19th S R Nathan Fellow – Ng Chee Khern
NG Chee Khern was appointed Director and CEO of ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute on 1 April 2026.
Prior to this appointment, Mr Ng was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Manpower from 2022 to 2025. He began his career as a pilot in the Republic of Singapore Air Force in 1984 and was the Chief of Air Force from 2006 to 2009. In 2010, he was appointed Director of the Security and Intelligence Division and became the Permanent Secretary for Defence Development in 2014. He was the Second Permanent Secretary for Health from 2014 to 2016, and the Permanent Secretary for Smart Nation and Digital Government in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) from 2017 to 2022.
Mr Ng is the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and also serves on the Boards of Hong Leong Asia Ltd, SIA Engineering Company Ltd and NCS Pte Ltd as an Independent Non-Executive Director. He is a Senior Fellow of the Civil Service College, and LKYSPP Distinguished Practitioner Fellow & Professor of Practice.
Mr Ng was previously the Chairman of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) and served as a board member of the National Research Foundation (NRF), Changi Airport Group, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd, and CapitaLand Mall Trust.
Mr Ng was a recipient of the President’s Scholarship in 1984 and Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1985. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Second Upper Class Honours) and a Master of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. He also graduated with a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University.
19th IPS-Nathan Lecture Series: The Power to Choose: Sovereignty and Statecraft in an Age of Great Power Rivalry
Sovereignty is the right to choose. Statecraft makes the choice real. In this three-part series, Ng Chee Khern, the 19th S R Nathan Fellow, examines how Singapore can preserve choice amid United States–China competition. Pressure may not arrive as one demand to choose sides, but through decisions on military access, technology, finance and diplomatic positions. Each may appear manageable; together they can narrow Singapore’s room for manoeuvre, and in a war they could arrive all at once.
Drawing on his experience in intelligence, defence technology, the Air Force, health, digital government, manpower and ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Mr Ng approaches the subject as a practitioner, asking what Singapore must be able to do to remain sovereign in practice.
To find out more about the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore, please click here.