https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/im-prepared-if-asked-says-ntuc-chief-ng-chee-meng-on-ge2025-after-sengkang-grc-loss-in-2020
2025-02-02
Sumiko Tan
The Straits Times
The photographer inspects the two plates of baked crepes with salmon and cheese, then gestures to the one in front of Mr Ng Chee Meng.
He trains his camera on it and begins snapping away.
Would you like to photograph mine instead, I ask. We’re having the same dish.
“Yours looks a bit burnt,” the photographer tells me.
After a few more shots, he steps back from the table.
Instinctively, without missing a beat, Mr Ng hands me his plate and takes mine in exchange.
I’m having lunch with the secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress at FairPrice Finest in Clarke Quay, a trendy supermarket housed in a former warehouse.
At the dining area, located within The Grocer Food Hall, customers can have their fresh seafood or meat cooked on-site or opt for a dish from one of several stalls.
Though the setting feels high-end, the folks at NTUC assure me that prices here are the same as at other FairPrice outlets.
Coincidentally, both my guest and I choose the same meal: baked salmon and cheese crepes followed by a dessert of Milo tiramisu.
Mr Ng, 56, is wearing a red NTUC polo shirt with the words “Every Worker Matters” on the back. The phrase, which he used during the 2019 Budget debate – and which has become a slogan for the labour movement – underscores his belief that Singapore’s economy thrives on workers performing to their potential and being rewarded fairly.
The red polo shirt has become his unofficial uniform, fitting for a man accustomed to wearing uniforms.
Having spent 30 years in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), he still carries the bearing of a military man – ramrod straight, even when seated.
He started as a fighter pilot and rose to become Chief of Air Force. He was then promoted to Chief of Defence Force – the highest-ranking position in the SAF – holding the rank of Lieutenant-General.
Two years into that job, he transitioned to politics for the 2015 General Election. He was part of the winning People’s Action Party team in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. He rose rapidly in government, becoming Minister for Education (Schools) and Second Minister for Transport.
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In April 2018, he joined the NTUC and was elected secretary-general soon after. He was also a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.
That meteoric rise came to a sudden halt in the 2020 General Election, during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a major upset, his team lost with 47.87 per cent of the vote to a young Workers’ Party slate in the new Sengkang GRC.
Where someone else might have sworn off public life for the lucrative and less bruising private sector, he stayed in the labour movement, becoming the first labour chief in decades who is not a sitting MP.
“Have I left politics?” he laughs when I ask if he plans to return.
So will you be contesting 2025’s general election then?
“I would say that it is on the table, and I am prepared if asked,” he says.
“I’ve never stopped walking,” he counters when I ask if he is walking the ground in Sengkang.
“I’ve been going around as part of my NTUC role and I still keep in touch with different grassroots friends.”
It is unlikely, though, that he will contest Sengkang GRC as his name is not among those the PAP has revealed for the area.
The loss in Sengkang GRC was painful but five years have flown by quickly, and he talks about that period dispassionately.
The overarching feeling he had when he lost was “a profound sense of having let the party down, having let NTUC down, and the supporters and residents”.
“At that point, I was undeniably at a crossroads,” he says. An option was to pursue a private life, but he also felt an “undiminished” sense of duty to serve Singapore.
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He is grateful that the NTUC rallied behind him and how the central committee, led by then president Mary Liew, and others such as former NTUC chief Lim Swee Say, encouraged him to stay.
“I honestly could not leave the NTUC or the people who believed in me in the lurch. I made a promise that I would see through all this, at least to 2023. All of a sudden, five years have passed,” he says. He was re-elected secretary-general in 2023.
His decision to stay was also influenced by the pandemic, which had left workers worried about their livelihoods as the economy faltered.
Even as he wrestled with self-doubt over how he could and should have done better in GE2020, these thoughts “were in parallel” to the work of protecting workers, he says.
It helped that friends rallied around him, though he knew that some felt awkward, not knowing what to say to him. His wife and two daughters “were supportive either way” about whether he stayed in public life, but “the views were not unanimous”.
Ultimately, he stuck it out because he had to practise what he had preached.
While in the SAF and even as education minister, he often spoke to juniors and students about bouncing back from adversity.
“I’d always said, don’t be afraid when there are setbacks, don’t be afraid of failing, failing does not equate to failure. Failing is a process of potential learning towards a successful outcome. But if you stop trying, then, yes, failure is the end part of it,” he says.
“When 2020 happened, I was, ’eh Chee Meng, now it’s your turn to live it’.”
Five years on, he says he has done his best and will “let the outcomes take care of themselves”.
Was he disappointed with Sengkang residents for not supporting his team?
No, he says. “This is part and parcel of the democratic process. Our system allows every citizen to have their own choice. We work within the system. It is a good system that we have put in place and we do the very best within that.”
Did he feel disadvantaged by not being a Cabinet minister when it came to making decisions for the NTUC?
He doesn’t answer this directly but says: “If you need a position to do your job, maybe it’s time to reflect whether you are just in a position of authority given to you, or whether you can actually improve things... (through) the merit of your ideas, the merit of your intentions and getting things done.”
Without getting drawn into details, he adds that “we forged new ways of getting around to get things done”.
Might there even be advantages in having a labour chief who is not part of the Government, I press.
He acknowledges there are pros and cons, but points out how past NTUC chiefs in government have been of great service to both the labour movement and Singapore.
“Either way, I fall back to the same mantra: Regardless of your position, just do the right thing, get it done as best as you can.”
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*Dance among the clouds*
Up close, one doesn’t doubt Mr Ng’s sincerity in wanting to be of service to Singapore and Singaporeans. It is, after all, a continuation of his military career.
The way he so spontaneously passes me his plate of crepes also hints at an inherent thoughtfulness and warmth.
But in front of the camera, his answers can come across as overly cautious.
The one topic he is most at ease with is flying.
When I ask what he loved about flying, he speaks of “the freedom to get away from the bonds of earth, to dance amongst the clouds”, referencing the 1941 poem High Flight by Canadian fighter pilot John Gillespie Magee Jr.
“It’s a wonderful feeling when you skim the top of cumulonimbus clouds. The clouds are just within your hands to reach,” Mr Ng says. “Some poet has described it as almost like touching the face of God.”
It wasn’t just the mechanics of flying that attracted him, but the combat elements too – “training for ground attacks or interceptions”. It brought out the combative spirit he showed in sports at school.
He was born in 1968, the fourth of five boys. His late father had a small business dealing in textiles, clothing, and later chemicals, while his late mother was a housewife.
The family moved from a kampung in Balestier to a flat in Tanglin Halt, and later to Block 27 Dover Crescent.
His father was a stern and traditional Chinese patriarch, and his mother had her hands full with five sons born in the space of eight years. “My poor mother,” Mr Ng remembers fondly.
There was no parental pressure to study. At Hua Yi Primary School and later Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College, he was more keen on sports than studies. He played table tennis and football, swam and did taekwondo at the national schools level. In JC, he was also in the Science Club. “I was just a good-enough student,” he says.
His oldest brother took over their father’s business and the second brother worked in a bank.
Mr Ng was sandwiched between two very bright brothers who were both awarded the President’s Scholarship, studied at Oxford University, and had impressive careers in the SAF and civil service.
Chee Khern, three years his senior, became a major-general and Chief of Air Force, and Chee Peng, two years his junior, was a rear admiral and Chief of Navy.
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*I wonder what his parents did right to raise such successful children.*
*“Lots of eggs” is his surprising reply – and not entirely as a joke.*
*There was a period when family circumstances were tough after his father was retrenched and was starting his own business. “I remember breakfast was eggs, lunch would be eggs, dinner we got some chicken wings, or eggs. We ate a lot, a lot, of eggs,” says Mr Ng of the protein-heavy diet.*
He jokes that some believe the feng shui at Block 27 Dover Crescent to be very good. Stories have been written about how no fewer than 16 young men and women who lived in that block won scholarships from the Public Service Commission.
Like the rest of the family, he was very proud when his brothers won the President’s Scholarship, though it also got him ribbed by friends. “Hey, what happened to you?” they would tease.
You did go on to become Chief of Defence Force, and they didn’t, I point out.
“That was 20-something years later,” he says.
Chee Khern was a role model. “He was also quite kind,” Mr Ng says. “When you’re in Sec 4, JC 1, that’s the period you wish you had a little bit more pocket money to go out with friends. When he got his scholarship and first pay, I recall him giving me some money. I’m forever grateful.”
Mr Ng’s decision to join the air force wasn’t influenced by Chee Khern, though.
He had been fascinated by planes, especially fighter jets, ever since he was six and would memorise playing cards that listed their specifications.
When he was 16, he joined the Junior Flying Club on a government-sponsored programme to get young people interested in the air force. He got his licence in 18 months. “I could fly before I could drive.”
He remembers vividly the moment he wanted to become a fighter pilot. He had gone to an Air Force Open House with his flying club buddies and watched a flight demonstration.
“This F-5 pulled up and rolled over the audience. I thought I could see the pilot looking down at us. I thought, ‘wow, someday I want to be able to do that’.”
He got an SAF scholarship to study at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado, graduating with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering in 1991. He later obtained a master of arts in international relations from Tufts University in Massachusetts.
He flew a series of fighter planes including the F-5, F-15 and F-16, and helicopters like the Apache, Chinook and Super Puma. It was a happy, fulfilling period, “probably the best part of my professional life”.
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Empowering workers
Mr Ng’s job at NTUC since 2018 has been more earth-bound.
His goal for workers can be summed up by the “3 Ws”: better wages, better welfare, better work prospects.
A key focus has been to forge an innovative culture in everything from business models to training to welfare programmes. FairPrice Finest at Clarke Quay, which opened in 2024, is an example of trying out new ways to meet wider segments of Singaporeans.
In 2019, NTUC launched Company Training Committees to plan and execute training and business transformation programmes together with employers and unions. The aim is to improve workers’ wages and work prospects while ensuring businesses’ sustainability.
Work has been done to get more support for families and platform workers, help older workers keep up with technology, and support work-life balance.
Beyond blue-collar workers, NTUC has reached out to professionals, managers and executives, who now form 45 per cent of its union base.
He doesn’t want to be drawn into the recent episode where German insurer Allianz called off its planned union with Income Insurance after the Singapore Government intervened.
He’ll just say that things were done in good faith as Income wanted to find strength in a very competitive environment. The NTUC also respects the view of the Government and public feedback.
“It is now time to reconstitute, take in all the different views and see what we can do better,” he says of Income. “But the longer-term challenge of Income remains. In any crisis when major injecting of funds is needed to sustain Income, well, that remains a business worry.”
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What we ate
Atavola Pasta and Pane
FairPrice Finest, The Grocer Food Hall, 3 River Valley Road, B1-05-06
2 Baked Crepes with Salmon & Cheese Filling @$11.90: $23.80
2 Milo Tiramisu @ $5.50: $11
1 Flat white: $6.50
1 Latte: $6.50
Total (with GST and tax): $47.80
As we wrap up our two-hour meal, Mr Ng says he never had ambitions to be Chief of Air Force, Chief of Defence Force, or enter politics.
“You take life as it comes,” he says. “If good things happen, give thanks and count your blessings. When there are setbacks, I say, press on and hold on to the fundamentals that drive you.”
For him, it is simply to “make an impact if you can, do the right thing, and do your best”.
Come what may, he appears to be a man at peace with his journey.
Sumiko Tan is Chief Columnist & Senior Editor, Publications, at The Straits Times
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