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Kwek Siew Jin

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Kwek.
Kwek Siew Jin

BBM PPA(E) PPA(P) PP PBM
Native name
郭守仁
Born (1950-06-30) 30 June 1950 (age 74)[1]
Allegiance Singapore
Service/branch Republic of Singapore Navy
Years of service1969–1996
RankRear-Admiral
CommandsChief of Navy
Chief of Staff (Naval Staff)
Fleet Commander
Head, Naval Operations Department
Head, Navy Personnel Departmen
Deputy Head, Naval Logistics (Material)
Commanding Officer, RSS Jupiter
AwardsSee awards and decorations
Alma materUniversity of Singapore (BE)
Raffles Institution

Kwek Siew Jin BBM PPA(E) PPA(P) PP PBM is a Singaporean former civil servant and former rear-admiral who served as Chief of Navy from 1992 to 1996.[2][3]

Education

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Kwek attended Serangoon Garden North School for his primary education and Raffles Institution for his secondary and pre-university education.[4] He graduated with a Cambridge School Certificate in 1967.[5][6] In 1971, he was awarded a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) local scholarship to study electrical engineering at the University of Singapore, and he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in 1975.[3][4][7]

Military career

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In February 1969, Kwek enlisted in the SAF, and served as a naval officer in the Republic of Singapore Navy. During his career in the navy, Kwek has held the appointments of Commanding Officer, RSS Jupiter; Deputy Head, Naval Logistics (Material); Head, Navy Personnel Department; Head, Naval Operations Department; Fleet Commander; Chief of Staff (Naval Staff).[7]

Kwek succeeded Teo Chee Hean as the Chief of Navy on 8 December 1992.[2]

In 1993, Kwek was promoted from the rank of colonel to commodore, before being renamed as rear-admiral later in 1994.[1][8] Kwek was also appointed as board director of Singapore Shipbuilding and Engineering (precursor of ST Marine).[9] During his term as chief, Kwek initiated a training programme with Singapore Polytechnic, allowing existing navy engineers and technical officers to be quickly trained locally as marine engineers; and operationalised RSS Bedok, Singapore's first fleet of mine countermeasure vessels.[10][11]

On 1 July 1995, Kwek was the first naval officer to be promoted to rear-admiral (two star), equivalent to a major-general.[12] Kwek stepped down on 30 June 1996, with Richard Lim Cherng Yih as his successor.[3]

Post-military career

[edit]

After leaving the navy, Kwek joined Singapore Mass Rapid Transit as its managing director.[3] During his tenure, he announced major changes to the Mass Rapid Transit, such as a S$100 million plan to reduce waiting times (from 135 seconds to 90 seconds) for trains during peak hours by 2002, a S$400k plan to reduce the platform gaps at stations (from 100 mm to 75 mm) to reduce risk of injuries, and a S$310 million plan to upgrade its systems.[13][14][15] Kwek also organised impactful activities, including raising S$152k for the National Kidney Foundation through a 2.6km charity walk in the train tunnels from Orchard to City Hall in 1997.[16]

During the 1997 derailment incident at Toa Payoh resulting in a train service disruption, Kwek acknowledged that human error caused the incident, and that mistakes were made by SMRT in managing the disruption. The disruption between Bishan and Newton lasted for about 8 hours, and Kwek apologised to the public for the "major disruption".[17][18] As a result, in November 1997, Kwek announced that a more detailed contingency plan will be drafted out, explicitly detailing the actions that should be taken during a disruption or an emergency.[19]

On 13 April 1999, another derailment incident occured – this time between Yio Chu Kang and Ang Mo Kio. Disruptions lasted for almost 7 hours, and Kwek apologised three times, promising such mistakes will not happen again.[20][21][22]

On 1 January 2002, Kwek was moved to Singapore Power (SP) and was appointed as its president and chief executive officer.[23] On 26 December 2003, Kwek expressed his desire to "pursue other career options" and resigned from SP.[24]

On 1 August 2006, Kwek was appointed as president of the National Council of Social Service, after serving as its vice-president since 2004.[25][26] Kwek was succeeded by Hsieh Fu Hua on 1 August 2012.[27]

Personal life

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Kwek is married with two children.[7]

Awards and decorations

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References

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  1. ^ a b Nathan, Dominic (30 June 1993). "New stars in SAF's ranks: A new Commodore, 3 BGs". The Straits Times. p. 3. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b Nathan, Dominic (8 December 1992). "Navy chief Teo Chee Hean resigns". The Straits Times. p. 1. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "Navy chief to quit post to join SMRT as managing director". The Straits Times. 9 March 1996. p. 3. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b "BIOGRAPHY: Rear-Admiral Kwek Siew Jin". The Straits Times. 21 June 1998. p. 33. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  5. ^ "CERTIFICATES FOR 8,957 CANDIDATES WHO HAVE PASSED". The Straits Times. 3 March 1967. p. 1. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  6. ^ "Big RI reunion planned for August". The Straits Times. 26 April 1993. p. 21. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d "New naval chief 'a true blue Navy man'". The Straits Times. 8 December 1992. p. 21. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Top navy officers to be called admirals". The Straits Times. 6 May 1994. p. 3. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  9. ^ "SSE appoints 3 new directors". The Straits Times. 24 April 1993. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Poly course allows navy men to be re-trained as marine engineers here". The Straits Times. 11 November 1993. p. 23. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  11. ^ Pereira, Mathew (29 January 1994). "Navy's first mine-hunter in operation next year". The Straits Times. p. 29. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  12. ^ "First two-star admiral". The New Paper. 30 June 1995. p. 4. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  13. ^ Kaur, Karamjit (17 July 1997). "A $100m plan for faster MRT trains by 2002". The Straits Times. p. 3. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  14. ^ "Narrower gaps between platforms and trains". The Straits Times. 10 February 1999. p. 34. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  15. ^ Tan, Christopher (11 June 1999). "SMRT to spend $310m to enhance services". The Business Times. p. 2. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  16. ^ Foo, Lillian (20 September 1997). "MRT staff raise $152,000 for NKF in tunnel walk". The Straits Times. p. 8. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Human error caused train derailment". The Straits Times. 11 October 1997. p. 1. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Human error to blame". The New Paper. 11 October 1997. p. 4. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  19. ^ Kaur, Karamjit (8 November 1997). "SMRT working on new plan to meet emergencies". The Straits Times. p. 2. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  20. ^ Tan, Jason (14 April 1999). "SORRY SORRY SORRY". The New Paper. p. 8. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  21. ^ Kaur, Karamjit (14 April 1999). "MRT train derails; thousands affected". The Straits Times. p. 1. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Khidmat ke selatan tersekat 7 jam". Berita Harian (in Malay). 14 April 1999. p. 2. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  23. ^ "Singapore Power, SMRT to switch chiefs". Today. 6 November 2001. p. 2. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  24. ^ Khalid, Azhar (27 December 2003). "Singapore Power's president resigns from post after a year". The Straits Times. p. 33. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  25. ^ "Charity group gets new head". The Business Times. 11 July 2006. p. 9. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  26. ^ "NCSS GETS NEW PRESIDENT FROM AUG". Today. 11 July 2006. p. 8. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  27. ^ "EX-SGX CEO HSIEH TO SERVE AS SOCIAL SERVICE COUNCIL BOARD PRESIDENT FROM AUGUST". Today. 22 May 2012. p. 20. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  28. ^ "PMO | Recipients". Prime Minister's Office (Singapore). 22 November 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  29. ^ "Here's the list of this year's National Day Award winners". The Straits Times. 9 August 2010. p. 4. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  30. ^ "Those honoured this year". The Straits Times. 9 August 1995. p. 19. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  31. ^ "National Day Honours List". The Straits Times. 9 August 1989. p. 14. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  32. ^ "More National Day awards". The Straits Times. 10 August 1981. p. 10. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  33. ^ "PMO | Recipients". Prime Minister's Office (Singapore). 22 November 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  34. ^ Sua, Tracy (11 August 2006). "Guiding troubled kids back to the right path". The Straits Times. p. 12. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  35. ^ Jacob, Paul (8 April 1995). "Indonesia honours S'pore navy chief Rear-Admiral Kwek". The Straits Times. p. 11. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
Military offices
Preceded by
Rear-Admiral Teo Chee Hean
 Chief of the Republic of Singapore Navy
8 December 1992 – 30 June 1996 		Succeeded by
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