Khaw Boon Wan to chair entity managing SPH's media business
Existing management shareholders have also agreed to form CLG and be its founding members, says Iswaran
Singapore
FORMER Cabinet minister Khaw Boon Wan, who retired from a 19-year career in politics last year, has agreed to be the chairman of the SPH Media company limited by guarantee (CLG) if and when it is formed.
The existing management shareholders of SPH (Singapore Press Holdings) have also agreed to form the CLG and be its founding members, said Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran on Monday in Parliament.
Currently, SPH's management shareholders are OCBC, Great Eastern, UOB, DBS, Singtel, NTUC Income, Temasek via Fullerton, the National University of Singapore, and the Nanyang Technological University.
The choice of founding members "will ensure that our local news media will remain in the hands of trusted institutions with a long-term stake in Singapore", Mr Iswaran said. In due course, the membership will be expanded to include "newer and more diverse institutions", he added.
Last Thursday, SPH announced a proposed restructuring that would see its media business transferred to a CLG. The CLG structure will allow any profits from the media business to be reinvested into media operations rather than be distributed to shareholders. It will also allow funding from public and private sources.
"It is a heavy responsibility," Mr Khaw told The Straits Times on Monday, of his decision to take up the chairmanship. "I accept it with some anxiety as I have no digital media experience. I will see how we can adapt relevant experiences from successful transformation elsewhere."
He added that while he has been "blissfully content" in retirement in the past year, "I cannot allow a Singapore institution to go into decline".
The shortlist of candidates for the role was "not very long", nor was a global search conducted, said Mr Iswaran on Monday. He was responding to Workers' Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC), who had questioned the basis of Mr Khaw's nomination.
"I'm not questioning the personal integrity of Mr Khaw, but the fact is that he is the former chairman of the People's Action Party (PAP), and former Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure," said Ms Lim.
She asked if the government had been the one to suggest that Mr Khaw take up the role, and if this represented a "missed opportunity" to nominate someone less closely linked to the government.
To the first question, Mr Iswaran said: "The choice of Mr Khaw Boon Wan is something that not just the government, but in fact the management shareholders, were very keen on. And as I said (in the ministerial statement), it was a discussion that we had.
"This is not the kind of position for which you have a very long shortlist, or (where) you would do a global search," he added. "In the end, you have to decide on the basis of what is needed, what are the attributes we seek, and how do we go forward. And that's what happened here."
On concerns if links to government could compromise editorial independence, Mr Iswaran cited the precedent of former officials taking up such positions. The chairman of SPH, which publishes The Business Times, is former minister Lee Boon Yang. Mediacorp's chairman, Niam Chiang Meng, is an ex-civil servant.
"What matters is not a perceived political hue in the appointment," replied Mr Iswaran. "But rather, the substance of the character and capability of the people who are involved." He added that Mr Khaw is held in high standing by many, and has a "proven track record" of working on difficult issues, in a likely allusion to the former minister's work in areas like housing and transport.
"What you need is someone at the leadership level who has the gravitas, has the strategic vision, and the experience in undertaking these sorts of major tasks. And make no mistake about it, this is a major undertaking, and it is one of national importance."
Said Mr Iswaran: "Is this a missed opportunity? I think what would be a missed opportunity is if we allow political considerations to prevent us from making the right decision, in terms of the right person for the job, to get it done."
Khaw Boon Wan: What we know
- One of 'Super Seven': Mr Khaw was one of the "Super Seven" heavyweights fast-tracked into senior positions after entering politics in the 2001 polls. The others were Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Ng Eng Hen, Vivian Balakrishnan, Cedric Foo, Raymond Lim and Balaji Sadasivan.
- Sars veteran: In 2003, he helped tackle the Sars crisis while Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Health. In 2004, he took over as Minister for Health and introduced processes to prepare Singapore for the next novel disease outbreak.
- Housing minister: He was Minister for National Development from 2011 to 2015, tackling hot-button housing issues that were a sore point for the electorate during the 2011 polls. He ramped up public housing supply, increased subsidies, and introduced measures to curb prices.
- Transport chief: After the 2015 polls, he volunteered to take on the "politically spiky" transport portfolio, in the words of PM Lee Hsien Loong. He improved train service reliability, as measured by mean kilometres between failure, and pushed for the construction of Changi Runway 3, Changi Airport Terminal 5 and the Tuas Megaport.
- Political reformer: After the People's Action Party (PAP) lost its first GRC (Group Representation Constituency) in the 2011 polls, Mr Khaw led a post-mortem and presented his recommendations at the Party Conference the same year, where they were debated. PM Lee called this a 'watershed moment for the PAP'. Mr Khaw became the party's chairman afterwards, from 2011-2018.
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