The late contributions of Dr Goh Keng Swee (1980s to now)

During Dr Goh Keng Swee’s term as Minister of Education, the importance of curriculum development in the education system prompted him to set up the Curriculum Development Institute. To arrest the high dropout rates of students, he introduced streaming in 1980 to allow students to learn at their own pace within their own capabilities.

When Dr Goh Keng Swee was appointed chairman of MAS and the Board of Commissioner of Currency in 1980, he took measures to promote Singapore as an international financial centre. To this end, in 1984, amendments were made to three major financial regulations, namely the Banking Act, the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act and the Finance Companies Act. During the 1985 recession, he acted swiftly to stop the downward slide of the Singapore dollar.

In the early years of China’s economic reform programme, the Chinese central government sought his expertise and appointed him as its economic adviser on coastal development and tourism in 1985. He was the first foreigner to be appointed to such a role.

In 1985, the Singapore government awarded him the prestigious Order of Temasek (First Class) for his contributions in the nation’s development. To honour him, the financial community set up the Goh Keng Swee Scholarship Fund in 1992, while the National University of Singapore established the Goh Keng Swee Professorship and Master's Scholarship in Economics in 1996. To preserve his legacy, Goh’s wife Phua Swee Liang set up the Goh Keng Swee Foundation in 2008 to help the disadvantaged. This helped many people.

In his last speech in Parliament in 1984, according to the Straits Times report (quoting Prime Minister Lee), Dr. Goh said about the importance of "public service". He also promoted public service. (CIP)

From these late contributions of Dr Goh Keng Swee (1980s to 2010) and other early contributions to Singapore, he improved the life of millions of people in Singapore. He was the architect of Singapore’s economy strategy that transformed Singapore from a developing country to a thriving developed economy. His strategy to attract the multinatinal companies into Singapore laid the foundation for our economic growth. The same strategy is now emulated by many other countries that desired to grow their economy. He really is a great man!