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Goh Chok Tong: The pioneer bond-breaker?
Friday, 13 November 2009, 10:20 am | 1,227 views
Gangasudhan / Photo courtesy of country-data.com
Speech in 1990 seems to suggest that the SM had technically broken his bond in 1964 – albeit temporarily
ONE SATURDAY EVENING ALMOST 19 YEARS TO THE DAY AGO, then First Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong illustrated the difficulty of getting top talent to enter politics by sharing his own experience when he first graduated in 1964.
“My first choice after graduating was to be a professor. I wanted to do a PhD. So I signed up as a Research Scholar at the Singapore University. Two weeks after I started, the Vice-Chancellor called me up. He said that the Government wanted me to work in the Civil Service as an Administrative Officer. They would not release me. I was then under a five-year bond, because of a bursary I received. I was put in the Economic Planning Unit. I worked there for about one year, until I saw an advertisement by Shell. I applied. After a series of interviews and tests, plus a lunch where they observed how you behaved socially, I got the job. They also gave me a loan to pay up my bond. So I resigned from the Civil Service, brought forward the date of my marriage so that I could go for my honeymoon before starting on the new job, and happily went off with my wife to Malaysia. Halfway through our honeymoon, I got a telegram from Shell: Come back immediately. I thought they needed my services immediately. Instead they told me that Dr Goh Keng Swee had expressed unhappiness over their taking me. They would still take me in, nevertheless, if I insisted on joining them. I sensed their reluctance. So I returned the loan I took from Shell, and went back to the Economic Planning Unit. Later, I was seconded to NOL. I was very happy there. I thought I had found my niche in life.”
Goh Chok Tong
17th November 1990
NTUC Income Day 20th Anniversary
The story unfolds rather haphazardly, as though the then freshly graduated Goh Chok Tong had not sought clearance from the Singapore Civil Service (SCS) before enrolling in the postgraduate course, and again, as though he had not properly severed his ties with the SCS before approaching Shell for a new job.
Also, the chronology of the current SM’s career also raises eyebrows as it appears that he may not have wanted to be in the Civil Service in the first place. Piecing together the available information, a pattern emerges as follows:
* 1961 – accepts bursary to study at NUS (possibly as a Colombo Plan scholar)
* 1964 – graduates but tries to defer entry into the SCS by enrolling himself in a postgraduate course but is denied permission and told to start work immediately
* 1965 – breaks bond, resigns from the SCS and joins Shell, only to succumb to pressure, renege on the decision and return to the SCS
* 1966 – secures a fellowship to study at Williams College
* 1967 – returns from sabbatical
* 1969 – seconded to NOL but is still a staff of the SCS
* 1970 – resigns from the SCS and takes up a permanent role with NOL
Although scholarships were in existence in Singapore since the 1800’s, it was only in 1960 that public service bonds were instituted – incidentally just a year before Goh Chok Tong began his tertiary education.
“In 1960, the Government decided to require all scholars to serve a stint in the public service upon graduation. I suppose that is when the PSC bonds began.”
Lee Hsien Loong
25th July 2009
PSC Scholarships Award Ceremony
Thus the circumstances seem to suggest that the young Goh Chok Tong in 1965 could have very well been one of the first few – if not the first – to have broken a civil service bond in Singapore.
References:
Gale Research Inc. (2008). Volume 6 of Encyclopedia of World Biography. University of Michigan. (Portion on Goh Chok Tong’s biography is reproduced at http://www.answers.com/topic/goh-chok-tong)
Lee, H. S. (2009). Speech at PSC Scholarships Award Ceremony on 25th July 2009 at Shangri-La Hotel – http://www.news.gov.sg/public/sgpc/en/media_releases/agencies/micacsd/speech/S-20090725-2.html
Public Service Commission. (2009) History and Evolution. Accessed from PSC website at http://www.pscscholarships.gov.sg/SCHOLARSHIPS/History_and_Evolution.htm
The Singapore Cabinet, Mr Goh Chok Tong – http://www.cabinet.gov.sg/CabinetAppointments/Mr+GOH+Chok+Tong.htm
First DPM Goh’s revealing speech in 1990 is available online at
http://stars.nhb.gov.sg/stars/tmp/gct19901117.pdf
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Goh Chok Tong: The pioneer bond-breaker?
Friday, 13 November 2009, 10:20 am | 1,227 views
Gangasudhan / Photo courtesy of country-data.com
Speech in 1990 seems to suggest that the SM had technically broken his bond in 1964 – albeit temporarily
ONE SATURDAY EVENING ALMOST 19 YEARS TO THE DAY AGO, then First Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong illustrated the difficulty of getting top talent to enter politics by sharing his own experience when he first graduated in 1964.
“My first choice after graduating was to be a professor. I wanted to do a PhD. So I signed up as a Research Scholar at the Singapore University. Two weeks after I started, the Vice-Chancellor called me up. He said that the Government wanted me to work in the Civil Service as an Administrative Officer. They would not release me. I was then under a five-year bond, because of a bursary I received. I was put in the Economic Planning Unit. I worked there for about one year, until I saw an advertisement by Shell. I applied. After a series of interviews and tests, plus a lunch where they observed how you behaved socially, I got the job. They also gave me a loan to pay up my bond. So I resigned from the Civil Service, brought forward the date of my marriage so that I could go for my honeymoon before starting on the new job, and happily went off with my wife to Malaysia. Halfway through our honeymoon, I got a telegram from Shell: Come back immediately. I thought they needed my services immediately. Instead they told me that Dr Goh Keng Swee had expressed unhappiness over their taking me. They would still take me in, nevertheless, if I insisted on joining them. I sensed their reluctance. So I returned the loan I took from Shell, and went back to the Economic Planning Unit. Later, I was seconded to NOL. I was very happy there. I thought I had found my niche in life.”
Goh Chok Tong
17th November 1990
NTUC Income Day 20th Anniversary
The story unfolds rather haphazardly, as though the then freshly graduated Goh Chok Tong had not sought clearance from the Singapore Civil Service (SCS) before enrolling in the postgraduate course, and again, as though he had not properly severed his ties with the SCS before approaching Shell for a new job.
Also, the chronology of the current SM’s career also raises eyebrows as it appears that he may not have wanted to be in the Civil Service in the first place. Piecing together the available information, a pattern emerges as follows:
* 1961 – accepts bursary to study at NUS (possibly as a Colombo Plan scholar)
* 1964 – graduates but tries to defer entry into the SCS by enrolling himself in a postgraduate course but is denied permission and told to start work immediately
* 1965 – breaks bond, resigns from the SCS and joins Shell, only to succumb to pressure, renege on the decision and return to the SCS
* 1966 – secures a fellowship to study at Williams College
* 1967 – returns from sabbatical
* 1969 – seconded to NOL but is still a staff of the SCS
* 1970 – resigns from the SCS and takes up a permanent role with NOL
Although scholarships were in existence in Singapore since the 1800’s, it was only in 1960 that public service bonds were instituted – incidentally just a year before Goh Chok Tong began his tertiary education.
“In 1960, the Government decided to require all scholars to serve a stint in the public service upon graduation. I suppose that is when the PSC bonds began.”
Lee Hsien Loong
25th July 2009
PSC Scholarships Award Ceremony
Thus the circumstances seem to suggest that the young Goh Chok Tong in 1965 could have very well been one of the first few – if not the first – to have broken a civil service bond in Singapore.
References:
Gale Research Inc. (2008). Volume 6 of Encyclopedia of World Biography. University of Michigan. (Portion on Goh Chok Tong’s biography is reproduced at http://www.answers.com/topic/goh-chok-tong)
Lee, H. S. (2009). Speech at PSC Scholarships Award Ceremony on 25th July 2009 at Shangri-La Hotel – http://www.news.gov.sg/public/sgpc/en/media_releases/agencies/micacsd/speech/S-20090725-2.html
Public Service Commission. (2009) History and Evolution. Accessed from PSC website at http://www.pscscholarships.gov.sg/SCHOLARSHIPS/History_and_Evolution.htm
The Singapore Cabinet, Mr Goh Chok Tong – http://www.cabinet.gov.sg/CabinetAppointments/Mr+GOH+Chok+Tong.htm
First DPM Goh’s revealing speech in 1990 is available online at
http://stars.nhb.gov.sg/stars/tmp/gct19901117.pdf
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