What will Dr Goh think of the state of socio-economic affairs in Singapore today?
I know Dr Goh when I was still a child by his Cantonese name (Ng Heng Shue) as the MP of Kreta Ayer, the constituency that Chinatown belonged to in those days. My father told me that he was a PhD in Economics and that sounded great to me although I did not know what economics was about and what this man was really doing for Singapore. However, my little brain has a good memory for storing vital information. So when I was choosing my subject combination for my pre-university (the old form of junior college) course in 1976, I promptly included economics as one of the subjects because I thought following Dr Goh cannot go wrong.
My respect for Dr Goh grew over the years as I matured from an economics student to a fund manager at GIC and then a senior financial executive at global investment banks. When I was an economics student in Tokyo, I was constantly asked by my Japanese schoolmates and friends about Singapore, so I started to read more. The more I read, the more I was inspired by Dr Goh as the tireless socio-economic architect of Singapore.
I was lucky to be able to see him in action when I joined GIC just a few months before his full retirement from public service, although I was not lucky enough to have the opportunity to work under him.
Such was my intriguing โrelationshipโ with Dr Goh, just a little glimpse of him; yet there seems to be cosmic medium between us, for me to relate what I am doing on a small scale to the great work that he has done for Singapore.
My respect for Dr Goh grew even more when I took up a leadership role at one of our leading local stockbrokers. I had steered the stockbroking company through the Asian Currency Crisis, and then transformed it, first, by scale through mergers and acquisitions and second, by changing its business model, introducing online trading and wealth management to the remisier sales force that was resistant to change.
Through that six-year change management experience, I became enlightened by the secrets of Dr Gohโs leadership and management.
๐๐๐ง๐จ๐ฉ ๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ช๐ฉ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ข.
Many corporate executives try to use the same old rule book. Hence the clichรฉ, โif it ainโt broke, why change itโ. However, when you want to climb to the next level of excellence, you must have the guts to venture into unchartered territory.
Dr Goh did that in 1961 when he pushed through the First State Development Plan (1961-65) in 1961. The total development amount was $871M. In keeping with his prudent financial management principles, $360M which was raised from the sale of state assets was used to build HDB flats and other social infrastructure; and $511M which was borrowed money was used to build Jurong Town and other economic infrastructure of an industrial estate because these are investments that will generate clear economic benefits.
As a breakthrough plan is often considered risky by conventional thinking and many public servants who do not want to move out of their comfort zone would resist it, Dr Gohโs plans were met with a host of resistance and skepticism.
However, despite being dubbed โGohโs Follyโ at the beginning, Jurong Town was established by 1968 when 150 factories successfully operated there. The rest was history.
๐๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐, ๐ ๐จ๐๐ฉ ๐ค๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ก๐ช๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ๐ก๐๐จ.
Dr Goh believed that the Government should nurture the private sector but never to lead it. According to him, โโฆ..the free enterprise system, correctly nurtured and adroitly handled, can serve as a powerful and versatile instrument of economic growth. (However) One of the tragic illusions that many countries of the Third World entertain is the notion that politicians and civil servants can successfully perform entrepreneurial functionsโฆ.โ 1
๐๐๐๐ง๐, ๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐๐จ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ข๐ข๐ค๐ฃ ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐.
Dr Goh considered every issue and policy in detail from many angles but he ensured that the conclusions are rooted in common sense.
In a big GIC meeting with him, a Western expert had talked for an hour on how portfolio insurance techniques could be applied to the management of our sovereign assets before Dr Goh asked a simple common sense question, โAre you sure that the insurance mechanism still work when there is a systemic collapseโ and that guy turned speechless.
๐๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ฉ๐, ๐ฅ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ก๐จ.
Dr Goh was a diligent manager who paid attention to details. He does not micro-manage but check the progress of the various projects very closely. He believes in the management clichรฉ, โwhatever that is not checked, will not be doneโ.
This โattention to detailsโ attitude will affect the quality of the people working with him too. If someone does not have the ability and attitude, he would not dare to join Dr Gohโs team. Hence Dr Goh always has the best and committed people around him.
๐๐๐๐ฉ๐, ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐จ ๐ก๐๐๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐๐ฉ
Dr Goh was reputed to be an avid and voracious reader.2 He would read good publications on many topics โ world affairs, history, military technology, education, classical music and many others.
Every time he started on building one aspect of Singapore, and this stretches from finance, industrialization, banking system, SAF and national service, education, and GIC, to name the main ones, he would do a lot of learning on his own first. And after he has decided what to do, he will appoint suitable Singaporeans to head the initiative.
So what will Dr Goh think about the state of socio-economic affairs in Singapore today? From his leadership style and guiding principles and the many speeches that he had made, we can fathom the following…..
๐๐๐ง๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฎ, ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐๐๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ง 40%3 ๐ค๐ ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ค๐ฉ๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐ค๐ง๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐ค๐ฅ๐ช๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ.
As early as 1972, he had said, โLast year, we had to import more than 40,000 workers from Malaysia. This year the figure is likely to be around 60,000. And we shall continue to need them if we continue to grow fastโฆ. The question that we must answer sooner or later is this: โWhen do we stop growing?โโฆโฆ Because of our limited land area, industrial expansion together with the concomitant population expansion with the import of foreign labour and new citizens, it will result in overcrowding to increasingly uncomfortable limits.โ4
He even cautioned the tourist numbers. โโฆ. can we keep on growing (tourist number) forever? โฆ. sooner or later, as the Singaporean finds that he gets crowded out by overseas visitors in available places for recreation and relaxation, he will wonder whether all this is really a good bargain. What I am proposing is that we should look closely at the long-term problems which will arise from limitation of space, slow growth of population, and the requirements of our own citizens when they have to compete with the demands of the overseas visitors.โ5
๐๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ฎ, ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐๐ค๐๐ช๐จ ๐ข๐ค๐ง๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐๐๐ฃ ๐พ๐ค๐ง๐.
He believes that, โWe should not lose sight of the principal objective โ that is, to ensure that our sole natural resource, productive labour by brain and brawn, is used to the maximum advantage.โ6 Interestingly, he mentioned brawn also and I think it is equally good policy to attract some Singaporeans to be general construction workers provided they are paid well and have the opportunities to work their way up. This compares with the unhealthy situation now when we cannot close our borders to fend off the Covid-19 health risk because we are completely dependent on foreign work permit holders to do the construction work.
๐๐๐๐ง๐, ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ค๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐ช๐ง-๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ.
โDr Goh was a firm believer of the free enterprise system. That was why the Government did not manage the enterprises that it had co-invested in. Instead, he set up Temasek Holdings to take over the ownership and management of the Government start-up companies. According to Dr Goh, the Government as a policy maker, should not be shareholders of the companies it had initiated. Dr Gohโs view was that the Government should only provide the necessary support โฆ.โ 7
How I wish Dr Goh is still here to advise us on how to tackle the current problems of low productivity growth, dearth of innovation and entrepreneurship, struggling Temasek-linked companies, escalating healthcare costs and social inequality.
What will Dr Gohโs advice be on how to transform Singapore into a digital economy run by highly skilled, financially secured and motivated Singaporeans with the help of a much smaller pool of foreign talents.
However, I can also sense what he is going to say, โnot to worry, you can do it because Kuan Yew and us have laid down a strong foundation for you, don’t squander the opportunities away by doing nothing or doing the same old thing over and over again.โ
Dr Goh, we shall not fail you and you will forever be in the hearts and minds of Singaporeans.
For Country, for People.
Footnotes and references:
1. Goh Keng Swee, Preface, โThe Economics of Modernizationโ, Federal Publications, 1972
2. Phua Swee Liang, p11, โGoh Keng Swee, Public Figure Private Manโ, 2013
3. Total labour force in 2019 was 3.74 million, of which 2.33 million were residents (MOM Yearbook of Manpower Statistics Table A1, 2020).
https://stats.mom.gov.sg/…/Singapore-Yearbook-Of…
4. Goh Keng Swee, p23, โThe Practice of Economic Growthโ, Federal Publications, 1977
5. Goh Keng Swee, p92, โThe Practice of Economic Growthโ, Federal Publications, 1977
6. Goh Keng Swee, p131, โThe Practice of Economic Growthโ, Federal Publications, 1977
7. Phua Swee Liang, p30, โGoh Keng Swee, Public Figure Private Manโ, 2013
