Goh Keng Swee
Goh Keng Swee (6 October 1918 – 14 May 2010) was a Singaporean economist and statesman who served as the second Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 1973 to 1985. A member of the People's Action Party (PAP) and one of the first generation of post-independence political leaders, he is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of modern Singapore. He held the finance, defence, interior, and education portfolios over his career and represented Kreta Ayer throughout, from 1959 until his retirement from Parliament in 1984.
| 吴庆瑞 | |
| 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore | |
|---|---|
| In office | 1 March 1973– 1 January 1985 |
| Preceded by | Toh Chin Chye |
| Succeeded by | Goh Chok Tong Ong Teng Cheong |
| Minister for Education | |
| In office | 12 February 1979– 2 January 1985 |
| Minister for Defence | |
| In office | 11 August 1970– 11 February 1979 |
| Minister for Finance | |
| In office | 17 August 1967– 10 August 1970 |
| Minister for Interior and Defence | |
| In office | 9 August 1965– 16 August 1967 |
| Minister for Finance | |
| In office | 5 June 1959– 8 August 1965 |
| Member of Parliament | |
| for Kreta Ayer SMC | |
| In office | 30 May 1959– 4 December 1984 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Goh Keng Swee 6 October 1918 Malacca, Straits Settlements |
| Died | 14 May 2010 (aged 91) Singapore |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Resting place | Mandai Crematorium |
| Political party | People's Action Party |
| Spouse | Alice Woon (m. 1942; div. 1986) Phua Swee Liang (m. 1991) |
| Children | Goh Kian Chee |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics (BSc, PhD) |
| Occupation | Economist, statesman |
Early life and education
Goh was born in Malacca, then part of the Straits Settlements, on 6 October 1918, into a Peranakan family, the fifth of six children. His father managed a rubber plantation; his mother came from the family that produced the Malaysian politicians Tan Cheng Lock and Tan Siew Sin, the latter later a political opponent of Goh's. Given the Christian name Robert, which he disliked and did not use, Goh moved with his family to Singapore when he was two.
He attended the Anglo-Chinese School and graduated from Raffles College in 1939 with a diploma in arts and distinction in economics. After working briefly in the colonial civil service and in the Department of Social Welfare, he won a scholarship to the London School of Economics, graduating in 1951 with first-class honours in economics. He returned to the LSE for doctoral study and completed a PhD in economics in 1956. In London he was founding chairman of the Malayan Forum, a student discussion group, and met figures including Abdul Razak, Lee Kuan Yew and Toh Chin Chye. He resigned from the civil service in 1958 to work full-time for the PAP.
Political career
Pre-independence
Goh was vice-chairman of the PAP's Central Executive Committee. He contested Kreta Ayer at the 1959 general election, won, and was appointed Minister for Finance in Lee Kuan Yew's first Cabinet, taking charge of the economy. Facing a forecast deficit, he imposed fiscal discipline, including cuts to civil service salaries, and reported a surplus by year's end. He initiated the Economic Development Board, established in 1961 to attract foreign investment, and the following year began developing the Jurong industrial estate.
Goh was a key member of the PAP's moderate wing during its struggle with a pro-communist faction, which broke away in 1961 to form the Barisan Sosialis. He and his colleagues regarded merger with Malaya as necessary for Singapore's economic development.
Federation of Malaysia (1963–1965)
Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. Goh sat in the Malaysian Parliament (Dewan Rakyat) as a member for Singapore from November 1963 until separation in August 1965. The merger proved difficult, with disputes over economic policy and Malay political dominance, and Goh featured in economic disagreements with the Malaysian Finance Minister, his cousin Tan Siew Sin. In July 1965 Lee Kuan Yew asked Goh to negotiate with Malaysian leaders Tun Abdul Razak and Ismail Abdul Rahman over a looser arrangement for Singapore; the discussions instead led to agreement on separation. Goh maintained a confidential dossier on the negotiations he codenamed "Albatross".
Post-independence
On independence in 1965, Goh became Minister for Interior and Defence, charged with building Singapore's military and security capabilities after the British withdrawal. His central policy was the introduction of National Service, a compulsory conscription system for able-bodied young men, from 1967.
He returned as Minister for Finance from 1967 to 1970, during which he declined to allow a central bank to issue currency, preferring a currency board on the principle that governments cannot "spend their way to prosperity". He was reappointed Minister for Defence in 1970, and on 1 March 1973 became Deputy Prime Minister concurrently with his Cabinet portfolio.
In February 1979 Goh moved to the Ministry of Education, where his 1978 report on the ministry shaped the school system, including the introduction of ability-based "streaming" in 1980. From June 1980 he was designated First Deputy Prime Minister, with S. Rajaratnam as Second Deputy Prime Minister, and chaired the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He stepped down from Parliament on 3 December 1984 and retired from the Cabinet at the start of 1985.
Economic institutions
Beyond his Cabinet roles, Goh shaped several of Singapore's economic institutions. In 1981 he proposed that the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) be established to invest the country's excess reserves rather than holding them as cash, an unusual step for a non-commodity economy; he served as GIC's Deputy Chairman from 1981 to 1994. He chaired the Monetary Authority of Singapore from 1980 to 1985 and was its Deputy Chairman from 1985 to 1992. In 1971 he established what became the Defence Science Organisation, later DSO National Laboratories.
Cultural and other projects
Goh was associated with a range of cultural and recreational institutions, including the Jurong Bird Park, the Singapore Zoo and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and backed the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre in his constituency. He encouraged the founding of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in 1968 and introduced rugby into the Singapore Armed Forces and schools.
Later life and death
After retiring from politics, Goh held a number of advisory and corporate roles, including economic adviser to China's State Council on coastal development. He divorced his first wife, Alice Woon, in 1986 and married Phua Swee Liang in 1991. He suffered strokes in 1999 and 2000. Goh died at his home in Siglap on 14 May 2010, aged 91, of pneumonia. He lay in state at Parliament House and was accorded a state funeral on 23 May 2010.
Honours and legacy
Goh received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Services in 1972 and Singapore's Order of Temasek (First Class) in 1985. In 2010 the Singapore Command and Staff College was renamed the Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College, and an education centre was named after him. He is consistently described as one of Singapore's founding fathers and the principal architect of its early economic development.