Goh Keng Swee (Dr) (b. 6 October 1918, Malacca, Malaysia – d. 14 May 2010, Singapore) has often been called the "economic architect" of Singapore, contributing greatly in shaping the development of Singapore into a prosperous nation as Minister for Finance and Minister of Defence. He held several other key appointments, including Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education, and chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and various government-led companies.
Early lifeBorn 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 (1927–1936) and later at Raffles College (1936–1939).
Armed with a diploma in arts, he entered the colonial civil service in 1939, but 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. During his stay in London, he started the Malayan Forum, an anti-colonial political group, with some fellow students including Lee Kuan Yew and Toh Chin Chye. Goh became its first chairman.
In 1951, he graduated from LSE with a first class honours in economics and won the William Farr Prize. 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.
CareerAfter the Japanese Occupation, Goh joined the Social Welfare Department, where he attained the position of director in 1958. During his time in the colonial civil service, he formed the Council for Joint Action together with K. M. Byrne to seek equal pay for Asian civil servants.
In 1959, he resigned from the civil service and contested 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 until his retirement from politics in 1984. He led various ministries during critical periods in Singapore's history, introducing bold measures to tackle issues in the economy and in the areas of defence and education.
Major accomplishmentsAppointed Minister for Finance in 1959, he introduced an industrialisation programme with the aim of creating jobs for Singaporeans. Jurong, a swampy wasteland at the time, was transformed 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 established in August 1961 with the purpose of furthering the economic development of Singapore by attracting foreign investments.
When Singapore attained 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 implemented compulsory national service for all male Singaporeans above 18 years old.
During his term as Minister of Education, the importance of curriculum development in the education system prompted him to set up the Curriculum Development Institute. To arrest 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 promote Singapore as an international financial centre. To this end, in 1984, amendments 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 downward slide 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 appointed to such a role.
In 1985, the Singapore government awarded 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’s wife Phua Swee Liang set up the Goh Keng Swee Foundation in 2008 to help the disadvantaged.
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