Loh Kah Seng – Albert Winsemius, Adviser Extraordinaire Part 1 | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Albert Winsemius was Singapore’s most successful foreign expert, advising the government on economic policy for twenty years. I look at his first contribution to Singapore in 1960-61, explaining why he succeeded when so many experts failed. His main then was to convince the government that Singapore could pivot from entrepot trade to secondary industry against a backdrop of political, economic and social troubles. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/hE4GDHUNWMM Part 2 | https://youtu.be/s65-wpq0dfo 00:00 Introduction 01:44 More Than a Lane? 05:21 Failure of Foreign Experts 07:28 Questions of Strategy & Markets 14:17 Human & Political Dimensions 20:43 Winsemius was No. 11 25:24 Singapore’s Self-Belief 30:20 Private Vs. State Capital 33:43 Winsemius’ Economic Influence 34:35 The Common Market 35:15 Independence & Pullout Loh Kah Seng, ‘Albert Winsemius and the Transnational Origins of High Modernist Governance in Singapore’, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-1556-5_4 I’m Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian. I’m interested in the history of Singapore and the lives of its people. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city today. We discuss three topics: 1. People and places. 2. Change and continuity. 3. The importance of heritage. As a historian, I try to stay true to the oral history method on a video format and social media platform. I let the interviewee speak, as the ‘voice of the past’ as Paul Thompson put it. No clickbait, no BS, no posturing. The aim is to canvas a wide range of voices on various aspects of Singapore history and heritage – physical, social, cultural, economic. Do like the video, share your memories below and subscribe to the channel for future episodes. Write to lohkahseng@chroniclesresearch.com if you have any of these stories to share: • Old places or kampongs. • Communities – their way of life & culture. • Childhood & schools. • Work or business. Support Chronicles of Old Singapore on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore Follow the channel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551786759344 Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lks992002 Chronicles of Old Singapore is also the name of my research consultancy on the history of Singapore: https://www.chroniclesresearch.com/ Caveat: this is above all a podcast based on personal memory. As has been well-documented in oral history, memory is not always reliable and what is recalled here should not be taken as fact. However, as Alessandro Portelli noted, the subjectivity of oral history is also its great strength, and what is inaccurately remembered may point to how deeply meaningful the past is to people. #singaporehistory #memory #heritage #nostalgia #oralhistory #socialhistory #history #singapore