Lee Tzu Yang 

Member of IPS Board of Governors (2002 – 2007), IPS Academic Panel (2012 – 2018), S R Nathan Fellowship Committee (2014 – present)

As the then Chairman of Shell in Singapore, Lee Tzu Yang was invited to sit on the Institute of Policy Studies’ board in 2002. He believed one of his predecessors Robert Walvis had first served on the IPS board, and his successors had continued serving on the board. IPS was the brainchild of Goh Chok Tong, although he turned his attention to other avenues of discussion and debate upon becoming Prime Minister. Mr Lee began his involvement with IPS by working to understand which stakeholders would be interested in its research. Given unease in parts of the government about IPS and difficulty obtaining government data, he suggested that IPS forge more corporate links and collaborations beyond the public sector.

When IPS was undergoing a strategic review in 2005, Mr Lee urged it to focus more on domestic social, political and business issues, as the original vision was for IPS to be a platform to discuss Singapore issues. Mr Lee recalled regularly attending the Singapore Economic Roundtable. The board enjoyed good working relationships with the IPS Directors. Mr Lee also discussed the merger with the Lee Kuan Yew School in 2008, which he personally supported. Looking forward, he lauded IPS as a pioneering platform for sensitive discussions and hoped that it will do more in “edgy issues” such as racial, religious and sexual diversity.


This interview was conducted on 17 Jan 2020. Click here to listen to the full interview.