SINGAPORE: Mr Yong Nyuk Lin, a member of Singapore's
first Cabinet, has died.
He was 94.
The late Mr Yong was the brother-in-law of former
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's late wife, Madam Kwa Geok
Choo.
Born in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, Mr Yong served as a minister
from 1959 to 1976.
A Raffles College science graduate, his portfolios included
Education, Health and Communications.
He helped to shape modern Singapore by carrying out measures to
increase access to education, establish sustainable population
growth, improve public transport and reduce traffic
congestion.
The late Mr Yong was the general manager of Overseas Assurance
Company when he resigned to stand for elections in 1959.
He became a Member of Parliament in Geylang West.
That year as Education Minister, Mr Yong launched a Chinese
literacy drive, using Mandarin as a common language of all Chinese
dialect group.
He also started adult education classes to teach Malay.
In addition, Mr Yong doubled the intake of students in schools,
converting each school into two by providing morning and afternoon
sessions.
He ran a crash programme to train the teachers needed and promoted
many of the seniors to be principals, headmasters and
headmistresses.
In 1963, he moved to the Health Ministry.
His Ministry increased public cleanliness by implementing a
hawkers' code to raise hygiene standards, banning cattle from
built-up areas and reorganising refuse collection.
In 1966, the Population and Family Planning Board was formed to
slash Singapore's unsustainably high rate of 29 births per
thousand.
It offered advice and subsidised contraceptives to all eligible
married women.
Mr Yong was transferred to the new Ministry of Communications in
1968.
Among the projects the department handled during his tenure were
the creation of Singapore Airlines and the Singapore
Telecommunications Authority, the expansion of civil aviation and
Singapore's container port facilities, and early studies of the
feasibility of the MRT.
But much of his energies were devoted to traffic and public
transport.
In order to reduce traffic and congestion, he raised the cost of
car registration by 25 per cent, encouraged car-pooling, acted to
suppress the pirate taxi trade, and introduced school buses and bus
lanes.
The biggest anti-congestion measure he implemented, which drew
international attention on its launch in mid-1975, was the Area
Licensing Scheme (ALS) - the forerunner of the Electronic Road
Pricing system (ERP).
Mr Yong received the Order of Nila Utama on National Day in 1990
for his contributions prior to the merger and separation of
Singapore.
- CNA/cc