Sim Kee Boon

Mention the name “Sim Kee Boon” and it might draw blank stares, especially among the younger generation of Singaporeans.

Hand-picked by the colonial government to be a key civil servant, he participated in the merger talks with Malaysia, headed Intraco, the national trading company that was one of the drivers of the economy of a newly independent Singapore, and later, became Head of the Civil Service.

Sim Kee Boon is acknowledged as the man who oversaw the development of Changi Airport – from land reclamation and architecture, to clean toilets and plush carpets, making it the world’s best air hub by always putting customer experience first. At the same time, he saw to the design of the neighbouring Tanah Merah Country Club to create world-class golf courses.

Another significant contribution was the salvaging of Keppel by turning it into a diversified, visionary Singapore corporation. Through it, he not only gave M1 its name but led it to become a leading telco from scratch.

He chaired the Council of Presidential Advisers, and after retirement from executive positions, sat on the board of Temasek Holdings and was the President Commissioner of Indonesia’s Bank Danamon.

Sim Kee Boon: The Businessman Bureaucrat is more than the biography of this pioneer generation leader. It is a primer of the principles and values that he lived out in his successful career.

Meticulous research by biographer Low Shi Ping, with personal insights by Sim Kee Boon’s granddaughter Leanne Sim, makes this an engaging and valuable book about a man who made a difference to Singapore.