What do our paper generals get up to?
A list of what every single CDF so far has done after retiring from the SAF.
We’ve all heard enough about Ng Yat Chung. At least, I certainly have. This whole episode got me thinking, what have the many other former military generals been up to since their retirement?
So, I looked up every single prior Chief of Defence Force to figure out what they’ve been up to since their retirement.
This will be very dry. Sorry.

The most recent former CDF is LG (Ret) Perry Lim, who was CDF from Aug 2015 - 23 Mar 2018. He is now an Executive Director at Royal Golden Eagle (RGE), a group of companies founded by Indonesian businessman Sukanto Tanoto that manufactures, among other things, palm oil, cellulose, viscose fibers, pulp, and paper. Sounds like he took “paper general” rather literally.
As I’ll mention later, the Vice-Chairman of RGE is another former CDF. I suppose birds of a feather flock together. Also, in an amusing turning of the tables, it’s a disproportionate number of Singaporean high-flyers in a foreign company, rather than the other way around!
LG (Ret) Ng Chee Meng was CDF from Mar 2013 - Aug 2015, whereupon leaving the SAF he joined politics. He first ran for Parliament in 2015 in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, and served various ministerial portfolios. You may also remember how he led the PAP team for Sengkang GRC in GE2020 and was narrowly beat out by the WP team led by He Ting Ru. But don’t worry about him, he’s still sitting pretty as the Secretary-General of NTUC. In fact, he was preceded in that role by none other than Mr. “Cotton Comes from Sheep” himself, former Chief of Army Chan Chun Sing!

LG (Ret) Neo Kian Hong, after serving as CDF from Apr 2010 - Mar 2013, was appointed as the Permanent Secretary (Education Development) in MOE on July 2013. While there, he contributed to MOE’s Outdoor Education Masterplan, presumably advocating for the instruction of fire movement in schools. He moved on to the Ministry of Defence in 2017 as Permanent Secretary (Defence Development), making this the first instance on this list where a former SAF general did something they should actually be good at. After this, he put his Guards training to good use, parachuting into SMRT as Group CEO on Aug 2018. I’m sure the recent MRT breakdowns aren’t resulting from his management in any way.
They’re also definitely not the fault of the next guy, LG (Ret) Desmond Kuek, who was CDF from Mar 2007 to Apr 2010. After leaving the SAF, he was appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources in July 2010. A few years after, in Oct 2012 he was appointed President and Group CEO of SMRT, and presided over the company’s sale to Temasek Holdings in 2016. He was succeeded in Aug 2018 by the aforementioned LG (Ret) Neo Kian Hong, founding a leadership consultancy named Genium & Co, with two other former SAF officers as Managing Directors. Can’t be that good, considering they misspelled “genius”.

Next is the man who prompted this whole article, LG (Ret) Ng Yat Chung. He was CDF from Apr 2003 to Mar 2007, and left the SAF to become a Senior Executive in Temasek Holdings. He became Group President and CEO of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) from Oct 2011 and proceeded to run it straight into the ground. CMA CGM, a French MNC, bought over NOL in 2016 and proceeded to turn a profit the very next year. Ouch. Next up for Ng was to become CEO of SPH from Sep 2017. When he was appointed, Mothership ran a piece questioning whether he was the right man to save SPH. True enough, four years after that, SPH’s media business is being spun off, and now the man is infamous for the umbrage he took.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he “steps aside” like Heng Swee Keat shortly. I wonder what he’ll be doing next?
Also - that’s three CDFs in a row that presided over periods of significant perceived failure in Singapore government-linked companies. Perhaps parachuting in generals isn’t a great plan after all?
LG (Ret) Lim Chuan Poh was CDF from Apr 2000 to Apr 2003. He served as a Permanent Secretary in MOE until Mar 2007, and was appointed Chairman of A*STAR. There, he leveraged on his knowledge of science, technology, and research from his Bachelor of Arts, Masters of Arts, and Masters of Business Administration degrees until his retirement from the post in 2019, whereupon he was appointed as Chairman of the Singapore Food Agency.
LG (Ret) Bey Soo Khiang, who was CDF from July 1995 to April 2000, spent about a decade in SIA after retiring from service. In Mar 2011, he left SIA and was appointed as the Vice-Chairman of Royal Golden Eagle, the same place where LG (Ret) Lim is now. I won’t repeat the paper general joke, but I thought it was clever.
Interestingly enough, Royal Golden Eagle faced significant flak around 2015 for their extensive deforestation practices. While they’ve since pledged zero deforestation, there is some indication that they’ve continued to do it anyway. The WWF sure isn’t happy with them, and Greenpeace notes how RGE under Tanato “carries the dubious distinction of being the single largest driver of deforestation in the world” (quote source). It seems that anyhow cutting down trees is standard practice.
Almost to the end, hang in there.
LG (Ret) Ng Jui Ping was CDF from Jun 1992 to July 1995. For once, when leaving the SAF, instead of joining a GLC, or the civil service, he co-founded a company, Pacific Andes Resources Development. He was also on the board of many other investment and consulting companies. Well, also deputy chairman of the CPF Board, chairman of Chartered Industries of Singapore (now ST Engineering), and more. He sadly passed away on 1 Jan 2020 from pancreatic cancer.
Last, but certainly not least, is LG (Ret) Winston Choo. Having served during Konfrontasi and led patrols during the 1964 race riots, he became the very first CDF from May 1990 to Jun 1992. After briefly attending the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School after retiring from the SAF, he paved the way for his successors and began pursuing a career in the civil service; specifically, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Unlike the rest of his successors, he stuck around in just the one ministry, and is presently the non-resident Ambassador to Israel. I’m sure it’s a real challenge to be a good ambassador to Israel while residing in Singapore, but he manages.
I could continue with each of the Chiefs of Army, Air Force, and Navy, but:
I’m getting bored, and
You get the point.
LG (Ret) Umbrage is just one individual in a long illustrious history of military generals who end up installed in various high-ranking positions in Singapore’s GLCs and civil service. Some perform reasonably well (I assume). Others preside over train breakdowns and run shipping companies and media companies into the ground. Truly, this is Singapore’s meritocracy at its finest.
Not really proud of this one. It’s… been a rough week.
~ Kai
Ask Perry Lim why did he have to leave RGE so suddenly? Did a skirt have something to do with it? 🤣