The Business Times’ 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner GOH Address – 2M Jeffrey Siow

Mr Khaw Boon Wan,
Mr Chan Yeng Kit,
Ms Chen Huifen,
Colleagues,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

A very good evening to all of you. I am delighted to join you tonight to celebrate The Business Times’ 50th anniversary.

Let me first begin with a very special tribute.

Tonight, Mr Khaw Boon Wan is handing over his responsibilities to Mr Chan Yeng Kit, after five fruitful years as Chairman of SPH Media Trust and SPH Media Holdings.

I first knew Mr Khaw back in 2015, when he became my Minister at the Ministry of Transport. This was back when I was still in the civil service.

He already had a reputation by then as a leader who was entrusted with some of the most challenging national issues – whether in healthcare, housing, or transport.

My learnings and takeaways from the time under Mr Khaw went far beyond the policies and projects that we worked on. But what stayed with me the most was how deeply he cared for the people he worked with – the over 250,000 transport workers, maintenance engineers, bus and taxi drivers, as well as public officers.

Mr Khaw always believed that the best way to improve outcomes was to get people to work together.

He called this the OneTransport approach: different organisations, operating as one team around a common mission.

When I returned to MOT last year, one of the first people I went to for advice was Mr Khaw.

His message remained the same: get the team aligned; focus everyone on the same mission; and then work patiently on the fundamentals.

After his retirement from politics, Mr Khaw was persuaded to return to working life to chair the newly formed SPH Media Trust and SPH Media Holdings.

The same principles guided his work there.

In 2021, SPH's media business was undergoing a fundamental restructuring.

The old business model was no longer sustainable. Audiences were moving online. Advertising economics had changed. Competition for attention had intensified.