Lim Kim San

1
Lim Kim San
2
Government Service

• Public Service Commission
• - Housing and Development Board 1959 1962
• Minister for National Development 1963 1965
• Minister for Finance 1965 - 1967
• Minister for the Interior and Defence 1967 - 1970
• Minister for Education 1970 - 1972

3
Government Service

• Minister for Environment 1972 1975 and 1979 -
  1980
• Minister for Communications 1975 - 1978
• Chairman for Port of Singapore Authority
• (PSA) 1979 1994
• Managing Director of Monetary Authority of
  Singapore
• (MAS) 1981-1982
• Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings
• (SPH) 1985 - 2002

4
The Man

• Attended Raffles College
• Never attended university
• In the words of MM Lee Kuan Yew, a most
  practical man.
• Characteristics
• Frank and out-spoken
• Practical
• A hands on motivator
• Known for organizational and planning abilities
• http//www.pathfinder.com/asiaweek/foc/2000/12/05/

5
Minister for National Development

• Known as the Father of Housing.
• Appointed to the Public Service
• Commision (HDB) in 1959.
• Post 1963 elections - appointed
• the Minister for National Development.

6
Minister for National Development

• After 1959, the governments immediate task was
  to provide housing to its citizens.
• Lim Kim Sans organizational and planning skills
  led to his appointment to the Housing and
  Development Board (HDB) in 1959.
• Success
• - 1960-1961 25,000 units were built.
• 1960-1965 51,000 units of low cost housing
  built.

7
Minister for National Development

• How?
• Kept the housing programme well-funded.
• Cut red tape and bypassed rigid rules and
  regulations.
• Hired contractors who used a large pool of
  workers and different sources of building
  materials.
• What?
• Largest project completed Queenstown
• Resulted in the idea of a regional centre.
• - lower rate of congestion and burden on
  the CBD.
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lim_Kim_San

8
Minister for National Development

• Credited for
• leading a successful public housing programme in
  early 1960s
• easing the acute housing shortage problem at that
  time
• Awarded the State's highest honor, the Darjah
  Utama Temasek (Order of Temasek) in 1962
• Awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community
  Leadership in 1965 (Phillipines)
• 1) http//www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/Citati
  onLimKimSan.htm
• 2) http//www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Response/Respon
  seLimKimSan.htm

9
Other Contributions

• His contribution to Singapore's infrastructure is
  far reaching
• initiating its land reclamation programme
• (Marine Parade/East Coast)
• building reservoirs
• (Upper Pierce)
• successfully negotiating a third water pipeline
  from Johore.

10
SPH

• Placed in the company
• Cost-cutting measures to improve SPHs market
  position.
• In charge of ensuring The New Paper becomes a
  profitable newspaper.

11
Lim Kim San
Lim Kim San's business acumen, practical approach
and his instinct about people set him apart from
the ideologues of Singapore's old guard. His
talent is clearly in business organization, team
building and people management. In that
perspective, his enduring contribution to
Singapore can be measured by his role as a
technocrat and businessman rather than a
politician
12
Sources
1) http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lim_Kim_San 2)
http//www.singapore-window.org/sw01/011016bl.htm
3) http//www.pathfinder.com/asiaweek/foc/2000/12/
05/ 4) http//sg.pagenation.com/317023.page 5)
http//www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationL
imKimSan.htm 6) http//www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/R
esponse/ResponseLimKimSan.htm 7)
http//www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid
31869 8) http//ourstory.asia1.com.sg/dream/lifel
ine/san1.html 9) http//ourstory.asia1.com.sg/drea
m/lifeline/san2.html