Tan Gee Paw
Tan Gee Paw | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
陈义辅 | |||||||
| Chairman of the Public Utilities Board | |||||||
| In office 1 April 2001 – 31 March 2017 | |||||||
| Prime Minister | Goh Chok Tong Lee Hsien Loong | ||||||
| Preceded by | Lee Ek Tieng | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Chiang Chie Foo | ||||||
| Personal details | |||||||
| Alma mater | University of Malaya (BS) | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 陈义辅 | ||||||
| |||||||
Tan Gee Paw DUBC PJG (born c. 1944) is a Singaporean former bureaucrat who served as chairman of the Public Utilities Board from 2001 to 2017. He was also chairman of Changi Airport Group from 2020 to 2025.
Early life and education
[edit]Tan was born sometime during the Japanese occupation of Malaya in 1944. His father was a clerk. Tan grew up with numerous extended relatives in a bungalow in Waterloo Street and attended Anglo-Chinese School.[1]
After the war, Tan was offered a Colombo Plan scholarship to study marine engineering,[2] but he declined it after "picturing myself as a marine engineer on board a ship" and deciding that "I don't think I want to spend my life inside those ships."[3] He successfully applied for a Public Service Commission bursary to read civil engineering instead at the University of Malaya.[2] Despite suffering from a slipped disc in his final year, Tan graduated with first-class honours in 1967.[3]
Career
[edit]Tan's career in public service began in the late 1960s when he joined the Public Works Department as a junior engineer. Shortly after establishing the Water Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Office in 1971, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew tasked Tan and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment, Lee Ek Tieng, with drafting Singapore's first water master plan.[2]
In 1974, Tan joined the Ministry of the Environment's environmental engineering division.[2] As head of the Drainage Department, Tan formulated a five-year drainage improvement proposal with Lee Ek Tieng. The Cabinet of Singapore quickly approved of their S$100 million programme, which led to a significance decrease in the incidence of floods nationwide.[4]
On 27 February 1977, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew challenged the Ministry of the Environment to clean up Singapore's waterways—including the Singapore River and the rivers in the Kallang Basin—within ten years.[5] Tan joined a task force led by Lee Ek Tieng and was tasked with drafting a master plan that would identify the various sources of water pollution.[6] The eventual operation was regarded as a success by Lee Kuan Yew. Tan, Lee Ek Tieng, and eight other civil servants who were involved in the cleanup were each presented with a solid gold medal at a Clean River Commemoration ceremony on 2 September 1987.[2][7]
In October 1989, Tan replaced Chen Hung as principal of Ngee Ann Polytechnic.[8] Tan relinquished his position in March 1995 to succeed Tan Guong Ching as Permament Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment.[9] On 1 April 2001, Tan became chairman of the Public Utilities Board (PUB).[10] In 2015, he was awarded the President's Science and Technology Medal—the highest scientific honour in Singapore—for "his pivotal role in harnessing science and technology to enable Singapore to achieve sustainable water supply."[11] On 31 March 2017, Tan announced his resignation as PUB chairman. He was succeeded the next day by Chiang Chie Foo.[12]
In October 2020, Tan succeeded Liew Mun Leong as chairman of Changi Airport Group. Tan will be succeeded by Lim Ming Yan on 1 April 2025.[13]
Awards and honours
[edit]National awards
[edit]
Pingat Jasa Gemilang (2001)- President's Award for the Environment (2007)
Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (2010)- President's Science and Technology Medal (2015)
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Organisational awards
[edit]- The Institution of Engineers, Singapore's Lifetime Achievement Award (2015)[14]
- Distinguished Professional Engineer Award (2017)[15]
Honorary degrees
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ Lim 2007.
- ^ a b c d e Chan 2015.
- ^ a b Cheong 2019, p. 50.
- ^ Boh 2022, p. 131.
- ^ Cheong 2019, p. 169.
- ^ Boh 2022, p. 132.
- ^ Boh 2022, p. 136.
- ^ "Tan Gee Paw to head Ngee Ann Polytechnic". The Business Times. 12 September 1989. p. 3.
- ^ Chuang 1995, p. 2.
- ^ Yang 2020.
- ^ "2015 PSTA Winner Citations" (PDF). President's Science and Technology Awards. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
- ^ Koh 2017.
- ^ Andres 2024.
- ^ "IES Lifetime Engineering Achievement Awards". The Institution of Engineers, Singapore. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
- ^ Zaccheus 2018.
- ^ "UK honorary degree for Ngee Ann's principal". The Straits Times. 27 December 1993. p. 21.
Bibliography
[edit]- Andres, Gabrielle (27 December 2024). "Changi Airport Group names Lim Ming Yan as deputy chairman from Jan 1". The Straits Times.
- Boh, Samantha (2022). "Lee Ek Tieng: Aquaman". In Peh Shing Huei (ed.). The Last Fools: The Eight Immortals of Lee Kuan Yew. The Nutgraf Books. pp. 126–145. ISBN 9789811843631.
- Chan, Juliana (18 September 2015). "A Love Of Waterways". Asian Scientist.
- Cheong, Suk-wai (2019). The Sound Of Memories: Recordings From The Oral History Centre, Singapore. World Scientific Publishing Company. ISBN 9789811208034.
- Chuang, Peck Ming (28 March 1995). "Tan Guong Ching to be CEO of HDB from April 1". The Business Times. p. 2.
- Koh, Fabian (30 March 2017). "New PUB chairman: Tan Gee Paw hands over to Chiang Chie Foo from April 1". The Straits Times.
- Lim, Jason (6 November 2007). "Interview with Tan Gee Paw". National Archives of Singapore.
- Neo, Chai Chin (10 October 2015). "Man 'who made water engineering sexy' to help with rail transformation". Today. p. 4.
- Yang, Calvin (10 September 2020). "Changi Airport Group names veteran public servant Tan Gee Paw as acting chairman after Liew Mun Leong's resignation". The Straits Times.
- Zaccheus, Melody (17 November 2018). "Awards for Cham Tao Soon and Tan Gee Paw for their role in engineering profession". The Straits Times.
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