[video=youtube_share;e5qfOqE71O8]http://youtu.be/e5qfOqE71O8[/video]


Had some dealing with his wife before. That time Desmond Kuek was still Chief of Defence Force. I didn't know her husband at that point was CDF, but also it was irrelevant to my dealing with her. But she likes to name drop and say "oh you know my husband is the Chief of Defence Force, etc".
At that point, my impression was "so? how is it relevant who your husband is and why even bring it up".... and she just name drop him out of nowhere in the conversation.
I have never dealt with Desmond Kuek and do not what kind of person he is. We'll see how he runs SMRT from now on, and judge him on his work.
But suffice to say Claudel Kuek is not a nice person at all, and very pretentious.
DK was once scolded by the DPM for his wife's sexy outfit and their touchy-feelly conduct at the embassy's national day reception of one of a major Muslim country.
DK definitely got his shot at the MiW's tea reception. He was not selected ahead of CCS and TCJ for good reasons....
Yes, heard a few first-hand stories about Desmond Kuek and his wife from different people who worked in MINDEF/SAF.
Besides being pretentious, she was also described as a very controlling spouse, while he is hen-pecked by her.
She was sad to be obsessed with both their figures and weight. When he was the CDF, the menu of all his official lunches/dinners have to be "approved" by her! Imagine all the extra work that the civil service staff on tax-payers' payroll got to go through.
Heard he was no saint either. Always spending an unnecessary amount of tax-payers' money to renovate his new office whenever he takes up a new appointment in MINDEF/SAF. Always playing favoritism and promoting his own kakis and those in his good books. Maybe those working in MINDEF/SAF can share more.
TCJ was not a fan of DK when they were in the SAF. Incredible now that the superior-subordinate role is now reversed.
Moral of the story: Don't let temporal success go your head at work. 风水轮流转。
PS: Incidentally, DK never like to use his chinese name because it sounds like a literal translation of a "wooden block".