Dr Goh Keng Swee (1918- 2010), the man who laid the foundation stones of Singapore’s economy and defence forces, has left the nation without one of its most well respected citizens. Dr Goh’s memory has been preserved in a rich collection of oral history interviews, speeches, photographs and video recordings possessed by the National Archives of Singapore (NAS).
Dr Goh was among the most important members of Singapore’s founding generation of leaders. He played a critical role as Minister of Finance in the crucial early years 1959-65 and 1967-70 laying the groundwork for Singapore’s subsequent economic development.
He establish the Economic Development Board (EDB) in 1961 to kick-start Singapore's industrialization programme.Its goal was to draw foreign multinationals to Singapore and serve as a one-stop agency for all their needs, from land and power to work safety. Its first chairman, Mr. Hon Sui Sen, had the first pick of Singapore's top scholars to staff the agency. But Dr Goh
continued to play a key role in guiding the EDB through its formative years, steering its development of industrial promotion strategies and tax incentives to draw more companies here. The EDB grew so quickly that Mr. Hon had to hive off different parts. The industrial estates segment was turned into Jurong Town Corporation while the development finance section became the DBS Bank of today. Last year, the EDB attracted $11.8 billion of investments and helped create 21,900 new jobs.
He also established the Jurong Industrial Estate in 1962 (which he promoted in spite of severe public criticism, though it turned out to be the right move). To create confidence in Singapore and attract more foreign investors, Dr Goh made a big show of attending factory
openings and getting TV coverage. He would go for the ground-breaking ceremony as well as the official opening of each factory - even for the smallest one making mothballs - to create two occasions for publicity, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew recalled in his memoirs. The much-needed jump-start for Jurong came when Dr Goh managed to persuade two Indonesian businessmen to set up the National Iron and Steel Mill. Dr Goh laid its foundation stone in 1962, and soon all kinds of factories were sprouting up all over Jurong. In 1968, the Jurong Town Corporation was created to manage Jurong's development. Since then, it has developed 6,600ha of industrial land and 4.4 million sq m of ready-built facilities to house more than 7,000 local and multinational companies. These institutions have made, and continue to make, vital contributions to Singapore’s economic success.
Dr Goh was also responsible for developing the economic strategy that is crucial to explaining Singapore’s economic takeoff. Between 1959 and 1965, he advocated an import-substitution strategy and positioned Singapore as a manufacturing centre supplying the common Malaysian market. Following Singapore’s independence in 1965, Dr Goh realized the importance of keeping to this plan and began promoting an export-oriented developmental strategy. By adopting this export-oriented strategy, he went against influential economic theories circulating in the 1960s and 1970s which asserted that state protectionism and heavy government expenditure was necessary to spur growth in emerging economies.
Dr Goh formulated policies which had Singapore adopt an open economy that encouraged free trade, competition and foreign direct investment by multi-national corporations, while encouraging economic thrift and prudence by the Singapore government and people. Dr Goh was also convinced that successful economic development depended on the determination, initiative, enterprise and self-reliance of a people and that good government should encourage these qualities.
Dr Goh succeeded in this daunting challenge, and in the process laid the foundations of one of the most important and successful Singapore state institutions in a mere six years. Many ideas and institutions on which the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is built were put in place during Dr Goh’s tenure, for instance a conscript army and compulsory national service for young men.6 He believed that Singaporean citizens should participate directly as soldiers in their country’s defence to reinforce their sense of responsibility to the national community and to strengthen their bonds with one another as countrymen. Dr Goh thought that this was especially important as Singapore as new nation populated by migrants of diverse origins and particularistic interests did not possess a strong national consciousness: Besides defense and economic matters, Dr Goh made other significant contributions to Singapore. Between 1979 and 1985 he was put in charge of the Ministry of Education where he made important reforms to Singapore’s education system. Most notably, the current practice of ‘streaming’ in schools was introduced following the release of the influential Goh Report by the Ministry of Education in 1979 under Dr Goh’s supervision. The gifted program that provided advanced education for talented children also originated under Dr Goh’s leadership.
Despite the high office to which he rose, Dr Goh always remained a man of simple needs, lived a simple and frugal existence, and was ever ready to humble himself to relate with and aid his fellow men. Dr Goh was also responsible for projects that sought to improve Singaporeans' cultural and leisure life, such as the Jurong Bird Park, the Singapore Zoo and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He backed the construction of the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre in his constituency as a venue for Chinese opera performances. He was also instrumental in introducing rugby in the Singapore Armed Forces and later in schools. In recognition of his role in promoting the sport, the Schools "C" Division Cup is named after him. Impressed by an oceanarium in the Bahamas, he contacted the Sentosa Development Corporation and convinced them to have one. Underwater World Singapore opened in 1991.
From what I mentioned above, its clear that Dr Goh had done more than enough for this tiny little island and I feel that we the current generation of Singaporeans should not take things for granted and we must appreciate all the efforts our founding fathers like Dr Goh had done from us and learn from him so that we are able to contribute to Singapore in future.
