Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a community event last Sunday (20 Apr), MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Dr Ng Eng Hen said that new faces have been introduced in his constituency. Dr Ng, who is also PAP’s organising secretary, had earlier said that potential candidates for the next general election have been active on the ground in many GRCs.
One of the potential PAP candidates spotted by the media for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC is 48-year-old Chong Kee Hiong, currently the chief executive of public-listed company OUE Hospitality Trust.
Mr Chong is a newly minted grassroots leaders in Toa Payoh, helping out at the PAP’s weekly Meet-the-People sessions in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.
According to BusinessWeek [Link] and OUE [Link], Mr Chong is a familiar face in corporate circles holding senior positions in many companies previously:
He is a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Finance and Trade and Industry Resource Panel, as well as the Finance and IT Committee at Sentosa Development Corporation, a government statutory board.
Mr Chong holds a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from NUS and completed the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program in 2008. He is a member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.
Interview with ST
2 years ago, during an interview with the Straits Times (‘To be a CEO, read martial arts novels’, 13 May 2012), Mr Chong intimated that he was still feeling upset about not getting a prize for scoring the highest marks in Mathematics in Primary 5.
Then, at the now defunct Kim Keat Primary School, he scored the highest marks for Mathematics and Chinese in his Primary 5 cohort. But his teacher told him he had won one prize too many and gave the Math prize to another pupil who had finished half a mark behind.
“I didn’t argue with the teacher but I was very upset,” recalled Mr Chong. “The fact that I still remember it with such clarity shows that I am still disturbed by it.”
The episode went against the ideals of fair play and meritocracy, he said. Mr Chong is a strong believer in meritocracy. He told the reporter that if you work hard, have the desire to do well and grab opportunities given to you, you will do well. That, he said, is the beauty of meritocracy.
When he was a child, his family was poor. His father ran a small footwear stall in Bendemeer market.
He read a lot of Chinese sword-fighting novels by some of the genre’s most loved writers, such as Jin Yong, Gu Long and Liang Yusheng when he was a child.
“In these novels, the heroes will always prevail although they have to undergo a lot of hardships first,” he said with a hearty laugh. “Also, in many of the stories, skilful pugilists and old masters would impart their skills only if the heroes showed great perseverance and sincerity, so I told myself I needed to have those qualities too.”
Being good in his studies, Mr Chong’s education was practically self-financed. He later attended Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College, and received 3 scholarship offers when he entered NUS.
He wanted to study engineering but settled for accountancy instead as he was given a scholarship by accounting giant KPMG, which paid $5,000 a year. Also, at the time, engineering graduates were finding it difficult to get a job.
Mr Chong recalled, “It was the mid-1980s and there was a recession. An engineering course would have taken four years instead of three and engineering graduates were also finding it difficult to get a job then.”
After KPMG, he worked at RSP Architects for 2 years before moving to Tuan Sing Holdings because Tuan Sing, a property developer, offered him a post in Shanghai. He told himself that his resume would “look more impressive” if he had overseas exposure. He was sent to Shanghai in 1997 to oversee Tuan Sing’s finance and administration, and was among the first wave of Singaporean expatriates based in Shanghai. He was on an expatriate package.
“The expatriate life was quite good in those days… For instance, you paid a bit more but you could get doctors to come and see you, not the other way round,” he recounted his good life in Shanghai to the reporter with a laugh.
Success, however, did not make him forget his roots. In 2011, he brought his wife, 2 of their 4 sons and 1 of his brothers to his father’s village in Meixian, in Guangdong province of China. His father had come to Singapore from China in the 1940s. He told the reporter that his trip back to his ancestral home proved to be an emotional experience.
“There I saw the house that he (the father) shared with 5 other families. I was told that he walked 6 hours from his village to the pier to take the ship to Singapore and that was the last they saw of him,” Mr Chong said.
He met everyone in the village, hosted a lunch for 80 people, and visited his grandfather’s grave. He also met his only surviving aunt, the youngest of his father’s 4 sisters, who is now in her 80s. “The moment I saw her, I knew she was my aunt. She looked like my father and her mannerisms were like my grandma’s. She would hold my hands while talking to me. It was amazing, and not at all awkward,” he said.
He told the reporter that he intends to revisit his ancestral home, taking with him his other children and siblings. He appears very emotionally attached to his ancestral home in Guangdong.
At the time of his interview in 2012, he and his family were already living in a semi-detached house in Bishan and driving a Mercedes convertible.
Having come a long way, Mr Chong seems to be going even further. He has now been identified by the PAP as a potential candidate for the next general election.
Do you think he might even be a minister in the future?
http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/04/27/pap-potential-mp-still-upset-for-not-getting-math-prize-in-p5/
One of the potential PAP candidates spotted by the media for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC is 48-year-old Chong Kee Hiong, currently the chief executive of public-listed company OUE Hospitality Trust.
Mr Chong is a newly minted grassroots leaders in Toa Payoh, helping out at the PAP’s weekly Meet-the-People sessions in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.
According to BusinessWeek [Link] and OUE [Link], Mr Chong is a familiar face in corporate circles holding senior positions in many companies previously:
- 1990 to 1995 – starting out at KPMG Peat Marwick
- 1995 to 1997 – Financial Controller at RSP Architects, Planners & Engineers
- 1997 to 2000 – Group Financial Controller at Tuan Sing Holdings
- 2000 to 2001 – Senior Vice President of Adroit Innovations
- 2001 to 2004 – CFO of Raffles Holdings
- 2005 to 2012 – CEO of Ascott Residence Trust Management Limited (Ascott is a subsidiary of CapitaLand)
- 2012 to 2013 – CEO of The Ascott Limited
- 2013 to current – CEO of OUE Hospitality Trust and OUE Hospitality Reit Management.
He is a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Finance and Trade and Industry Resource Panel, as well as the Finance and IT Committee at Sentosa Development Corporation, a government statutory board.
Mr Chong holds a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from NUS and completed the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program in 2008. He is a member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.
Interview with ST
2 years ago, during an interview with the Straits Times (‘To be a CEO, read martial arts novels’, 13 May 2012), Mr Chong intimated that he was still feeling upset about not getting a prize for scoring the highest marks in Mathematics in Primary 5.
Then, at the now defunct Kim Keat Primary School, he scored the highest marks for Mathematics and Chinese in his Primary 5 cohort. But his teacher told him he had won one prize too many and gave the Math prize to another pupil who had finished half a mark behind.
“I didn’t argue with the teacher but I was very upset,” recalled Mr Chong. “The fact that I still remember it with such clarity shows that I am still disturbed by it.”
The episode went against the ideals of fair play and meritocracy, he said. Mr Chong is a strong believer in meritocracy. He told the reporter that if you work hard, have the desire to do well and grab opportunities given to you, you will do well. That, he said, is the beauty of meritocracy.
When he was a child, his family was poor. His father ran a small footwear stall in Bendemeer market.
He read a lot of Chinese sword-fighting novels by some of the genre’s most loved writers, such as Jin Yong, Gu Long and Liang Yusheng when he was a child.
“In these novels, the heroes will always prevail although they have to undergo a lot of hardships first,” he said with a hearty laugh. “Also, in many of the stories, skilful pugilists and old masters would impart their skills only if the heroes showed great perseverance and sincerity, so I told myself I needed to have those qualities too.”
Being good in his studies, Mr Chong’s education was practically self-financed. He later attended Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College, and received 3 scholarship offers when he entered NUS.
He wanted to study engineering but settled for accountancy instead as he was given a scholarship by accounting giant KPMG, which paid $5,000 a year. Also, at the time, engineering graduates were finding it difficult to get a job.
Mr Chong recalled, “It was the mid-1980s and there was a recession. An engineering course would have taken four years instead of three and engineering graduates were also finding it difficult to get a job then.”
After KPMG, he worked at RSP Architects for 2 years before moving to Tuan Sing Holdings because Tuan Sing, a property developer, offered him a post in Shanghai. He told himself that his resume would “look more impressive” if he had overseas exposure. He was sent to Shanghai in 1997 to oversee Tuan Sing’s finance and administration, and was among the first wave of Singaporean expatriates based in Shanghai. He was on an expatriate package.
“The expatriate life was quite good in those days… For instance, you paid a bit more but you could get doctors to come and see you, not the other way round,” he recounted his good life in Shanghai to the reporter with a laugh.
Success, however, did not make him forget his roots. In 2011, he brought his wife, 2 of their 4 sons and 1 of his brothers to his father’s village in Meixian, in Guangdong province of China. His father had come to Singapore from China in the 1940s. He told the reporter that his trip back to his ancestral home proved to be an emotional experience.
“There I saw the house that he (the father) shared with 5 other families. I was told that he walked 6 hours from his village to the pier to take the ship to Singapore and that was the last they saw of him,” Mr Chong said.
He met everyone in the village, hosted a lunch for 80 people, and visited his grandfather’s grave. He also met his only surviving aunt, the youngest of his father’s 4 sisters, who is now in her 80s. “The moment I saw her, I knew she was my aunt. She looked like my father and her mannerisms were like my grandma’s. She would hold my hands while talking to me. It was amazing, and not at all awkward,” he said.
He told the reporter that he intends to revisit his ancestral home, taking with him his other children and siblings. He appears very emotionally attached to his ancestral home in Guangdong.
At the time of his interview in 2012, he and his family were already living in a semi-detached house in Bishan and driving a Mercedes convertible.
Having come a long way, Mr Chong seems to be going even further. He has now been identified by the PAP as a potential candidate for the next general election.
Do you think he might even be a minister in the future?
http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/04/27/pap-potential-mp-still-upset-for-not-getting-math-prize-in-p5/
