Corruption - early Singapore history

Corruption is a problem for many developing nations. Singapore in its early days was not spared.

A recent book, Men in White, which is a story about the People's Action Party, its history and its opponents, contains references to corruption in the early days of Singapore's independence.

One account is that obtaining forms from any government department required payment of tens of cents to the employee dispensing the forms. Another story concerns President Nathan, who when he was applying for a civil service job many decades ago, was asked in Tamil, by an Indian inteviewer, "how many tables?". Nathan could not understand what was being asked. He did not get the job, but later found out that he was being asked how many tables for a fancy dinner he would give to the civil servant in return for getting the job.

Lee Kuan Yew, when he came to power, ensured that corruption was severely punished. No one from clerk to Minister should be outside the law. The most famous case of high level corruption was Teh Cheang Wan, Minister of National Development, who lived in a big bungalow in the Chancery Road area, before his suicide on his criminal activity being discovered.