“My steadfast belief in a loving God has kept me going over the years”: Lim Siong Guan

“I walked up to the photograph, and I saw the caption: ‘My father was a taxi driver.’ I asked myself: ‘Which permanent secretary would say that?’”

Mrs Irene Chow, who served as Lim Siong Guan’s personal assistant for 25 years – moving with him from the Ministry of Defence to the Public Service Division of the Prime Minister’s Office, then to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance – still remembers that moment at a civil service exhibition. For her, the six simple words captured his authenticity, humility and pride in humble beginnings.

They also explained why he made it a point to speak directly with all. “The permanent secretary was the highest-ranking civil servant in the ministry, yet any officer could email him directly if they had something to say to him,” she wrote.

This commitment to people runs through Lim Siong Guan: The Best is Yet to Be, released on 10 November. Written by Joanne H Lim, the memoir combines Siong Guan’s reflections including working with Singapore’s founding leaders, and with letters and stories from those who knew him, including President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

It includes a sharing from Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, who had worked with Siong Guan when the latter was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance: “One of the things that impressed me the most about Mr Lim is the way he embraced change and innovation. He was always challenging us to think about what we ought to do for the future,” wrote PM Wong.

In a 2006 letter, then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong described Siong Guan as a “teacher, mentor and developer of people … with a genuine concern for people and an ability to draw out the best from them”.

These assessments echoed across his years in public service – from his early role as the first Principal Private Secretary to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, to his work with Dr Goh Keng Swee, and later as Chairman of the Economic Development Board and Group President of GIC.

Many recalled the weight of engaging with his formidable intellect and his reputation as a demanding boss. Yet just as often, they spoke of his empathy and care.

The late Mdm Chua Bee Kuan – who was director of IT in the Prime Minister’s Office – wrote movingly of how, during her relapse into stage 3 colon cancer, Mr Lim visited her at 11pm – after a full day of commitments and on the eve of a flight.

“How do I know there is a loving God? I know, because a man who has so much more important things to do with his time, chose instead to spend it (praying and) singing (to me) and comforting my husband and me in hospital,” she shared.

Colleagues often attribute this humility to his faith. Mrs Chow recalls the poster in Siong Guan’s office that read: “My God shall supply all my needs”, and his habit of sitting quietly in his car each morning, praying.

Even small glimpses – like a photo of him patching his granddaughter’s school uniform – revealed a man for whom leadership and service are inseparable from groundedness.

“When someone showed me a photo of Mr Lim patching up his grand-daughter’s uniform, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said Ms Julie Tan, Siong Guan’s PA at GIC, in the book. Photo courtesy of Joanne H Lim.

Today, Siong Guan is Emeritus Professor at the National University of Singapore and Distinguished Practitioner Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, where he continues to teach leadership, governance and future readiness.

But as he shares in the memoir, the roots of his approach to people and leadership reach back to a pivotal moment during his final year at the University of Adelaide – an encounter that shaped five decades of public service.

Below is an extract from Lim Siong Guan: The Best is Yet to Be, reproduced with permission:

I was baptised as an infant on the same day my mother was. My mother took her faith seriously and she brought us to church every Sunday, even though my father was not a Christian till late in his life.

More importantly, my mother lived out her Christian faith in her daily life easily and naturally, and she showed God’s love to everyone in her life.

Lim Siong Guan as an infant in his mother’s arms. Photo from Lim Siong Guan: The Best is Yet to Be. 

As a boy I would attend Sunday school, and when I joined the Boys’ Brigade, I would attend Bible class every Sunday.

Besides myself, there were two Colombo Plan scholars that year from Singapore studying at the University of Adelaide. One of them had been involved in a group called Youth for Christ, and suggested that we start a Bible study group. At the first Bible study session, I was asked: “Why do you believe in the Bible?” I paused as I had never considered such a question.

In my mind, if I believed in something, I had to live it through, so if I said that I believed in God and the Bible, I have to take it seriously. However, while I believed the Bible, I also explored other cultures and religions by reading books on philosophy and religion to understand more.

During this time of exploration, I had an experience during my final year at Adelaide that transformed my life. I was attending an evening service at Holy Trinity Church and the sermon was delivered by Dr Andrew Gih, a Chinese evangelist based in Hong Kong.

At the end of his sermon, Dr Gih asked to come to the front of the church those who, if God were to call, were prepared to go to China to bear testimony to Jesus Christ. I could not make myself go forward.

Siong Guan graduated with first-class honours in mechanical engineering from the University of Adelaide in 1969, becoming the first university graduate in his family. Photo from Lim Siong Guan: The Best is Yet to Be. 

If Dr Gih had phrased his invitation as “come forward all of you who have received the call to go to China, and I will pray for you”, there would be no problem as I did not receive any such call. But that was not what he had said. What he had said was “if God were to call you …”

It was a call for obedience, a call of responsiveness, a call for faith. I wondered why I could not go forward; I went back to my dorm that evening feeling totally miserable.

It was only months later that I understood why. It was because I had not understood enough about the love of God. I did not appreciate enough what it means when we proclaim “God is Love”.

There is a passage in the Bible from 1 John 4:8 that states: “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is Love.”

If I believe that God is Love, I will also believe that God only wishes what is good for us, and He will never ask me to do anything that does not accord with His love.

That insight about God taught me to leave everything in God’s hands – I believe that God is Love, so I make my decisions and reactions based upon this mindset. This way of thinking frees me from fear and anxiety, as this means that I am leaning on God to be responsible for the things that happen in my life and that “all things work together for good”.

I also believe that God bears the responsibility for what we call “the honour of His name” – everywhere I am assigned, I tell everybody that since God puts me there, in a way, God has the responsibility to make sure I succeed. And if I tell everybody that we have a God of Love who cares, he has a reputation to protect His credibility as the God who loves.

Believing that God is in control and that He loves me has made it possible for me to live with lightness and to deal with any complexity that comes my way. Thus, I have never lived life plotting promotions, chasing money, or fearing difficult situations. I just accepted whatever came my way and made the best of it – even with my posting to the Sewerage Branch of the Public Works Department dealing with peoples’ wastes!

Believing that God is Love has also made it possible for me to want the best for everyone who came my way, whether it be my boss, my colleagues, my subordinates, or even strangers.

People have asked me whether there has been a time I doubted God or felt that I had been deserted by Him. My answer is “No.” However, there have been times when I have asked in bewilderment: “God, why are you doing it like this? I don’t understand.”

However, since there is this dominant idea that God is Love, even when there are things I do not understand, there is an overriding belief that everything has been done in love.

One of the many news clippings mentioning Siong Guan that his father, Lim Teck Seng, collected. Photo from Lim Siong Guan: The Best is Yet to Be.

It is this steadfast belief in a loving God that has kept me going over the years. Over the course of my career, I have taken on jobs that I felt were a stretch, or multiple portfolios simultaneously, but I have not worried. In fact, the more complex the situation, for example the Singapore Airlines hijacking case in 1991, the more I sensed God’s presence.

God’s love for me has made it possible for me to want the best for everyone who passes my way, and to always seek to do the right and good thing wherever I go.

I am reminded of the following saying, whose origin is not clear: “I expect to pass through this world but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, to any fellow human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I will not pass this way again.”

Lim Siong Guan : The Best is Yet to Be, published by World Scientific, is available at Books Kinokuniya Singapore. Click here to buy the hardcover book, or here to buy the softcover version.

ABOUT LIM SIONG GUAN

In his 50-year-long public service career from 1969 to 2019, Lim Siong Guan engineered sustainable success in every organisation he led, primarily by creating a culture that harnessed the energy and creativity of his people, and organising structures and systems for long-term success so that the organisation would be in time for the future. His leadership philosophy is: “Think People. Think Future. Think Excellence.”

After graduating from the University of Adelaide in Mechanical Engineering, Siong Guan started serving his scholarship bond at the Mechanical Branch of the Public Works Department. After a few weeks, he was transferred to the Sewerage Branch of the Public Works Department – while it was definitely not the most glamorous or aromatic of postings, Siong Guan enjoyed learning on the job.

In 1970, Dr Goh Keng Swee, who was the mastermind of Singapore’s economy and defence, took Siong Guan into the Ministry of Defence to help build up Singapore’s defence. Siong Guan became a Systems Engineer – dreaming, planning, doing, and learning on various projects he knew nothing about, including setting up the Junior Flying Club.

Dr Goh later selected Siong Guan to become the General Manger of Singapore Automotive Engineering (SAE) when he was 24. During the time he was there, Siong Guan made SAE profitable, and more importantly, he infused the staff with a sense of mission and a spirit of enterprise.

In 1978, Siong Guan became the first Principal Private Secretary to Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, after which he became the Permanent Secretary of four ministries for 25 years: the Ministry of Defence (1981–1994), the Public Service Division of the Prime Minister’s Office (1994 –1998), the Ministry of Education (1997–1999), and the Ministry of Finance (1999 –2006). He was the Head of the Singapore Civil Service from 1999 to 2005.

He then chaired the Singapore Economic Development Board from 2006 to 2009, and served as Group President of GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, from 2007 to 2016, and then as Advisor to its Group Executive Committee from 2017 to 2019.

Today, Siong Guan is Emeritus Professor at the National University of Singapore and a Distinguished Practitioner Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, where he teaches leadership, governance, future readiness, organisational excellence, and change management.

For his various contributions, the Singapore Government conferred Siong Guan the Order of Nila Utama (First Class) in 2006, the Meritorious Service Medal in 1991, and the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1982. He was also named the fourth S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore in 2017.

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