Goh Keng Swee - the true architect of Singapore?

• lwflee

  26 May 06, 19:50

  Originally posted by kilua:

  When i first read about Goh Keng Swee, i thought he was quite an extraordinary person. Some blog paid tribute to him by calling him "true architect of Singapore"
  
  Correct me if i am wrong
  
  He
  
  1. Built SAF from scratch
  2. Created DSO, Singapore's military research arm
  3. Created EDB which was too successful and big that some part had to break off as
  
  4. DBS
  5. and JTC
  
  6. Created MAS and Singapore's stock exchange
  7. His deputy Joe Pillay under him in MAS went on to create SIA.
  8. He had played a huge role in revising the education system in the 70s and 80s
  
  I dont think its unreasonable to say that his thinking shaped many aspects of modern singapore.
  
  It would really be interesting to read his memoirs.
  

  Apparently, he was the one who convinced LKY that Singapore, as a nation, cannot prosper under socialist ideals.
  
  He was probably right. Just think what singapore would be if he was not in the team!
• kilua

  26 May 06, 22:11

  Originally posted by pearlie27:

  You think that phrase is very vague? Do you expect Rajatranam to disparage his team mate?
  
  DSO was founded by GKS don't you think it was natural for it to sing praises of its boss?
  
  And do you seriously think the Philippines press should know GKS better than Rajatranam?
  
  Anyway, we are all entitled to our views and are free to choose whoever we want to worship.

  yes, i think its very vague. Let me explain
  
  1.Kuan Yew was really the leader
  2.HeÂ’s the number one
  3. So he was leading the group as a whole
  4.Keng Swee was more of the civil servant, and I, the ideas man.
  5.And thatÂ’s how we all got started.
  
  1. Says LKY is a leader
  2.Says LKY is a leader
  3.Still says LKY is a Leader
  4. says GKS was more involved in the civil administration will he himself was in charge of producing ideas. (probably arguments to convince people, since he was a journalist)
  5. thats how PAP started.
  
  No matter how i read i dont think he was trying to belittle GKS ability. He gave acknowledgement to LKY as an overall Leader, and GKS in charge of the Civil Adminstration that is Building up EDB,MAS,SAD etc and him the ideas to win over people.
  
  Thats my frank opinion on the comment.
  
  Anyway so you think its possible to get the real story about Singapore's Pioneers by our "State times" or MOE?
  
  
• kilua

  26 May 06, 22:17

  Originally posted by lwflee:

  Apparently, he was the one who convinced LKY that Singapore, as a nation, cannot prosper under socialist ideals.
  
  He was probably right. Just think what singapore would be if he was not in the team!

  Yeah he was right on many occasions about the economic polices. He wasnt the kind of airy fairy economist that held western economic theories in esteem, and he was proven right.
  
  For example, conventional western economic wisdom tell us that the state should not get involved in business,but he thought otherwise and most of the GLCs did very well for the first 25 years.
  
  
• Atobe

  27 May 06, 05:26

  
  
  Was the following post forgotten ?
  
  Lim Kim San's opinion about his old comrade - LKY - seems to be quite clear :
  
  

  Originally posted by kilua:
  
  The peers who described Goh Keng Swee not a visionary, who are they?
  
  And If GKS is not a visionary, who is? LKY?
  
  Maybe You might want to hear what Old Guard Lim Kim San had to say about LKY.
  
  http://www.singapore-window.org/sw00/001205aw.htm
  
  But bottom line, what does Lim really think of his old mate, Lee Kuan Yew? Some whisper that Lim, like other "old guard" leaders Toh Chin Chye, Ong Pang Boon, Jek Yeun Thong and Devan Nair, is sour toward Lee for the way he always insisted on being No. 1. The talk goes that Lee was lucky to catapult straight into the premiership since it suited his talent for oratory, vision, and strategic thinking. Had he needed to deal with the nuts and bolts of running a specific ministry, he might have come a cropper. If Lim shares this view, he keeps it to himself. Publicly, he says that without Lee's leadership, Singapore "would probably be like a third-world country now."
  
  crop·per2 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (krpr)
  n.
  A heavy fall; a tumble.
  A disastrous failure; a fiasco.
  
  

  Will the truth ever be known ?
  
  This is typical of an old comrade returning the favor to LKY for the generosity of the long period at the helm of SPH.