PAP HQ
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hen Lau Ping Sum takes up a task, he throws his heart and soul into it. It was the case when he was in public service, as an MP, and as the Ƥrst full-time executive director of the PAP’s Headquarters. He described the last as “ensuring adequate support for the HQ exco.Çł He served there for Í?Íž years, retiring in January this year. “In the last Ƥve or six years, we had lots of foreign delegations visiting, mostly from China.Çł He observedÇŁ “The Chinese no longer want to know the formula for economic development, but how we manage to win successive general elections and deal with the challenges we face now.Çł One such challenge he cited is the need for the Party to regain the trust and conƤdence the electorate had in it. “The PAP still has a high level of support, but we can’t deny that other views are getting support. The danger of this is opposition just for opposition’s sake. This is not to say criticism is wrong. ut it must be constructive. And policies should be eĆĄectively explained in plain language.Çł
Mr Lau himself is not averse to speaking up against a policy. Of the gifted children programme, he said it “introduces unhealthy comparisons and labelling. We must not allow these social divisions.Çł These handpicked students can get detached, he noted, citing the example of some government scholars who were seen looking impatiently at their watches when observing a meet-the-people session Č‹MPSČŒ. “So there are reasons why people think we’re too elitist.Çł He addedÇŁ “People must be convinced we’re trying our best to help them. Humility and patience, besides communication, are vital.Çł The economics graduate of the Australian ational University used to write computer programmes, among them the PU ’s billing of water and electricity. Considering he also holds a Diploma in usiness Administration, did he not consider following his dad into business? “ ever gave it a thought, partly because I was bonded,Çł said the Colombo Plan scholar, whose education was largely funded by the
government. “To be an entrepreneur, you have to be much more willing to take risks, and I suppose, have a passion for striking out. I’m too much of an employee,Çł explained the one-time senior vice-president Č‹IT system servicesČŒ at OC C, a chairman of the Ang Mo ioČ€ ishun Town Council, political secretary Č‹Ministry of HealthČŒ and PAP Organising Secretary. The call to serve came in Í?ÍĽÍ¤Íœ, after lunches with Goh Chok Tong, S Dhanabalan and Ahmad Mattar. He mulled it over for a week as he had a young family and was “concerned it would take up a lot of timeǢ and it did.Çł elieving he should give back to society, he said yes. One of Í?ͤ newbies in his batch, the others included Messrs Jayakumar, Lee ock Suan and Lim oon Heng. In the run-up to the Í?ÍĽÍ¤Íœ general election, he under-studied the late Mr Fong Sip Chee, MP for Chai Chee. “What impressed me was how seriously he took every case. He didn’t write every appeal letter, but he went through with the branch exco each one line by line at the end of the
A man for
all seasons Party stalwart Lau Ping Sum reflects on his storeyed career in an interview with Petir BY JUDITH HOLMBERG PHOTO: HAN
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July 2013