Dr Goh Keng Swee passed away on 14 May 2010, aged 91. His death immediately brought forth an outpouring of accolades from older Singaporeans, which surprisingly left their younger compatriots astounded to learn how much credit for the country's successes was owed to this forgotten man. It is certainly startling that new generations of Singaporeans know so little about Goh. After all, between 1959 and 1984, if Goh was not Minister of Finance, he was either Minister of Defence or Minister of Education, and Deputy Prime Minister or Acting Prime Minister at the same time.

The range of institutions that he built was so wide that it has become a careless custom in Singapore among the old to suppose that the germ for all these successful institutions was first found in his fertile mind. This is not a wild supposition, for what is amazing is that at most times, their guess would prove correct. Goh did have a decisive hand in establishing a large number — though needless to say far from all — of the vital institutions that continue to power the political economy of the island state.

Another common assumption is that Goh and Lee Kuan Yew represented two different ways of doing things, and that the two did not always agree. This seems true only to an extent. Goh may have dealt largely with financial and defence matters while Lee was always in the thick of political battles, but the two seemed to have been in much greater agreement with each other, especially in the early years, than their varied fields of focused activity would have us suppose. Goh was as great a believer in strict decisions and innovative hard work as Lee was; but although not one who could be pushed around, his acceptance of Lee's political leadership was complete. We do not have here a case of a soft-handed leader working alongside a hard-fisted leader.