President, Dr Tony Tan, and Mrs Tan
Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong; Ministers
Distinguished Guests and Friends            
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good evening.

Temasek turned 40 this June, but we decided to host our anniversary dinner tonight, as part of a four-in-one series – our inaugural Ecosperity Conference on Friday, The Singapore Summit on Saturday – which, as one of our participants said, is our tropical version of Davos – the Formula 1 Night Race on Sunday, and our anniversary dinner tonight.

For our Temasek International Panel and Special Guests, it was a five-in-one, as we held our 11th TIP meeting today too.

So on behalf of my Temasek colleagues, thank you all for joining us tonight to celebrate our 40th anniversary.

Development and our Environment

40 years is not long in the context of human history. But here in Singapore, we’ve witnessed great changes over the last half century. Temasek has grown and transformed along with a rapidly changing Singapore.

When Singapore became independent in 1965, our per capita income was just US$516, but by the time Temasek was formed in 1974, it had more than quadrupled to US$2,359. And some 40 years later, Singapore’s per capita income is now over US$64,000.

Yet, even as a poor nation in the 1960s, we decided to plant trees. Without fail since 1971, we have our annual Tree Planting Day, to add to the trees planted all over our island. And even at 90 years old last year, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, still did his Tree Planting Day in his constituency.

Five years after independence, in 1970, we set up our Air Pollution Unit, even as we began to embark on industrialisation as a way to create jobs for our people. This Air Pollution Unit reported directly to the Prime Minister and enforced the landmark Clean Air Act.

We had seen the pollution in major cities around the world, in Tokyo, in Los Angeles, in New York, and determined we should seek to keep our air clean, even as we industrialised our economy.

The new agency was put to the test early, when a large oil company wanted to build a petrochemical facility in Singapore, but was not prepared to pay for a ground furnace to reduce pollution.

Various agencies of government took various positions. It was an important investment which would create jobs and bring in revenue.

However, the Government backed the Air Pollution Unit’s view that preventive measures were better than cleaning up afterwards. The company had to install the ground furnace. We were prepared to lose this important investment if the company did not agree.

In 1971, we set up the Bird Park in the middle of our industrial town on the west of the island. True, it was a place of leisure and relaxation for our people, but it was also a visible indicator of air quality, as birds are sensitive to poor air.

And when Temasek was formed in 1974, the Bird Park became part of our initial portfolio of assorted companies.

Apart from the clean air, we were determined to also keep our water clean – water is the life line of Singapore.

In 1977, we embarked on our largest challenge – to clean up the Singapore River. This meant not simply cleaning the water, but also putting in infrastructure as well as regulations to protect our waterways from all sorts of human activities.

The clean-up effort took an arduous 10 years – fish have since returned to our city river, and the team responsible were awarded gold medals for their work.

Today, we clean and beautify our water ways as part of our ABC initiative – Active, Beautiful and Clean waters – and we ensure clean and safe drinking water for our people. All these efforts support 11,000 jobs and generate S$1.7 billion in economic activity.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Looking after our environment is not something reserved only for the more prosperous or more developed nations. Growth does not mean sacrificing a sustainable environment for our people.

We can all do our part, whether rich or poor, to keep our air, water and land, clean and safe.

This was the path chosen by Singapore, because we cared then, as we continue to do now, about the world we live in, and the world we will hand over to our children and our children’s children.

Being poor is no reason to spoil our environment. Cleaning up later will cost more, not just in monetary terms, but in the quality of life for the people.

It is in this spirit, that we decided to organise our inaugural Ecosperity Conference - “Eco” for ecology and our environment, and “Sperity” for the prosperity which everyone seeks for themselves, their families and their countries.

We want to foster the idea that respect and protection of our environment can and should go hand in hand with development, jobs and prosperity.

I hope those who participated in the conference found it useful, and I look forward to your suggestions and ideas on how to help the world progress and be more sustainable.

As an early heads-up, the theme for next year’s Ecosperity Conference will be on urbanisation.

Temasek as an Investor, Institution and Intergenerational Steward

This spirit of doing things today, with tomorrow very clearly in our minds also describes the ethos of Temasek – it forms our values and culture as a long term investor, as a forward looking institution and most of all, as a trusted steward.

It drives us to keep an eye on the future, guarding and constantly shaping the legacy which we want to leave to future generations.

This is also why we actively promote good governance, and sound and fair regulations - we are always looking at the need to ensure long term sustainability, be it financial, environmental, organisational or people.

Beyond being an investor, we want to develop an organisation that cares, staffed by dedicated people with good hearts and hard heads, by able professionals who think of where each step on our journey may lead, and who think beyond their own tenure for their successors.

We call this an ownership mindset.

Even as we invest for long term returns, we have also embarked on a long term journey to invest and re-invest into our community, in Singapore, and beyond.

To date, we have seeded 16 not-for-profit endowments. They have clear mandates to build people, build capabilities, build communities and rebuild lives in various ways.

I am incredibly proud of the work they have done, both in Singapore and in Asia. Quietly, diligently, they have gone about their work, partnering with groups that make a real difference.

Thanks

I have many people to thank for their contribution to our first forty years, so please indulge me just a few minutes more.

Let me first thank our shareholder – the Minister for Finance – from the late Mr Hon Sui Sen who saw to our birth, and all others who have occupied that office over forty years.

Indeed, it was Mr Hon who suggested that Temasek should invest in profitable companies overseas, providing us the inspiration to grow with Asia after 30 years of growing with Singapore.

Collectively, the encouragement we have received from our shareholder, and the support of our long term mission, through ups and downs, has been unwavering.

We also have an obligation to account for Temasek’s past reserves to the President, as part of our constitutional responsibility as a key institution in Singapore.

Mr President, you and your predecessors – as well as those who have served on the Council of Presidential Advisers – have been always active and interested in Temasek, and that encourages us.

To my fellow Board Directors, as well as those who have served in the past – many of whom are here tonight – please accept our thanks for your leadership and guidance in shaping and reshaping Temasek.

Thank you to the men and women of Temasek, who have worked tirelessly over many years, to build an institution that all of us can be proud of.

And to the leaders and workers of our portfolio companies who gave Temasek a solid base at home from which to build, you have made more of a difference than perhaps you realise.

I want to also thank many of you present tonight from our portfolio companies, and from our partners with whom we have co-invested over the years. We have learnt from all of you, and relied on you for delivering our returns.

Our Temasek International Panel Members and Special Guests, and those who have served as Advisers to us on other panels over the years, your wisdom and counsel is greatly appreciated.

There are many others around the world who have helped us along our journey – regulators, policy-makers, economists, academics, business partners and suppliers: the list is too long to mention individually, so please accept my collective thanks.

Finally, allow me to make special mention of a broad group of stakeholders for us – the Singapore public.

Last year, I remarked that although we are not a football team, where the public will cheer our wins and bemoan our losses, many in Singapore track our performance with keen interest. They take pride in our successes and worry when there is potential trouble.

Their interest gives us impetus to strive always to do better. They reinforce our commitment to build and contribute to the larger good. So to our public stakeholders, we say a big thank you for your interest and ideas, trust and concern.

As I close, I am reminded of an old saying: that life begins at forty. For Temasek, I don’t think that’s quite true, but I will say that our journey has just begun!