NDP2020: Nation's top civilian honour for former Cabinet minister S. Jayakumar TogetherStrongerSG OurHeartforSG
Former Cabinet minister S. Jayakumar stepped down from politics in 2011, but carries on doing public service. He is still a regular face at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he is a senior legal adviser to Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
This sense of duty to Singapore has been his motivating force in a public service career spanning close to 50 years. As foreign minister from 1994 to 2004, he oversaw a range of complex bilateral issues, including an agreement under which the Malayan Railway would vacate the land at Tanjong Pagar, the Pedra Branca disputes with Malaysia, as well as transboundary haze problems involving Indonesia.
In 2007, Prof Jayakumar led the team that successfully pleaded Singapore's case on Pedra Branca at the International Court of Justice at the Hague. In 2017, he was once again called upon to help when Malaysia filed applications to revise and interpret the judgment that awarded sovereignty over the outcrop to Singapore. Malaysia dropped its applications in 2018.
The MFA spokesman said his rich experience and strategic perspectives in managing sensitive bilateral and multilateral issues have benefited many of the younger generation of foreign and legal service officers working with him. One of his enduring contributions was to align the pay scales of social service sector workers with those of the civil service when he was acting honorary general secretary and vice-president of the National Council of Social Service from 1992 to 2000, laying the groundwork for the sector to recruit and retain staff. Said the Ministry of Social and Family Development:"His contributions have nationwide and long-term impact on the lives of many Singaporeans.
His wife, who died yesterday, had been a big factor in his decision to leave Hong Kong and return to Singapore in 1996 to lead the then Institute of East Asian Political Economy, which became the EAI.Meritorious Service Medal For someone who entered the medical profession because he wanted to serve the public, it was not easy for Prof Ong to walk away.
Looking back on his six years as DMS, he said: “Being able to play a part in planning for stronger systems, in terms of preventing and responding to the kind of shocks we are currently facing, has been quite fulfilling.
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