[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/top-civil-servant-sim-kee-boon-sacrificed-family-for-country-book-says\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/top-civil-servant-sim-kee-boon-sacrificed-family-for-country-book-says\/","headline":"Top civil servant Sim Kee Boon sacrificed family for country, book says","name":"Top civil servant Sim Kee Boon sacrificed family for country, book says","description":"Former top civil servant Sim Kee Boon was not immortal, says his granddaughter Leanne Sim. In fact, he was as human as could be with all the flaws that came with being a man. And writing his biography took two geneses and eight years before it was completed. Ms Sim, who co-wrote her grandfather\u2019s book, […]","datePublished":"2022-10-21","dateModified":"2022-10-30","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/editor1\/#Person","name":"Judith Tan","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/editor1\/","identifier":57,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Judith-Tan-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Judith-Tan-100x100.jpg","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Courtesy-of-Leanne-Sim-3.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Courtesy-of-Leanne-Sim-3.jpg","height":900,"width":1600},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/top-civil-servant-sim-kee-boon-sacrificed-family-for-country-book-says\/","about":["Community","Local","Singapore"],"wordCount":1870,"keywords":["Albert Winsemius","bombing","CAAS","Changi Airport","civil servant","Danamon","DBS","Intraco","Jakarta","Keppel Shipyard","Landmark Books","Leanne Sim","Lee Hsien Loong","Lee Kuan Yew","Low Shi Ping","Marriott Hotel","MND","MOF","Peh Shing Huei","permanent secretary","PM","Sim Kee Boon","Singapore-Suzhou Township Development","Temasek Holdings","The Eight Immortals","University of Malaya"],"articleBody":"Former top civil servant Sim Kee Boon was not immortal, says his granddaughter Leanne Sim. In fact, he was as human as could be with all the flaws that came with being a man.And writing his biography took two geneses and eight years before it was completed.Ms Sim, who co-wrote her grandfather\u2019s book, titled Sim Kee Boon: The Businessman Bureaucrat, tells TheHomeGround Asia it was her father who wanted a book written \u201ctwo years after my grandfather passed just for posterity and something to pass down to the children\u201d but then in the eight years there were a lot of false starts and a lot of challenges.\u201cIt was difficult and we just didn\u2019t know where to start,\u201d she adds.Mr Sim, who had been battling stomach cancer for 15 years, died at the age of 78.Sim Kee Boon, civil servant extraordinaireBorn in a three-storey shophouse along the Singapore River near Elgin Bridge in 1929, Mr Sim was the second eldest, with an older brother and younger siblings comprising six boys and four girls, including two adopted sisters.The late Sim Kee Boon was described by the late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew as the most versatile of all the officers … with both administrative skills and business acumen, plus good interpersonal touch that would have made him a successful entrepreneur. (Photo source: ICON Singapore)He joined the Singapore civil service after graduating from the University of Malaya in 1953, and quickly rose to become acting Permanent Secretary at the National Development Ministry (MND) in 1962, and the Finance Ministry (MOF) in 1963.He became its Permanent Secretary and chairman and managing director of Intraco from 1968 to 1974, before moving to the Ministry of Communications as its Permanent Secretary\u00a0 from 1975 to 1984.Mr Sim was appointed Head of the Civil Service in 1979, a post he held till 1984, when he became chairman of Keppel Corporation and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). He was also chairman of the Singapore-Suzhou Township Development, a member and later chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisor, director of DBS and Temasek Holdings.He was one who successfully transitioned from public service to the private sector and his strengths were summed up in the late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s tribute to Mr Sim following the latter’s death, \u201cHe was the most versatile of all the officers who worked with me, with both administrative skills and business acumen, plus good interpersonal touch that would have made (him) a successful entrepreneur.\u201dAfter witnessing Mr Sim rose through the ranks in the civil service, Dutch economist and adviser to the Singapore government from 1961 to 1984 Albert Winsemius said the ideal Singapore civil servant should have the calm, steady, unflappable approach of Hon Sui Sen; the sergeant-major quality of Howe Yoon Chong; and the business suaveness of Sim Kee Boon.\u00a0Even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in the Forward of the book, wrote, \u201cThere are many anecdotes from his efforts in building Changi Airport from zero, including the famous \u201812-minute rule\u2019 for the first luggage to be ready for collection after the aeroplane is berthed. His far-sighted anticipation of travellers\u2019 needs, hands-on approach and attention to detail made all the difference.\u201dWhile Mr Sim might have played a key role in the success of Changi Airport and turned the fortunes of Keppel Shipyard around, except for those who once worked with the man, not many Singaporeans know who he was.Sim Kee Boon \u2013 The civil servant first, the father secondMs Sim says the overall intention of her grandfather\u2019s book was actually to write something that was nice \u201cbut at the same time we wanted to make sure that he wasn\u2019t painted as someone perfect or immortal\u201d.\u00a0\u201cI love the Eight Immortals book, written by Peh Shing Huei and his team, but I wanted to make sure my grandfather is portrayed in this biography as a human and that he made a lot of mistakes,\u201d she says.\u201cThe only reason he was able to be successful in what he did was because he loved Singapore immensely. If you love something so much and are obsessed with it, you would want to make it a success,\u201d Ms Sim adds.She admits that there were a lot of emotions involved in this book and that it was difficult to write.\u201cI think my father and uncles wished that he could have been more of a mentor to them. The most important thing is to know he wasn’t perfect. When he chose to pursue something like work or country, that meant he had to sacrifice something else,\u201d she saysDrawing the analogy of a juggler, Ms Sim says, \u201cYou cannot juggle 10 balls and keep all of them up in the air at the same time. You have to choose to drop some. And I think most of the time, my grandfather sacrificed his family. My uncles and even my father often asked why he mentored other people like a father and only saw his own children once in a while and did not give the same sort of caring vibe.\u201dMr Sim Kee Boon’s sons (three of whom are seen in this photo) wished that he could have been more of a mentor to them. When he chose to pursue something like work or country, he had to sacrifice something else – family. (Phot source: NAS)Ms Sim wrote in a chapter of how her uncle Paul, \u201cthe third of Kung Kung\u2019s five sons\u201d, started primary school at Catholic High in 1967 and it was her grandfather\u2019s secretary Christine Koh (n\u00e9e Saradetch), a lady of Eurasian parentage, who took him to the orientation \u201cbecause his parents were busy working\u201d.\u00a0\u201cWhen most of the other boys had both parents taking them to school for the first time, there I was, a Chinese boy being accompanied by a Eurasian lady. We received many quizzical looks. My father was so busy I don\u2019t think he ever set foot in my school the entire time I was there,\u201d ,\u201d Paul reminisced in the book.It takes two women to do the jobTo address Mr Sim\u2019s achievements in the biography, an impartial third party was needed so that it is not literally a \u201cgrandfather\u2019s story\u201d. That voice was found in former magazine writer and co-author Low Shi Ping.\u00a0\u201cThere were a lot of false starts, talking to a lot of publishers, a lot of writers. And eventually we found a woman who was amazing and she helped me to create the book. Without Shi Ping, we would not be able to start the book. She was very diligent and very disciplined. Sometimes it takes a woman to do the job,\u201d Ms Sim says.Ms Low says the initial plan was to have her write about his career and accomplishments, with Ms Sim \u201cchiming in occasionally\u201d.\u201cBut as the project went along, Leanne started to talk to her family members and family friends and we started to discover new sides and facets to him that I was not privy to, and since she was getting all these gems, it went from one chapter to two and then three. Then there were the box stories and we tried to use that to balance out the private side of him,\u201d Ms Low says.For her part, Ms Low interviewed a total of 47 current and former civil servants, and people who worked under Mr Sim to draw out how the man was able to inspire the deepest loyalty and love. She says a few interviewees even cried.The most memorable for her was Mr Francis Rozario, who was the first to shed tears when he was remembering Mr Sim. Mr Rozario was appointed by Temasek Holdings in 2003 to head its newly formed financial services subsidiary, Fullerton Financial Holdings (FFH) and he played an active role in overseeing the management of Bank Danamon (Indonesia).Ms Low says he was recounting the bombing at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003 and how he will never forget the compassion Mr Sim accorded to him.Mr Rozario had gone to the Marriott for lunch that fateful day and had just been seated at the Japanese restaurant when a car bomb went off outside the lobby. Fortunately he was at the back of the hotel furthest away from where the bomb went off and managed to get away uninjured.\u00a0\u201cHe said it is a memory he will never forget. Mr Sim had called him to see if he was ok and he said he could sense the genuineness of his sentiments, his concern. At that point we had to pause because Mr Rozario cried. He said, \u2018That was when I saw the caring side of SKB, not as my boss but as a human being\u2019,\u201d Ms Low says.Setting the \u201cnorth star\u201d to make sure the writing did not deviateBut his story was not unique. There were similar stories told about Mr Sim\u2019s accomplishment, his leadership and his compassion in different organisations and by the different people.It took eight years, two women (Low Shi Ping, left; Leanne Sim, right) and a “north star” to complete the biography of business bureaucrat Sim Kee Book. (Photo courtesy of Leanne Sim)One of the many values Mr Sim possessed was how he treated everyone the same \u2013 from cleaners to prime ministers and Ms Low admits that having to sift through so much information gathered, the task of organising it was \u201crather daunting\u201d.\u201cBut what was really helpful was Leanne set a very clear vision from the start. And that vision or \u2018north star\u2019 was basically to tell the story of SKB, that his life was born from hard work, sacrifice and a love for country. We were very clear of what our \u2018north star\u2019 was and Leanne constantly reminded me what it was and it never changed. That guiding light was constantly in front of me and I always knew I had to work towards it,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cHere was a man who did not care for remuneration. He did not look for a five-, six-figure salary. Nothing like that. Leanne also laid a good foundation because this project was eight-years in the making so they already had the idea of who they wanted me to speak to, which were the organisations that he was involved in. \u2026 It\u2019s just a really really long feature story,\u201d Ms Low says.\u00a0Now that this one million piece jigsaw puzzle has finally been pieced together, will there be a second book on Mr Sim?\u201cMost of my friends say they read it in one night and had wanted more. A lot of people asked where my part two was and for us to tell them more. It was so exhausting creating part one, I\u2019m not sure I might be able to do part two,\u201d Ms Sim says.\u00a0Sim Kee Boon: The Businessman Bureaucrat, published by Landmark Books, is available at $30 before GST in all major bookshops.RELATED: Er Kwong Wah: The \u201croadie\u201d who set the stage for SDU, matchmaking service for gradsJoin the conversations on TheHomeGround Asia\u2019s Facebook and Instagram, and get the latest updates via Telegram."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Destinations","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singapore","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/\/singapore\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Top civil servant Sim Kee Boon sacrificed family for country, book says","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/top-civil-servant-sim-kee-boon-sacrificed-family-for-country-book-says\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]