The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) was established as an autonomous organization in 1968. It is a regional research centre dedicated to the study of socio-political, security and economic trends and developments in Southeast Asia and its wider geostrategic and economic environment. The Institute’s research programmes are the Regional Economic Studies (RES, including ASEAN and APEC), Regional Strategic and Political Studies (RSPS), and Regional Social and Cultural Studies (RSCS). ISEAS Publishing, an established academic press, has issued more than 2,000 books and journals. It is the largest scholarly publisher of research about Southeast Asia from within the region. ISEAS Publishing works with many other academic and trade publishers and distributors to disseminate important research and analyses from and about Southeast Asia to the rest of the world. 00 Serving_NewNation Prelims 2 6/21/11, 5:15 PM First published in Singapore in 2011 by ISEAS Publishing Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Pasir Panjang Singapore 119614 E-mail: [email protected] Website: <http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg> All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. © 2011 Baey Lian Peck The responsibility for facts and opinions in this publication rests exclusively with the author and his interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the publisher or its supporters. ISEAS Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Ooi, Kee Beng, 1955– Serving a new nation : Baey Lian Peck’s Singapore story. 1. Baey, Lian Peck. 2. Businessmen—Singapore—Biography. 3. Singapore—Officials and employees—Biography. I. Title. DS610.73 B13O61 2011 ISBN 978-981-4345-42-2 (hard cover) ISBN 978-981-4345-43-9 (e-book, PDF) Cover design by Chris Lim Kah Wai Cover photos of Dr and Mrs Baey Lian Peck by Ooi Kee Beng Typeset by Superskill Graphics Pte Ltd Printed in Singapore by Mainland Press Pte Ltd 00 Serving_NewNation Prelims 4 6/21/11, 5:15 PM CONTENTS Foreword by Lee Kuan Yew vii Acknowledgement ix Introduction xi 1. Born a Businessman 1 My Childhood 1 The Japanese Occupation 5 Meeting the Wife 13 Family Meals 15 Into the Family Business 18 The Vietnam Connection 27 Going into Oil 32 2. Seeking to Serve 43 Singapore Metrication Board (1971–1981) 45 NTUC FairPrice (1973–1982) 54 International Trading Company (Intraco) (1969–1986) 62 Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE) (1975–1987) 64 Committee on Treatment and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts (1977–1988) and Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA) (1977–1996) 71 St John Ambulance (1991–1998) 88 3. Seeing the Bigger Picture 95 v 00 Serving_NewNation Prelims 5 6/21/11, 5:15 PM vi Contents Appendices I “Letter to Myself”, by Baey Lian Peck, written on 27 May 1957 111 II “Singapore checks inflation’s rise”, Straits Times, 11 September 1978 114 III Queries by Baey Lian Peck at the board meeting of Intraco Ltd, 29 April 1986 117 IV Offer by Morgan Grenfell (Asia) Ltd for the acquisition of Intraco Ltd shares, 26 June 1986 118 V “Productivity — The Key to Singapore’s Correctional Rehabilitation”, a report written by W. Clifford, Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, following a study of Singapore’s correctional rehabilitation, posted 18 January 1978 119 VI SCORE dinner speech by Chairman Baey Lian Peck at Cockpit Hotel on 31 March 1979 126 VII “A love that has lasted 54 years”, Sunday Times, 28 May 2006 128 VIII Letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong calling for cross-subsidization as control measure on inflation, 9 February 2008 130 IX Baey Lian Peck’s advice to grandson Zhong Yi on the changing political scene in Singapore, through an e-mail exchange, 30 April 2011 132 X Baey Lian Peck’s advice to grandson Yi Wei on the changing political scene in Singapore via an e-mail exchange, 27 May 2011 136 References 140 About the Author 141 00 Serving_NewNation Prelims 6 6/21/11, 5:15 PM FOREWORD I knew Baey Lian Peck through his work in the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprise (SCORE). I found him public-spirited, willing to give of his time in spite of his business schedule. From SCORE, he went on to other duties for the government. I always found him responsive and diligent in carrying out the duties he voluntarily undertook. Without people like Baey Lian Peck, Singapore could not have been as well run. We have decentralised many of the functions of government into institutions run primarily by public- spirited men and women. The government supplies the secretarial staff. Baey Lian Peck was one such man. Lee Kuan Yew 13 June 2011 vii 00 Serving_NewNation Prelims 7 6/21/11, 5:15 PM ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is not given many to have the opportunity to listen to a major actor of a period just passed telling his or her life story in detail and explaining the recent flow of events that one knows about only in passing as reported news. I had that chance, and when interviewing Dr Baey Lian Peck about his experiences and achievements, the contingency of life became evident and the immediacy of the individual’s role in events became shockingly apparent. This is a blessing not to be taken lightly. Working on this book has meant that I got to know Dr Baey well. I will not say “very well”, because he is a surprising multifaceted man whose work in governmental bodies influenced Singapore’s development greatly, and whose business activities spanned the world in an unobtrusive and unknown way. The breadth of this man’s activities is simply amazing, even now in his old age. It has been easy writing this volume because Dr Baey is always inspiring and always willing to share of himself. I thank him and his wife, Daisy, for their warm patience during our interviews. I am also most grateful to Ambassador K. Kesavapany and Mr Tan Keng Jin for bringing this project my way, and for the confidence they had in me that the book would be done in time for Dr Baey’s 80th birthday on 13 July 2011. Ooi Kee Beng 10 June 2011 ix 00 Serving_NewNation Prelims 9 6/21/11, 5:15 PM INTRODUCTION When the suggestion to write a book on Dr Baey Lian Peck was put to me by ISEAS Director K. Kesavapany in mid-2010, I must confess that I felt very doubtful. I had just put in three years of work on a book on Dr Goh Keng Swee, and was looking forward to getting back to studying Malaysian personalities from the Merdeka years. Not another Singaporean, I thought. But I had no idea who this Dr Baey was. In fact I had never heard of him, and none of my peers had heard of him. This was not strange, since I began living in Singapore only in 2004. And so, to be fair to the Director, I said I would have to meet the man first before I decided. The head of ISEAS’ Public Affairs Unit, Mr Tan Keng Jin, arranged for the three of us to meet for lunch at the Singapore Cricket Club. It turned out to be a very entertaining meal. Dr Baey was obviously a charismatic individual. Most significantly for me, he was clearly a very frank and honest person, and he had a lot of stories to tell. I was hooked. I had to find out more about him and his improbable tales. I now think that it was exactly because I had just finished a book on a Singaporean leader that I felt drawn towards the story of Dr Baey Lian Peck. What is always not sufficiently present when authoring a biographical account of great leaders like Dr Goh are the soft voices and untold tales that lurk in the xi 00 Serving_NewNation Prelims 11 6/21/11, 5:15 PM