1918 - 2010 Goh Keng Swee - People's Action Party - PAP

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Goh Keng Swee: The Legacy spirit of the great body of people”. This saw the start of National Service for men in 1967. To get things off the ground, he tapped the expertise of the Israelis in a hushhush operation. Building up an army in barely two years was a “minor miracle”, he recalled, full of crash courses, as much for him as those who were to serve in it, and “crisis management was almost a daily occurrence”. “I think without the Israelis, we could not have done it. They kept plugging at it and we kept on learning by trial and error, as much error as trial.” That done, he worked on having an air force. Making bullets It was during his second stint as Defence Minister that Goh focused on developing the defence industry here, which he had begun in 1967 with Chartered Industries of Singapore. He set up the Singapore Mint in the complex, so the plant served both military and civilian markets: The same tool and die workshop made both 5.56mm ammunition for the SAF and the country’s coins. Over the next eight years, more defencerelated companies were opened. These were the predecessors of Singapore Technologies Engineering subsidiaries, and all hold their own in the world market. They build missile gunboats, repair weapons and electronic equipment for the navy, fix trucks and AMX13 tanks for the army, refurbish secondhand US Navy Skyhawk aircraft for the air force, and more. Believing that a small country like Singapore would need an edge in modern warfare, in 1971, he assembled a team of engineers, fresh graduates from top overseas universities, to develop Singapore’s defence technology capabilities. 26 PETIR MAY / JUNE 10 Streaming was introduced to improve children’s academic results. The bird park was inspired by a famous Brazilian aviary. They were the defence R&D professionals and pioneers of today’s DSO National Laboratories. EDUCATION Primary 3 decider As far as Goh was concerned, Singapore’s education system made no sense. So even before he took over the Education Ministry, he gathered a team of Mindef systems engineers to look into it. They were nicknamed the Daring Dozen. It resulted in the Goh Keng Swee Report, which defined the shape of education today. It got straight to the point, beginning: “It has not occurred to many Sin gaporeans how unnatural the present school system is. Most school children are taught in two languages – English and Mandarin. Eightyfive per cent of them do not speak either of these languages at home.” It also highlighted that only 42 per cent of each Primary 1 cohort completed secondary school. Of this, just 16 per cent finished A levels and 6 per cent went on to study at a university or polytechnic. He concluded: “There are three matters or aspects of education which have been neglected in Singapore, possibly as a result of overemphasis on examinations. These three aspects are
(1) creative imagination, (2) character, (3) moral values.” To address the appalling dropout rate, he introduced streaming. Children were assessed as early as Primary 3 and grouped according to their learning ability. Those who needed a slower pace could take seven to eight years for primary school, and five for secondary school. They could also enter a monolingual stream. Dropout rates fell, and children’s academic results improved. To cater to the brightest children, he introduced the Gifted Education Programme, where the top 1 per cent of each cohort’s learning path is accelerated. He went on to deal with raising the professionalism, working conditions and the pay of teachers, and gave school heads more autonomy. Teachers were sent abroad to train, and the Curriculum Development Institute set up to produce quality instructional material. OTHERS Co-operative ventures At the historic seminar to modernise the labour movement in 1969, Goh Keng Swee, ever on the lookout for the welfare of the poor, proposed cooperatives be formed to take care of ordinary workers. NTUC Income, for life insurance, and NTUC Welcome (now Fair Price) for groceries, led the list set up. For the birds A visit to the famed Rio de Janeiro Aviary in Brazil so impressed him, Goh pushed for having something similar here. In arguing for it, he noted: “It is well to concede at the outset that the bird park will not make our society more rugged. It will have negligible effect on the productivity of workers. Its efficacy as a means of tightening social cohesion is also in doubt, as is its contribution to raising cultural or education standards of the population. But it will add to the enjoyment of our citizens, especially our children.” In 1971, one was set up in Jurong. His visit to an underwater world in the Bahamas, led to a similar attraction at Sentosa. Culture vulture Despite his remarks on the dangers of asking the government to feed the soul, Goh did his bit for culture. In 1969, he provided his constituency with a permanent stage for performances. The Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre for Cantonese operas opened in 1969. Best of all, it was funded by private donations. The classical music fan also pushed for a national orchestra, declaring it was a scandal that Singapore did not have one. When an initial request for funds to do so was turned down by the Finance Ministry, he looked abroad to worldrenowned conductor Shalom RonlyRiklis to hatch a plan to change that, and involved his Cabinet colleagues. It worked, and in January 1979, the 41man Singapore Symphony Orchestra gave its first performance. Goh was not able to make it to that debut concert, but managed the next night’s. SEA studies Goh believed that it is vital for policy makers and scholars here to have a good understanding of Singapore’s neighbours. It led to his submitting a stepbystep plan for the setting up of a research body. In 1968, Parliament approved having the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies to study the stability and security, economic development, and political and social developments in the area. CREDITS Goh Keng Swee also played a role in the development of: Institutions/Organisations • Housing Board • Port of Singapore Authority, now PSA Corp • Singapore Institute for Standards and Industrial Research • Singapore Tourist Promotion Board, now Singapore Tourism Board • Temasek Holdings • Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology • Intraco • Neptune Orient Lines • Jurong Shipyard, now Sembcorp Marine, Sembawang Shipyard • National Iron and Steel Mills, now NatSteel • Keppel Shipyard Recreational tourist sites • Chinese Garden • Japanese Garden • Singapore Zoological Gardens • Golf courses Tanah Merah Country Club, Jurong Country Club, Sentosa Country Club Societies • Pyramid Club • Economic Society of Singapore Others • Singapore Pools • Singapore Totalisator Board • Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau • Commercial Affairs Department • Asian Dollar Market • Oral History Centre under the National Archives • Singapore Labour Foundation • National Safety Council of Singapore • Public Service Commission PETIR MAY / JUNE 10 27
Page 1: 行动报 www.pap.org.sg Goodbye Go
Page 5 and 6: Dr Goh’s role extended well beyon
Page 7 and 8: Mr Lee’s letter of thanks to his
Page 9 and 10: In his talks with Tun Razak, then M
Page 12 and 13: Eulogy by Mr Goh Ken-Yi Great grand
Page 14 and 15: We Salute the Great Man Who Helped
Page 16 and 17: Goh Keng Swee: The Man active in th
Page 18 and 19: 16 PETIR MAY / JUNE 10 We Salute th
Page 22 and 23: 1 5 Goh Keng Swee: Memories THE POL
Page 24 and 25: THE FUNERAL: 1. Son, Mr Goh Kian Ch
Page 26 and 27: Goh Keng Swee: The Legacy gapore’
Page 32 and 33: DR GOH KENG SWEE We pay tribute to
Page 34 and 35: Dr Goh Keng Swee was instrumental i
Page 36 and 37: We Salute the Architect of Singapor
Page 38 and 39: We salute the visionary who helped
Page 42 and 43: Overheard 40 PETIR MAY / JUNE 10
Page 44: A Tribute to the Prime Architect of

1918 - 2010 Goh Keng Swee - People's Action Party - PAP

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