STRAITS TIMES 31 Aug 2014 SUPERMAN, YODA, CHANGE
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STRAITS TIMES 31 Aug 2014 SUPERMAN, YODA, CHANGE CRUSADER BY SUSAN LONG, SENIOR WRITER He may be the group president of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, but Mr Lim Siong Guan rides the MRT to work. He alights at Raffles Place, then walks about 20 minutes to GIC's office in Robinson Road for the exercise. If he needs a postage stamp or has any errand of a personal nature, he queues for it himself instead of bothering his secretary. His yearly tour of GIC overseas offices since 2007 - four days around the world: Singapore, San Francisco, New York, London, Singapore; and another four days around Asia: Singapore, Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore - is the stuff of corporate legend. He does not book a single hotel room, sleeps on the plane, refuses a corporate limousine and insists on public transport. He lives out of a small carry-on bag and showers in GIC office gyms. The London office keeps a spare towel for him. It is a practice the former chairman of the Economic Development Board says he picked up from his EDB days of city-hopping as "check-in luggage increases very significantly the chances of missing connecting flights". By all accounts, Mr Lim is an iconoclast. The former head of the Singapore civil service, who served as permanent secretary in the ministries of Defence, Education and Finance, and in the Prime Minister's Office, is also a hard act to follow. He sticks out in the financial sector because of his ascetic values, thrift and humility. He owns a Volvo S60, easily the smallest car among his colleagues. While he won't spend on hotel rooms, he's prepared to spend a lot to effect organisational change. Everywhere he goes, he ignites a mini revolution, cutting red tape, operating close to the boundaries and bucking conventions. Dr Teh Kok Peng, chairman of business space solutions provider Ascendas and formerly president of GIC Special Investments, says: "In the office, some call him 'Superman' for his drive, energy and nobility of intention. He demands a lot of himself so he's in a position to demand a lot from others too." His pet phrase is: "Are we ready for the future?" His pet name is Yoda, for his wisdom, long-range thinking and fearlessness in challenging his staff to think, even ahead of their ministers. He is also known as one of the toughest - because of his formidable intellect and unbending principle - yet nicest bosses to work for in the civil service. His top question to staff is always: "How can I help you do your job better?" Stories abound of the small and big ways in which he intervened to help others. None of this, of course, will ever be disclosed by the wiry, reticent 67-year-old. He minimises it all, ascribing it to his yearning for "simplicity" and to "experience what ordinary people have to experience". Next stop: Honour Mr Lim might be onto his biggest change platform yet - trying to engineer social and behavioural change in Singapore by promoting a culture of honour. And the futurist has his work cut out for him. Earlier this month, he founded and launched non-profit organisation Honour (Singapore), which was attacked online for its vagueness and suspected Christian agenda. It's easy to to see why as his diffidence makes him a tough interviewee. He will not lament the deficiency of honour today, beyond saying it is latent in everyone, just not brought to the level of consciousness yet. He is modest to a fault, not given to laying out bold plans or mission statements. He refuses, too, to make a big deal of honour - imbuing it with an everyday ubiquitous quality. He insists it's not abstract but part of ordinary living here, such as people offering their seat on the MRT or a taxi driver arriving on time, as promised. The only thing he is categorical about is that Honour (Singapore) has no right-wing Christian agenda. It has been taken to task online for not declaring that all five members of its board are part of Full Gospel Business (FGB) Singapore, an inter-denominational group of Christian professionals. Additionally, Honour (Singapore)'s executive director and board member Jason Wong is also chairman of Focus on the Family Singapore, a pro-family Christian charity. For the record, Mr Lim states that Honour has no view on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) issues. Neither is it an advocacy group for government policy, which it will not comment on. After 37 years in the civil service, he says he understands the "extreme sensitivity" of race and religion. "Our intentions are very narrowly promoting a culture of honour and honouring. Clearly, Honour is not a Christian organisation. It can't be if you're trying to do something which has national value," he says. He adds that it would be impossible to advocate Christian work when it has a panel of 10 community advisers of differing religions, including Muslims and Buddhists, such as Haji Mohammad Alami Musa, president of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore or Muis; Mr Chua Thian Poh, chairman of Ho Bee Land; and Ms Claire Chiang, senior vice-president of Banyan Tree Holdings. But what about the worry expressed by netizens that his board's overwhelming religious affiliation will lead to the imposition of Christian values of honour? He says teachings like doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, honouring your parents and loving your neighbours are common to many religions. He cites humanitarian organisations started as an expression of faith such as Mercy Relief, started by Muslim group Perdaus in 2001, and St Andrew's Mission Hospital, set up by the Anglican Church in 1913, which are now multiracial, multi- religious and secular in nature. What about talk that Honour was set up at the behest of the Prime Minister to be a counter to the liberal tide out there and exemplify a more respectful response to the shrill voices out there? Mr Lim seems affronted at this suggestion and says: "Absolutely not, he never spoke to me about it." As for the seeming haste to set up Honour, which led to it being registered under the same address as FGB, as well as to save costs, he says it is because the 50th year of Singapore's Independence started on the 10th of August this year. "We thought that we ought to try to make it before the start of the 50th year," he says, with his characteristic sense of urgency. Use it or lose it Honour (Singapore) is his practical-minded reaction to the treacly nostalgia of the SG50 celebrations, to mark Singapore's 50th year of Independence next year. Reading about the publicity on SG50, he felt it was overwhelmingly about celebration, honouring the pioneer generation and the past, which was good. But he says: "The value of the past is to extract that which is critical that has brought us success, and to make sure that we don't lose it as we think about the future. "Every time people visit Singapore, we show them our Housing Board flats, CPF, education system, we talk about our strong leadership and political will - all of which are important. But if I were to ask myself, so what is the brand image of Singapore? What made us succeed? What is the defining characteristic of Singapore? "It is trustworthiness. That's why corporations plonk billions here and are prepared to wait 10 or 20 years to recover their investments. That's why so many Singaporeans work in China as financial controllers and accountants, jobs which require total integrity and honesty." At the same time, he saw the fractious way public debates were being conducted here. So about four months ago, he rounded up a few friends to set up Honour (Singapore) to focus on the practice of honour - honouring our word and each other. He believes this will help Singapore continue to succeed and stand out among nations. "Otherwise countries, like organisations, after a period of success, may end up with generations who are not aware or conscious about what has brought about that success," he warns, adding that none of those invited to sit on his board or panel refused. "If you look at the atlas of the world, Singapore fits within the letter 'O' of the name of the country. The reality is no one owes us a living. You matter if you succeed, you don't matter if you fail." The closest thing he's done to promote honour is introducing the concept of Total Defence in 1984, during his stint as permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence. That exercise was about getting people to think of defence beyond the hardware of military, civil and economic defence, to the softer factors of social defence and psychological defence, which "is about how people relate to each other and how people think about their home". "It's very difficult to do something to bring about a new conviction in people. What you're trying to do is take something already there and make it a conscious part of you," he describes. The difference today, he concedes, is that in his previous change-making roles, he was just doing his job. This is the first one he has given himself. "Maybe it's a reflection of my old age, a desire to do something while I can, before I fade from the scene," lets on the author of the recent bestseller, The Leader, The Teacher & You.