Which PAP leader has "Failure" in his/her resume?

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High fliers. Government scholars. Parachuted ex-military generals.
Accelerated career paths made possible by virtue of their sterling academic records, scholarships, political ties.
All with "success" all over their credentials and groomed for a political career.
But....who has failed before?
If they have not failed before, isn't this the big danger to them ruling Singapore?

'Success tells you nothing': Learning through failure is the path to progress, says Dyson at SUTD forum

Executive director of DesignSingapore Council Mark Wee (left) and SUTD president Chong Tow Chong (right) with James Dyson at the Design Innovation Forum on March 19, 2021.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Kenny Chee
Senior Tech Correspondent

MAR 20, 2021

SINGAPORE - It is important to experiment, fail along the way and learn from failures, and schools need to create an environment to foster this, said British entrepreneur and inventor James Dyson on Friday (March 19).

"Failure is the way to progress," said Mr Dyson, who added that if a person fails 95 per cent of the time, "you're doing very well".

"Success tells you nothing. Failure tells us that something is wrong... why it was wrong and how you might overcome it," said the chairman and founder of British technology firm Dyson, which is known for its bagless vacuum cleaners.

Addressing an audience of about 920 through a live stream, Mr Dyson was one of several speakers at the virtual Design Innovation Forum organised by the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) in partnership with The Straits Times.

On Friday, he addressed some issues with education now, noting that schools tend to teach students to give the right answer and encourage rote learning.

"You should get just as many marks for failing as you do for passing," said Mr Dyson. "Because if you fail, you have the experience of failure, and you have to work out how to get the right answer. Whereas if you always know the right answer, you haven't really gone through much thought."

So, to nurture creativity, a different "atmosphere" is needed at school, where people can experiment, fail and work out how to overcome their failures, he said.

Born in Norfolk, Mr Dyson, 73, spent a year at the Byam Shaw School of Art before reading furniture and interior design at the Royal College of Art. There, he made the switch to industrial design. He was listed as Britain's wealthiest person last year.

He said his own brushes with failure were instructive.

For example, he had a recent failure that cost him £500 million (S$880 million). His electric car project was announced in 2017 but scrapped in 2019.

Though the project failed, "we've applied a lot of what we've learnt into what we're doing now", he said.

Last year, Mr Dyson said that the company was focusing its efforts on developing the battery technology and other technologies from the car project, which his company hoped would take it to "exciting new directions".

Dyson relocated its global headquarters from Britain to Singapore in 2019.

The importance of failure also resonated with panellists at the SUTD forum when they were asked by moderator Mark Wee, executive director of DesignSingapore, on the qualities of good designers.

Harvard-trained Singapore-American architect Brian Yang of Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) said that people need to be open to failing repeatedly and have the tenacity to bounce back from that.

Mr Yang said that failing is what his company does most of the time every day, adding: "Failure as a part of daily life... is equally, if not more important, for learning and creativity."

Besides not being afraid to fail, it is important to be willing to try new things and not be satisfied with the status quo, said the president of SUTD, Professor Chong Tow Chong.

Mr Dyson also said young people are best placed to solve the problems of the world.

Uninhibited by the "experience" of how things used to be done, he said that it is a generation of young people that will solve the world's problems, "through your intelligence, through failure, and through research and design".

Mr Dyson said things are changing all the time with increasing speed, so experience is of little use, specifically with breakthroughs.

"If you're doing something new, it's often better to have very young people, uninhibited people who don't mind making mistakes, people who take a naive, curious approach to creating something new," he said.

He added that to be successful, "we must not be afraid to pursue new ideas, to challenge orthodoxy, and to follow our own beliefs, trying to avoid the negativity of the naysayers".

Good design to Mr Dyson is also about not blindly following what came before, but rather forging one's own path.

And to do this, first come up with the "wrong solution", which might have a solid element of truth, he advised. People have always tried to come up with the right answers, he said, but starting with a solution that does not work or is "stupid" will set a person on a different path from others.

Citing his bagless vacuum cleaner invention, which was inspired by a sawmill, Mr Dyson explained that he had had no experience with vacuum cleaners.

And experts thought his idea would never work.

"But I made it work," he said.

 

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The top brains at the Economic Development Board have to lure a "failure" like Dyson to set up an electric car project in Singapore.
Only a failure like Dyson has the experience and the courage to scrap the project.
If it was in the hands of SG leaders, SG leaders would find a way to keep the project alive because scraping it would be a big embarrassment and tantamount to the leader admitting that they have failed. AND THE SG LEADERS DO NOT FAIL!

Dyson to scrap $4.3b electric car project that had plans for plant in Singapore

British manufacturer Dyson said on Oct 10 it is closing its automotive division as the company's electric car is not commercially viable.
PHOTO: DYSON AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING FACILITY

Grace Leong
Senior Business Correspondent

OCT 11, 2019

Dyson, the British electronics company, yesterday announced its decision to scrap a £2.5 billion (S$4.3 billion) project to build electric cars. The plans had included its maiden electric car plant running in Singapore by 2021.

In an e-mail to employees, inventor James Dyson, who heads the firm, said its engineers had developed a "fantastic electric car" and "have been ingenious in their approach". But despite having "tried very hard throughout the development process", the electric car could not hit the roads because it was not "commercially viable".

Mr Tan Kong Hwee, assistant managing director of Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB), said last night that as Dyson's decision to not pursue the electric vehicle business was taken at an early stage, the disruption to its operations and workforce in Singapore would be minimal. He also said Singapore will play an important role in Dyson's growth plans.

In September 2017, Mr Dyson announced that he would make an electric car. A year later, he revealed that he would make the car in Singapore.

In May this year, the firm kicked off the hiring of automotive design engineers and free trade agreement specialists, among others, for the proposed vehicle plant.
In all, there were more than 100 job listings under Dyson, although not all were for automotive roles.

Yesterday, Mr Dyson said he has been "through a serious process to find a buyer for the project which has, unfortunately, been unsuc-cessful so far".

"I wanted you to hear directly from me that the Dyson board has therefore taken the very difficult decision to propose the closure of our automotive project," he said.

INVESTMENTS TO CONTINUE
Dyson will continue its £2.5 billion investment programme into new technology and grow The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. We will continue to expand at Malmesbury, Hullavington, Singapore and other global locations.
MR JAMES DYSON

According to the BBC, Mr Dyson said that the company was closing electric car facilities both in the United Kingdom and Singapore. The project employed 500 people in the UK. He maintained that the car project was "not a product failure, or a failure of the team. Their achievements have been immense - given the enormity and complexity of the project".

Mr Dyson added that his company is working to quickly find alternative roles within Dyson for as many of the team as possible, and there are sufficient vacancies to absorb most of the people into its home business.

"For those who cannot, or do not wish to, find alternative roles, we will support them fairly and with the respect deserved," he said. "This is a challenging time for our colleagues, and I appreciate your understanding and sensitivity as we consult with those who are affected."

Mr Dyson, who earlier this year decided to relocate the company's head office to Singapore from the UK, has a net worth of about US$11.9 billion (S$16.4 billion), making him the UK's second-richest person.

The £2.5 billion intended for the electric car project would still be spent on developing other products, including its battery technology, he said. "Dyson will continue its £2.5 billion investment programme into new technology and grow The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. We will continue to expand at Malmesbury, Hullavington, Singapore and other global locations.

"We will also concentrate on the task of manufacturing solid state batteries and other fundamental technologies... sensing technologies, vision systems, robotics, machine learning, and AI offers us significant opportunities which we must grab with both hands.

"This is not the first project which has changed direction, and it will not be the last."

Mr Tan said the Singapore Government understands that Dyson has chosen to focus on growing its core home business, including new product categories, and on the development of its battery technology.

"Singapore will play an important role in Dyson's growth plans. This will lead to the creation of exciting job opportunities in its HQ, R&D and manufacturing teams, and the development of capabilities in sensor technology, vision systems, robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence," he said. "Singapore and Dyson have enjoyed a strong partnership for more than 10 years, and we look forward to building on this partnership."

 

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Army scholar and general parachuted into Temasek Holdings although he did not have any prior investment experience.
Parachuted to NOL even though he did not have any shipping experience.
Parachuted to SPH even though he did not have any media experience.
But it not important to his employers because he has THREE MASTERS DEGREES.
Paper scholar and paper general.
How much shareholder value did he destroyed at Temasek, NOL and SPH?

Ex-NOL CEO Ng Yat Chung is the best person to lead Singapore Press Holdings?
We thought there is a better candidate, even within SPH.
Martino Tan |

May 27, 2017, 02:46 PM

On Friday, May 26, the Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) announced it will appoint former Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) chief executive Ng Yat Chung as its new CEO on Sept. 1.

Alan Chan, 64, who has been SPH's CEO for the past 15 years, will retire on the same day.

But who is Ng, besides the online chatter about him being an former army general and the NOL CEO who lost our national shipping company?

Ng has a bright start in his first career, having served in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) for 28 years. He was the Chief of Army before becoming the fifth Chief of Defense (CDF) from 2003–2007.

As CDF from 2003 to 2007, he laid the blueprint for the 3rd Generation SAF, oversaw its execution and forged closer integration between the army, navy and air forces.
He was awarded the SAF Overseas Scholarship, one of the most prestigious SAF scholarships in Singapore.

His academic credentials are impressive -- Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Engineering (1983), Master of Arts degree in Mathematics (1987), both from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

In fact, SPH must be so impressed with his academic qualifications that it touted Ng having "three Masters" in its press release when it appointed him as its new board director last year.

Source: Singapore Press Holdings.

After leaving the SAF, his future was so bright that Temasek Holdings had a newly created role for him in 2007 -- that of the portfolio management managing director.
His contributions to Temasek Holdings from 2007 to 2011 was not well-publicised but they must be decent enough for Ng to be appointed in the well-publicised role as the group president and CEO of NOL in October 2011.

That was when everything went south for Ng.

According to The Straits Times (ST), NOL has been profitable for only five years over the past decade, from 2006 to 2016.

Ng was the CEO for five years and his last four years saw NOL accumulate more than $1.5 billion in losses, although it has managed to reduce its losses year-on-year.
In mid-2016, NOL was sold to France's CMA CGM, the world's third-largest shipping line and was delisted from the Singapore Exchange in late June.

To add salt to Ng's wounds, Reuters reported this year that CMA CGM achieved "a net profit of $26 million", "a first quarterly net profit for NOL since 2011".

Managing decline, not looking for growth

In his first interview with ST after the CEO announcement, Ng started well by praising SPH as a "strong media company", with "quality journalism" and "strong media content".

In appointing Ng, SPH, however, appears to have appointed someone who has a track record of managing decline rather than steering growth.

And his playbook -- cost-cutting -- seems limited.

It is debatable whether he was successful even in the cost-cutting efforts at NOL. In fact, NOL, under his leadership, continued to post year-on-year losses even after the cost-cutting measures.

While Ng made all the right noises about "looking for growth", he also told ST that "managing costs is essential", "given the challenging environment".
And the truth is he has more experience in the former rather than the latter.

Whatever happened to looking at overseas examples for best practices?

In a Huffington Post article about, "Why Singapore Is the World’s Most Successful Society", Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, highlighted one of the key qualities of Singapore's success: Pragmatism.

He said:

"Pragmatism means that a country does not try to reinvent the wheel.
As Dr. Goh Keng Swee (the late Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore) would say to me, 'Kishore, no matter what problem Singapore encounters, somebody, somewhere, has solved it. Let us copy the solution and adapt it to Singapore.'
Copying best practices is something any country can do."

So what are SPH's competitors doing?

Let's take a quick look up north in Hong Kong.

The South China Morning Post appointed a 33-year-old technology leader Gary Liu as its CEO with effect from Jan. 3, 2017, to spearhead its digital revolution.
Liu is the former chief executive of New York-based news aggregator Digg, and previously led Spotify Labs.

According to SCMP, Liu is a well-traveled California native who has lived in New York for nearly two decades and has a degree in economics from Harvard University.
In an era where new media platforms are led by Generation X and digital natives, SPH has just appointed an "almost baby-boomer" -- Ng is 55 -- with no known media management experience to lead a media company's charge into the digital era.

What about a younger promising fellow from within SPH?

Source: SPH press release

As Nikkei Asian Review astutely observed:

"Although Chan's retirement was not a surprise, the appointment of Ng raised some eyebrows. Anthony Tan, who had widely been seen as the leading contender for the CEO post, is to stay on a little longer as deputy CEO."

Tan was promoted to Deputy CEO in June last year, and led the Chinese Media group (CMG) and Media Strategy & Analytics Division (MSA).
Tan's leadership can be observed from the leaps and bounds made by the Lianhe Zaobao digital team.
In March 2017, Zaobao earned praise from Chee Hong Tat, the Minister of State for Communications and Information, during the Committee of Supply Debate, who remarked:

"Another initiative is SPH's partnership with IMDA to produce and distribute short-form digital video content.
The aim is to connect younger Singaporeans with digital PSB content and encourage a greater appreciation for our local productions. I viewed the video produced by Zaobao on the world’s languages – they did a good job. 继续加油"

This month, SPH won second place for Best Brand Awareness Campaign at the International News Media Association (INMA) Global Media Awards competition for its 10-minute film.

The film, Pa's Expressions, is part of a series of events aimed at creating brand awareness following Zaobao's revamp in 2016.

Granted, Tan's CV as a technology leader is nothing much when compared to SCMP's Liu.

But Tan has a two-year head start over Ng, who does not seem to have any prior media-related management experience in his career.

If the board is looking for someone with a good "political sense" of Singapore, Tan has life and work experiences that were similar to outgoing CEO Chan.

Both were the Principal Private Secretaries to the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, well-versed in Mandarin, and former career civil servants.

The CEO announcement coincided with Tan's 44th birthday yesterday, which also serves as a reminder that he is of a younger generation than Ng, which means Tan is in the same generation as the fourth generation political leaders in their mid to late 40s.

Whither SPH?

In an exclusive interview last year, Ng shared with ST his diagnosis of NOL's challenges in the midst of global changes:

"But the world has changed. The market growth has slowed down, there is severe overcapacity, so we had to recognise that the business model needed change. We didn't have the right cost position in an industry that was becoming more and more commoditised."

The same observation can be applied to the media industry in the era of social media and fake news.

But one wonders how a baby-boomer with no media management experience or well-honed political sense can help save the local media industry besides the cost-cutting measures that he learnt from NOL.

 

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Retrenched from DFS Ventures but Temasek deemed that a marketing person was the right person to lead SMRT.
Increased advertising revenue at SMRT through sales of billboard advertisements but was no engineer and completely neglected engineering and maintenance.
Senior engineers left.
The MRT suffered its worst breakdowns during her tenure.
Trains were full and commuters were packed like sardine.
Phaik Hwa was so out of touch with the ground that she said: "If the train is packed, they can always wait for the next train."

Saw Phaik Hwa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this Chinese name, the family name is Saw.
Saw Phaik Hwa (simplified Chinese: 苏碧华; traditional Chinese: 蘇碧華; pinyin: Sū Bìhuá; born 1957 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is a Malaysian-born Singaporean businesswoman. She was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the SMRT Corporation from December 2002 to 6 January 2012.[1] Prior to that, she had 19 years of experience at DFS Venture Singapore (Pte) Ltd.
Contents

• 1Education
• 2Career
  • 2.1DFS Ventures
  • 2.2SMRT Corporation
  • 2.3Auric Pacific
• 3Criticism
• 4References

Education[edit]
Saw received an honours degree in biochemistry from the University of Singapore.[2]

Career[edit]
DFS Ventures[edit]
From 1984 to 2002, Saw served as Regional President for DFS Venture Singapore (Pte) Ltd.[3] She left the company in 2002 as a result of budget cuts.[4]

SMRT Corporation[edit]
In 2002, Saw became the President of SMRT.[5]
In December 2011, Saw's resignation as the president of SMRT in the midst of public anger over two train breakdowns that caused commuters to be stranded. These breakdowns were the worst since the transit system was started in 1987.[6][7]
On 6 January 2012, Saw resigned as a director of SMRT, following which former Army General Desmond Kuek was appointed as the President and Group Chief Executive Officer.[8]

Auric Pacific[edit]
On 1 May 2012, Saw was appointed to be the CEO of Auric Pacific, specializing in Delifrance, Sunshine and Topone, including the best-selling Food Junction.[9] She retired from this post effective 30 April 2015.[10]

 

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Clamour grows for SMRT CEO to step down

Elena Torrijos
17 December 2011

Public clamour for SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa grew on Saturday when the third train disruption in the week hit the North-South MRT line in the morning.

Just the day before, Saw said in a press briefing that no effort would be spared to stop a recurrence of the massive outage that hit the same line on Thursday evening and which affected an estimated 127,000 commuters.

Petitions for her ouster circulated online and members of the public posted comments on social media sites and Yahoo! calling on her to resign.

When asked about calls for her to step down on Friday, Saw said customers had the right to make judgments, and she would consider resigning if it was necessary.

Yahoo! user CHAN said, "I feel that the CEO should step after so many breakdown. Saying sorry is not enough. A new leadership should be taking over from her, its time for her to resign."

On Facebook, user Erika Ng said in a comment on Yahoo! Singapore Newsroom's page, "The CEO said she will seriously consider resigning at the press conference yesterday. She can tender her resignation right now, need no consideration anymore."

Another user, Skyee Alfonso, said, "Didn't they check all tracks after the major disruption on Thursday? It show(s) that they haven't learn(t) their lessons."

 

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But did the government and Temasek learn from these debacles?
No. Because they parachuted another military general (with no engineering and private sector experience) into SMRT.
Fast-track military career. Full of "accomplishments".
But....has not failed before.

Calls for SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek to quit grow louder
Should he stay or should he go? Odds are, he will go.
Belmont Lay |

November 06, 2017, 12:01 PM

The heat is on.

The Straits Times published a a series of in-depth articles (here, here and here) on Nov. 5, 2017, effectively putting the "Should SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek step down?" question on the national agenda and etching it into the public consciousness.


Here are three salient points Singaporeans can acquaint themselves with about this issue:

1. The dilemma of keeping the SMRT CEO or letting him go

Asking if the SMRT CEO should step down was framed as part of a ST listicle questioning how deep the SMRT rot is and where the buck should stop.

This is unprecedented, to say the least, as calls for the SMRT CEO to quit have thus far been mainly made by the frustrated public on social media as a form of retaliation in response to unsatisfactory train services.

This shift could be taken as a sign that something major in SMRT is happening and ST could have gotten wind of it.

And then there exists the conundrum: Should Kuek be made to stay on to fix the problem or should he be allowed to leave?

The instinct to let him go is satisfying in the short run, but it essentially renders the current situation unsolved for the next CEO to fix.

And if Kuek leaves, this also means letting him go after more than five years at the helm but not having much progress to show for.
Can the public accept that?

2. The military culture in SMRT

An amnesty exercise was carried out for a few days in SMRT and ended on Friday, Nov. 3.

This was to allow staff to own up to lapses before a wide-scale audit was launched to pinpoint problematic areas.

A company amnesty is not unique and neither is it a usual practice, as it has been carried out before in larger companies overseas in the wake of things going wrong.
ST reported that the massive internal audit at SMRT, which has begun, has been named Operation Osprey.

According to the report, "Osprey" is the name of a predatory hawk, which is a sign that the company is determined to hunt down any other potential perpetrators of malpractice.

Therefore, if the military culture at SMRT has not been clear to outsiders until this point in time, these two examples are the most obvious indications.

These are the manifestations of military minds working and imposing its ethics and style on a civilian transport outfit that has to be run more like a sleek corporate unit.
Anyone who has ever been through National Service in Singapore will attest that being made to own up to one's mistake is one of the crudest practices that NS-obligated Singaporeans have ever witnessed.

Experts quoted in ST have pointed out that owning up does not absolve one of liability or allows one to be legally protected from prosecution if the authorities decide to probe matters further, so it is potentially self-incriminating to do so.

Worse, the greatest downside of SMRT's failings is producing the irritating side effect of making former military men in corporate management look bad in general.

3. Former and current senior SMRT staff are speaking to the media anonymously

A lot of the information ST reported on in one of the pieces they published stems from speaking to anonymous sources within and outside SMRT, who are familiar with the company's working culture.

They were quoted anonymously because they are not authorised to speak with the media, but nonetheless, have chosen to speak up regardless.

This shows that there are individuals who are trying to give another side of the story that is different from what the management is saying and attempting to shift the public attention away from the stage-managed perspective.

And more crucially, there is a conspicuous absence of even suggesting that a whistle-blowing culture be established, which could potentially surface any problems a lot faster than an amnesty exercise.

Last but not least, the top echelons in SMRT might have unwittingly pitted themselves against its own staff.

During the Oct. 16 press conference, Kuek said "nine in 10 of our people are incredibly committed, professional and commuter focused", but "there remain some deep-seated cultural issues within the company that has needed more time than anticipated to root out".

SMRT has 10,000 employees. The one in 10 staff that are supposedly not pulling their weight in the CEO's eyes comes up to 1,000 individuals.

If the CEO can point fingers at his employees, he can expect to have a lot of fingers pointing back at him.

This then goes back to point 1: Is the call for Kuek to step down not only growing louder in public but also from within his own organisation?

This could then explain the blatant calling out of the issue in ST in the first place.

 

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SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek leaving SMRT on Aug. 1, 2018. We have questions.
Why announce now? Why him? Where's he going?
Jeanette Tan |

April 18, 2018, 06:13 PM

Gotta hand it to The Straits Times senior transport correspondent Christopher Tan who called it ages ago: SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek is (finally) stepping down.
Here's an article we wrote based on his previous reports that projected this outcome:


Tan was also the first to break the news ahead of SMRT's announcement on Wednesday morning, with this story (premium content though) on Tuesday evening:

Screenshot from ST article

But yes, after five years and 10 months at the helm, Kuek will hand over the reins of the long-beleaguered transport operator to a new CEO: Neo Kian Hong, on August 1, 2018.
[related_story]
We've just got a few questions in the wake of this announcement:

Why now?

For one thing, Kuek was just three months ago dismissing Tan's reports predicting his imminent departure:
But to be fair, he did not say he wasn't leaving anytime soon — nor did SMRT deny in its response to media queries about it that he was on his way out:
So perhaps this was coming all along, we all knew it — it was just a matter of when.
So why now?
In a message announcing the leadership transition sent to SMRT's staff, new Chairman Seah Moon Ming said Kuek's reason was that "this is the right moment as things are on track and looking good for the future".
Seah also observed that at this point, SMRT's network reliability, measured in mean kilometres before failure (MKBF), is now at 500,000km, compared with 60,000km when Kuek first took the helm.
In Kuek's own message to his staff, he said:

"We are firmly on track for better journeys ahead, and this is a timely juncture for me to hand over to a new leadership team to take the company on its next chapter."

Notably, though, he acknowledged his time at the top wasn't perfect, adding this:

"We weathered many storms together; and I take responsibility as your CEO for all the times, whatever the cause or reason, that we fell along the way."

Perhaps things do look like they are improving at this point, especially with a renewed focus on maintenance, aggressive expansion of engineer headcount and the ongoing infrastructural improvements (e.g. swapping out the signalling system), but one must question the timing this is happening.
Why announce the transition now, for instance, when the change will only be taking effect on August 1? That's four months away.
Just because ST broke the news?



Where's Kuek going?

Photo via SMRT Facebook page

Another question on our minds is: where will Kuek go next?
The answer may lie in looking at where current ministers and MPs are from, as well as where previous Permanent Secretaries in ministries have gone to.
That said, though, here's what SMRT's Vice President for Corporate Communications Margaret Teo said when we asked:

"We understand that Mr Kuek intends to take a short break, and beyond that, it is for Mr Kuek to share his next steps as and when he feels ready to do so."

A "global search" that ended with one ex-CDF handing over to another?

In Seah's message, as well as the statement released by SMRT, the hunt for a new CEO for the company included a "global search", which The Straits Times reported included "around 20 candidates".

Screenshot from ST Facebook post

Which is interesting, considering it ended with someone who pretty much can be thought of as "by your side all along".


According to his bio, Kuek was Chief of Army from 2003 - 2007, and then Chief of Defence Force from 2007 - 2010.
And according to his bio, Neo was Chief of Army from 2007 - 2010, and then Chief of Defence Force from 2010 - 2013.
This means that within the military, Kuek literally handed over both his military portfolios within the Singapore Armed Forces to Neo at those two stages.
More parallels can be seen in their subsequent journeys through the public service — both were, ahem, parachuted directly into permanent secretary positions (the highest possible non-politically-elected position that a person can hold) at ministries right after leaving the military:
Kuek: Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for the Environment and Water Resources from 2010 - 2012. He took the helm of SMRT in October that year.
Neo: Permanent Secretary (Education Development), one of two at the Ministry of Education from 2013 - 2017; Permanent Secretary (Defence Development), one of two at the Ministry of Defence, from last year till now.

Negative public response

And from the looks of immediate reactions to the announcement, it doesn't look like the public is too pleased with SMRT's decision:

Screenshot from CNA Facebook post

Screenshot from CNA Facebook post



Here's the initial reaction from public commentators like former Straits Times associate editor Bertha Henson:

And former banker Chris Kuan:

And even typically ex-Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng:

They did say it was a "global" search, right?

Some have spoken up for Neo's capability, though:

Screenshot from CNA Facebook post

Screenshot from CNA Facebook post

With its outcome now known, one wonders why it was so difficult to find Kuek's successor when, well, it was arguably staring them right in the face.

 

[laksaboy]

The SAF scholarship must be revamped. Greatly reduce the number of recipients. 30-year bond to SAF. Lifetime ban from joining any political party.

Otherwise the country will be committing a very slow suicide.

 

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Meet the Singapore stylist to stars around the world​

Alvin Goh with Kendall Jenner (left) and Michelle Yeoh. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ALVIN GOH

Jeanmarie Tan
Senior Correspondent

JUL 14, 2022

SINGAPORE - Meet the home-grown fashion stylist to the stars many Singaporeans may not have heard of.
Hong Kong-based make-up artist and creative director Alvin Goh, 44, has worked with a who's who of international celebrities in the last 15 years.
They include reality television star-model Kendall Jenner and Hollywood actors Margot Robbie, Milla Jovovich, Uma Thurman, Emma Watson, Luke Evans, Henry Cavill, Tilda Swinton, Rebel Wilson and Dakota Johnson.
He has also teamed up with Asian superstars such as T.O.P from K-pop boy band Big Bang, Japanese pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki and Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh.

But his proudest achievement by far is being the first Singaporean to style an Oscar winner. He was responsible for the looks sported by South Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung when she won Best Supporting Actress in 2021 for immigrant drama Minari and returned to the Oscar stage earlier this year to present the Best Supporting Actor category.
Goh tells The Straits Times: "Coming from Bedok, I think that's quite big, right? I'd never expected to do the Oscars, not in my wildest dreams."
His achievements in the fashion and beauty industry overseas have led him to be featured in publications such as Forbes China, the South China Morning Post and Elle China.

Yet, for all his eye-popping accolades, Goh - who has 114,000 followers on Instagram - remains curiously overlooked and anonymous on his home turf.
"Every time I do interviews in Hong Kong and China, the first thing I tell them is that I'm from Singapore. I've been doing so many things abroad, so coming back and doing this interview for the first time, it's so special."
However, being back in Singapore for the past two months - the longest period since he packed his bags for Hong Kong in 2005 to pursue his dream - has stirred up mixed feelings.
For one thing, it reminds him of why he desperately needed to leave.
These days, he feels displaced, almost like a tourist.
Goh laments: "I cannot blend in with the environment. I get lost in MRT stations. Even on the streets, I use Google Maps. I just feel like I'm not connected with my home country and that makes me very sad."

The stylist, who describes his family as toxic, had a traumatic childhood and adolescence. Theintroverted and insecure boy with low self-esteem was not only bullied at Jaya Primary School and Loyang Secondary School, but also suffered abusive treatment by his unemployed father, who was a gambler. His mother used to make a living doing odd jobs.
Loansharks often came calling, threatening bodily harm and splashing paint and hanging things on the door of their flat.
"I felt a lot of resentment, shame and disgrace."
He says wryly: "I was exposed to so much drama. It was like a TV series."
Escaping into the world of cosmetics helped him cope with the harsh reality - especially when he thought he looked "very ugly, like E.T.".
At 12, he started using a tweezer to fix his patchy eyebrows and an eyebrow pencil to draw and shape them.
He was also fascinated with his mother's make-up and started practising on himself.
"After doing it, I felt good. That's how my passion came about."
At 19, he left home and rented a room outside. He then spent three years studying hospitality at Temasek Polytechnic, which he hated.
After graduating, he followed his heart and worked as a freelance fashion stylist and make-up artist. He cut his teeth doing makeovers for aunties.
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But his efforts to make his mark in the local industry came to naught as he was shunned by the reigning rival cliques at the time.
And 20 years later, he feels that the politics and power play remain.
Goh says: "Singapore is already so small, yet you have the old guard trying to control the scene, not letting newcomers and youngsters in.
"That's also why I left. Why would I fight to do Zoe Tay or Fann Wong? It didn't make sense at all."
He adds: "A lot of people did not want me to shine, but the more they want to dim my light, the more I will shine for myself."
When he was 27, he hightailed it to Hong Kong, but ended up being jobless for nine months and burning through his savings.
He spoke no Cantonese and stayed in a shoebox apartment where the toilet was just three steps from the bed.
"I was taking my portfolio to every magazine, knocking on doors. It was the most torturous period of my life. I was so miserable and felt unworthy. I started doubting myself and wondering if I should go home."
He is glad he had the courage to step out of his comfort zone.

The hard work and persistence paid off. In 2006, he got his first proper gig with American actress Maggie Q for a Louis Vuitton project in Asia, and suddenly his name and work were seen on more than 40 magazine covers.
His big break came in 2008 - a Christian Dior x Alvin Goh solo exhibition and crossover project.
Soon, more brands such as Versace, Cartier, Gucci, La Perla and Cle de Peau Beaute came calling, and his celebrity clientele expanded organically. Swiss luxury skincare brand La Prairie also appointed him as one of its three Complexion Artistry Ambassadors, representing the Asia-Pacific region.
He says: "When I look back, I understand why I wanted to be famous so badly. Coming from that kind of negative family background made me yearn for validation."

Unfortunately, Goh says bitterly, even until today, his loved ones "don't exactly know" what he does for a living and will never think of him as successful, as "their definition of success means having money and property".
His mum would remind him to get a nine-to-five job and be more "realistic and stop dreaming".
"I remember I would always mail clippings of interviews I've done to my mum, but I've stopped trying to show and tell... so I pat my own back," he says with a laugh.
"I've learnt to turn the pain around and use it as fuel for empowering myself. Honestly, I'm still suffering - just not as much as before."
He shares his mental struggles not to elicit sympathy, but to encourage others in the same boat.
"Being vulnerable is a superpower that also feeds our creativity."

And now that he is at the top of his game, he wants to connect with the masses and spread the use of make-up, styling and aesthetics as empowering tools. He is in talks with a local live-streaming platform to achieve that.
Goh says: "I am given the gift to transform and beautify, and I would like to provide this service to more people - real people.
"My purpose and calling in this lifetime is to teach men and women how to look and feel good. Everyone deserves that confidence."
He is also at a career crossroads and pondering his next move - like setting up his new base in South Korea.
He says: "I have very high expectations of myself and I'm someone who will not stop. I always need to push the boundaries and am not afraid of failing.
"I'm very excited to be growing older, to see how my journey unfolds."

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Car dealer who pays for strangers’ funerals is ST Singaporean of the Year 2022​

Syarafana Shafeeq

Feb 9, 2023

SINGAPORE - A second-hand car dealer who has made it his life’s mission to help strangers in need was named The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year 2022 on Thursday.
Mr Anson Ng, 55, gets calls and messages throughout the day from friends and strangers who need help paying medical bills or covering funeral fees.
He started helping out at old age homes and hospices more than 20 years ago, befriending seniors and cooking for the terminally ill. Learning about their last wishes, he offered to make arrangements for those who could not afford it.
Mr Ng, owner of second-hand car dealership Presto Expat Motoring Services, said: “I can’t bring my money with me when I die. I would rather spend it to make these people happy and provide them with the send-off they deserve. Money is really not everything.”
Mr Ng, who is married with two children, feels strongly about helping the less fortunate. When he was nine, his adoptive father killed himself, leaving him to work odd jobs to help his family make ends meet.
His charity Hao Ren Hao Shi (Good People, Good Deeds) has given out monthly provisions and food to the less fortunate since 2018, and helps about 1,000 families a month.
For his kind deeds and positive impact on the less fortunate, Mr Ng on Thursday received the Singaporean of the Year award from President Halimah Yacob, who was the guest of honour at the award ceremony at Raffles Hotel.

Mr Ng said: “I didn’t expect to win the award, since so many people are doing good. But it is a good chance to tell Singapore about how important it is to serve our needy and elderly. We must teach our young to do good, so that our nation will be in good hands in the future. Who else will take care of our sick and old in the future?”
Madam Halimah said the 2022 nominees were a varied lot, but they were united by the impact they made on society.
“These Singapore stories of grit, goodwill and glory will remind us to stand together, and inspire us to move forward as one united people. Let us lift our heads, let us celebrate the light in each of us; and in turn, let us all be the light in our society,” she said.

Organised by The Straits Times and presented by UBS Singapore, the Singaporean of the Year award is given each year to a Singaporean individual or group that has made an impact in society.
This could be through achievements that have put Singapore on the global stage, for improving the lives of others, or showing resilience in the face of adversity. The award is now in its eighth year.
Mr Ng was nominated alongside other finalists, like Mr Priveen Suraj Santakumar and Mr Charanjit Singh Walia who fed Ukrainian refugees in Poland; Ms Khairiah Hanim Mazlan, a private-hire car driver who talks to passengers about their mental health; and Associate Professor Too Heng-Phon, a biochemist passionate about Singapore’s life sciences scene.
Other finalists include Ms Alison Lim and Mr Anjang Rosli, a pair with dementia who help others with their condition; the founder of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder organisation Unlocking ADHD, Ms Moonlake Lee; married badminton players Terry Hee and Jessica Tan; as well as table tennis player Feng Tianwei.
Mr Ng was awarded a trophy and $20,000 in cash, while the other finalists received $5,000 each. The prize money is sponsored by UBS, which has supported the award since its inception.
Other sponsors include airline partner Singapore Airlines (SIA), global hotel partner Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, and Raffles Hotel Singapore.
The winner gets a five-night stay at any of the Millennium & Copthorne Hotels’ global properties and a three-night stay at Raffles Hotel Singapore, as well as a pair of SIA business class tickets. The remaining finalists each received a three-night stay at any of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels’ global properties and a pair of SIA economy class tickets.
Editor of The Straits Times Jaime Ho said: “This year, we honour a dedicated individual who has devoted more than 20 years of his life to the less fortunate in Singapore.
“He epitomises the selfless and generous ideals we all aspire to ourselves, and leads the way in showing that every deed, big or small, starts with one person and has infinite potential to inspire.”
Mr Edmund Koh, president of UBS Asia Pacific of UBS Group and UBS, said that the award showcases daily heroes who inspire Singaporeans through their actions.
He said: “Anson Ng, our Singaporean of the Year 2022, demonstrated how it was possible to give dignity and respect in death through his charitable work for over two decades.”
The 2021 award went to Mr Sakthibalan Balathandautham, who donated part of his liver to a one-year-old girl he had never met after he came across a plea online from a young couple.

 

[Karmile005]

 

[millim6868]

The white pigs all hv high pay but never see then donated or help needy with their huge payout,instead sinkies loves them tot their life is tough n cause is the white pigs,lol,sinkies are like city harvest followers,pay n pay lol