Thursday July 20, 10:17
PM
Former Cabinet
Minister Lim Kim San dies at age 89
SINGAPORE : Former Singapore Cabinet Minister Lim Kim San has died
at the age of 89.
One of his sons-in-law told Channel NewsAsia that Mr Lim died of
natural causes late on Thursday afternoon.
Mr Lim was best known as "Mr HDB" for his role in providing
low-cost housing for thousands of Singaporeans in the 1960s.
For someone who grew up helping out with the family business,
politics was not Mr Lim's first career choice.
Born in 1916 in Singapore, Mr Lim was the eldest of six
children.
He was educated at Anglo-Chinese School and then Raffles College,
where he studied economics.
When World War II arrived and the Japanese occupied Singapore, Mr
Lim was one of many tortured on suspicion of being pro-communist
and pro-British.
"It was a traumatic and humiliating experience but it politicised
my generation and we vowed never to let our fate be decided by
others," Mr Lim said in November 1996.
After the war, Mr Lim was, in his own words, a young man "in a
hurry to make a living" to make up for the wasted years.
He made his first million when he came up with a machine to produce
sago pearls cheaply.
When invited to join the People's Action Party to contest the 1959
elections, the businessman said no.
But he agreed to be appointed to the Public Service Commission, and
a year later, was made Chairman of the new Housing Board, where he
worked for free, as he preferred to be a volunteer.
He defied all the detractors, particularly the expatriates in the
Singapore Improvement Trust, who said he could not build 10,000
units a year.
Some said that in solving Singapore's housing problem, Mr Lim saved
the PAP.
He himself was more modest, saying the success of the housing
programme was also due to government funding, as housing was, and
is, a top priority.
Finally in 1963, he was persuaded to stand for elections in
Cairnhill and was appointed National Development Minister after he
won.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said in November 1996, "He's a
practical man and produced results. He had told me when I first
told him to go into politics, that he could not make speeches, and
that he was unsuited for politics. I told him to speak his mind and
not worry whether his speeches sound like Rajaratnam's. He was not
a spellbinding orator but he carried his ground."
When the merger with Malaya took place in 1963, the businessman in
Lim Kim San welcomed it, for it meant a bigger market, a Malaysian
common market.
And he got along well with the Malay Ministers, including Prime
Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.
But when tensions rose between the leaders on both sides of the
Causeway over the direction Malaysia should take, and race riots
broke out the ever practical Lim Kim San was for Singapore becoming
independent.
In June 1965, when he accompanied the Tunku to the Commonwealth
Prime Ministers' Conference in London, he was the first Singapore
Minister to learn from the Tunku that he had decided Singapore had
to be out of Malaysia.
"We merged thinking that we would get a Malaysian Malaysia. But the
Malays have a different view. They have this 'bumiputra' policy, it
means that you are not the same class citizen as they are. So from
the very start, it is a different policy," Mr Lim said in December
1996.
With Goh Keng Swee taking over the new Interior and Defence
Ministry to defend Singapore, Mr Lim was appointed Finance
Minister.
During his long and distinguished public career, Mr Lim also held
the Defence and Environment portfolios.
As Education Minister, Mr Lim was mindful of the need for the
Singapore worker to be equipped with the right skills.
Mr Lim gave up politics in 1980, but he remained active in public
life.
Mr Lim was Chairman of the Port of Singapore Authority for 15 years
till 1994; under his stewardship, Singapore became the world's
number one container port.
And as Executive Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings, he
transformed the outfit into a corporate giant, staying on as Senior
Advisor till 2005.
So adept was he at judging the ability of a person that he was also
the PAP's "talent scout".
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in February 1990, "He has
probed potential candidates for their motivation, the attitude,
integrity and human relations skills. He has done so skillfully,
and tactfully, relying on his enormous experience and uncanny
insight to identify those who are truly committed, suitable and
show the most promise."
Perhaps another side which few got to see was the Lim Kim San who
enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest.
Minister Mentor Lee said, "He enjoys life -- a gourmet, a
fastidious eater. If I had to choose a food taster, Lim Kim San
would be my choice. When I see him eat with relish, I know that
it's a good dish. In short he made his life worth living by his
indomitable spirit."
Mr Lim's family are in the process of making the wake and funeral
arrangements.
When contacted by Channel NewsAsia, family members said Mr Lim died
peacefully at about 5.30pm on Thursday at his Dalvey Road
residence.
They said he had been ill for sometime.
Mr Lim's wake is likely to be held at the family's Dalvey Road
home. - CNA /ct
