Teh Kok Peng

Board Member and Governor (2005 – 2007), Management Board (2008 – 2009), Member of Academic Panel (2015 – 2018)

Dr Teh Kok Peng was a member of the IPS Board of Governors (2005–2007), and subsequently the Academic Panel.

He recalled that Academic Panel meetings took place twice a year, in the form of presentations by the different research clusters over a morning. He mentioned the Singapore Chronicles series and Singapore Perspectives conferences as milestones. As for challenges, he spoke about the difficulty in attracting quality staff, access to information, and sensitivity to criticism among government figures. He commented on the significant impact of current director Janadas Devan.

Regarding IPS’ merger with Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), the Governing Board did not have input on the merger. Moving to the present, although IPS and LKYSPP still operated quite separately, Dr Teh saw potential for synergies and information sharing. Other areas where IPS could do better moving forward were robust policy discussion, longer-term analyses, and taking an international comparative approach. He had been on the S R Nathan Fellowship selection committee since 2014, and had given suggestions for possible fellows. He spoke highly of the lectures by 5th S R Nathan Fellow Dr Cheong Koon Hean. Towards the end of the interview, he recounted remarks at the Singapore Bicentennial Conference, and his own presentation at Singapore Perspectives 2008, “The Singapore Economy 2030”.


This interview was conducted on 13 Jan 2020. Click here to listen to the full interview.