importance of curriculum development in the education system induced him to set up the Curriculum Development Institute. To catch up with the high dropout rates, he introduced streaming in 1980 to allow students to learn at their own pace within their own capabilities. He also introduced religious education but this was later dropped from the school curriculum.
When he was appointed chairman of MAS and the Board of Commissioner of Currency in 1980, he took measures to encourage Singapore as an international financial centre. To this end, in 1984, modifications were made to three major financial regulations, namely the Banking Act, the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act and the Finance Companies Act. During the 1985 recession, he acted swiftly to stop the decreasing of the Singapore dollar.
In the early years of China’s economic reform programme, the Chinese central government sought his expertise and appointed him as its economic adviser on coastal development and tourism in 1985. He was the first foreigner to be selected for such a role.
In 1985, the Singapore government presented him the prestigious Order of Temasek (First Class) for his contributions in the nation’s development. To honour him, the financial community set up the Goh Keng Swee Scholarship Fund in 1992, while the National University of Singapore established the Goh Keng Swee Professorship and Master's Scholarship in Economics in 1996. To preserve his legacy, Goh Keng Swee’s wife Phua Swee Liang set up the Goh Keng Swee Foundation in 2008 to help the disadvantaged.
Goh Keng Swee was diagnosed with bladder cancer in September 1983 and had retired from politics in December 1984. He kept a low profile but remained active with various organisations where he served on the board or as an adviser. After he married Phua Swee Liang in 1991, they travelled widely to places such as Australia and Hawaii. However, a series of strokes in the late 1990s and early 2000s took a heavy toll on him. He was bedridden in his final years and passed away on 14 May 2010
His contribution
He was one of the founding fathers of modern Singapore and is deemed the “economic architect” of Singapore who contributed emphatically in shaping the development of Singapore into a prosperous nation as the first Finance Minister in 1959 and later as the first Defence Minister after Singapore gained independence. Appointed as he Minister of Finance, he turned Jurong which was once a swampy wasteland into Singapore’s first industrial estate. To begin with, he offered incentives and drew in foreign investments. He also initiated the setting up of the Economic Development Board (EDB), which was made in August 1961 with the purpose of furthering the economic development of Singapore by attracting foreign investments. When he was the first Defence Minister, he saw an urgent need for strong defence force and formed the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) making national service compulsory for all male Singaporeans above the age of 18. When he was the Minister of Education, he introduced streaming in 1980 which enable students to learn at their own pace within their own capabilities. His contributions to Singapore were wide, deep and incisive.
Videos: A Tribute to Dr Goh Keng Swee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibzH-tZ3llg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDrKBmWAFGE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfYNf9GhXaw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyy98TZlvq0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlhdAMHV4Vg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPRwCI2nlwc&feature=related
References:
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographyGohKengSwe.htm
http://retrievia.wordpress.com/2008/05/page/2/
http://www.asiaone.com/Wine%252CDine%2B%2526%2BUnwind/Unwind/Books/Story/A1Story20070709-17581.html
http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/highbrowseonline/general/dr-goh-keng-swee-passes-1918-2010/
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_662_2005-01-11.html
http://www.lsesingapore.com/index.php/hall_of_fame/
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographyGohKengSwe.htm
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20100514-216195.html
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Mr S Rajaratnam
His background
Born in 25 February 1915 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, he was only three months old when he was brought back to Seremban, Malaysia where his father rose from being a supervisor of rubber estates to a plantation owner. He began his early education at St Paul's Institution in Seremban. It was at this stage, he became an avid reader with the greatest influence from his uncles who bought him many books. He went on to study at Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur and finally Raffles Institution, Singapore. In 1937, he went to King's College, London to study law. He was too involved in politics as a member of the Marxist Left Book Club and failed to complete his studies.
He worked as a journalist to support himself when financial aid from his father was terminated during the war due to the lack of communication between London and Malaya. He married a Hungarian in 1941 and stayed in London for several years. After the war, they returned to Malaya in 1947. Rajaratnam worked as a journalist in the Malaya Tribune from 1948 to 1950 and left to join theSingapore Standard as an Associate Editor in 1950. From 1954 to 1959, he was the Editorial staff of The Straits Times in Singapore.
As a journalist, he wrote articles related to the political issues in Singapore and Malaya. His open anti-British and anti-Communist stance attracted the attention of Lee Kuan Yew, Toh Chin Chye and Goh Keng Swee, who together with Rajaratnam formed the People's Action Party in 1954.
In 1959, he resigned from The Straits Times to run for the Legislative Assembly seat of Kampong Glam. He was also the first Foreign Affairs Minister after Singapore gained independence in 1965.Rajaratnam together with the former minister Ong Pang Boon, composed the National Pledge with an emphasis on a united and multi-racial society in 1966.
He was also the former Minister for Labour and Culture, the Second Deputy Prime Minister in 1980 till he stepped down in 1985 and became a Senior Minister.
Rajaratnam died peacefully of heart failure on 22 February 2006 at his home in Chancery Lane. He was one of the pioneer leaders who helped in shaping the development of Singapore.
His contribution
He was Singapore’s first and longest serving Foreign Affair Minister and had conceptualized and implemented Singapore together with Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Keng Swee. He had also overcome the doubts at first about the legitimacy of Singapore’s birth. He had made Singapore a strong and valued member of ASEAN. He made many friends in all parts of the world for Singapore. He created a unique tradition for Singapore at the United Nation. He would always deliver a thoughtful and eloquent speech with a single focus each year which has become the hallmark of the annual address by the Singapore foreign minister to the UN General Assembly. He had also composed the National Pledge with an emphasis on a united and multi-racial society in 1966 together with the former minister Ong Pang Boon. He was one of our illustrious founding fathers and the architect if our foreign policy.
Born in 25 February 1915 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, he was only three months old when he was brought back to Seremban, Malaysia where his father rose from being a supervisor of rubber estates to a plantation owner. He began his early education at St Paul's Institution in Seremban. It was at this stage, he became an avid reader with the greatest influence from his uncles who bought him many books. He went on to study at Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur and finally Raffles Institution, Singapore. In 1937, he went to King's College, London to study law. He was too involved in politics as a member of the Marxist Left Book Club and failed to complete his studies.
He worked as a journalist to support himself when financial aid from his father was terminated during the war due to the lack of communication between London and Malaya. He married a Hungarian in 1941 and stayed in London for several years. After the war, they returned to Malaya in 1947. Rajaratnam worked as a journalist in the Malaya Tribune from 1948 to 1950 and left to join theSingapore Standard as an Associate Editor in 1950. From 1954 to 1959, he was the Editorial staff of The Straits Times in Singapore.
As a journalist, he wrote articles related to the political issues in Singapore and Malaya. His open anti-British and anti-Communist stance attracted the attention of Lee Kuan Yew, Toh Chin Chye and Goh Keng Swee, who together with Rajaratnam formed the People's Action Party in 1954.
In 1959, he resigned from The Straits Times to run for the Legislative Assembly seat of Kampong Glam. He was also the first Foreign Affairs Minister after Singapore gained independence in 1965.Rajaratnam together with the former minister Ong Pang Boon, composed the National Pledge with an emphasis on a united and multi-racial society in 1966.
He was also the former Minister for Labour and Culture, the Second Deputy Prime Minister in 1980 till he stepped down in 1985 and became a Senior Minister.
Rajaratnam died peacefully of heart failure on 22 February 2006 at his home in Chancery Lane. He was one of the pioneer leaders who helped in shaping the development of Singapore.
His contribution
He was Singapore’s first and longest serving Foreign Affair Minister and had conceptualized and implemented Singapore together with Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Keng Swee. He had also overcome the doubts at first about the legitimacy of Singapore’s birth. He had made Singapore a strong and valued member of ASEAN. He made many friends in all parts of the world for Singapore. He created a unique tradition for Singapore at the United Nation. He would always deliver a thoughtful and eloquent speech with a single focus each year which has become the hallmark of the annual address by the Singapore foreign minister to the UN General Assembly. He had also composed the National Pledge with an emphasis on a united and multi-racial society in 1966 together with the former minister Ong Pang Boon. He was one of our illustrious founding fathers and the architect if our foreign policy.
Videos:
Rajaratnam's Early Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMcvESy3sxE
Rajaratnam's Ideals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMWsEJ35qL8&feature=related
Rajaratnam's Political/Final Years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S42Ek8m4iyk
References:
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_644_2005-01-10.html
http://viweb.freehosting.net/SRajaratnam.htm http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/highbrowseonline/general/mr-s-rajaratnam/
http://www.spp.nus.edu.sg/ips/docs/pub/pa_tk_Tribute%20to%20S%20Rajaratnam_220206.pdf
http://retrievia.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/page-52/
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