Cheong Yip Seng

Board Member (1987 – 1997)

Cheong Yip Seng described his time as a member of the founding board of IPS and explained the political environment at the time. Then Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong felt it was necessary to open more channels for greater participation by the public. As a chief editor at the Singapore Press Holdings, Mr Cheong was asked to join the board, although he thought that the government had selected board members whose personal input were thought to be helpful. 

He described the initial challenges such as developing a resource-lean operating structure and getting the balance right on issues at a time when PM Goh was attempting to promote more consultative governance. Given the modest start, IPS did not attract negative public reception although the media did not find it impactful either. Regarding out-of-bounds markers, he remarked that while the fairway at the beginning was quite narrow, and it was in the interest of government, media and IPS to broaden it prudently. He believed that IPS had since grown in credibility, and contributed to public discussion. Mr Cheong felt that one of IPS’ important roles was to tackle issues that had grown increasingly complex since the old days when the government could have claimed that it had analysed something thoroughly internally. Looking forward, he hoped that the Institute would focus on what he called “existential issues”, such as “What does it take to make Singapore worth defending?” and race and religion. 


This interview was conducted on 9 Jan 2020. Click here to listen to the full interview.