| HUMBLE MAN "On his month-long sojourns in Singapore, he would ask his Chinese driver to join him for seafood dinner at some dimly lit attap shack off Tuas. "This was very surprising in Singapore where the distinction between boss and servant is very clear. It's one of the virtues of a gentleman." - Mr Howe Yoon Chong, on Dr Winsemius |
Dr Albert Winsemius
By Rachel Tan
Singapore's economic architect was right about building the port, right about the industrial push, and right again about turning the country into a financial hub. But a fish once proved him wrong. RACHEL TAN reports
DUTCH economist Dr Albert Winsemius had an "annoying habit of being correct".
Well, nearly always.
A fish he caught in the Singapore river in 1993 proved him wrong.
Dr Winsemius had pushed for the then polluted river to be turned into a highway because he felt it was beyond saving.
Singapore leaders disagreed.
Former health minister and friend, Mr Howe Yoon Chong, took a 'bet' with him that the river was still alive. A fishing trip was arranged and Dr Winsemius had to eat his words.
Mr Howe related what Dr Winsemius, who had a wry sense of humour, said: "One garoupa had sacrificed himself... to be caught to show to me that the river can be cleaned up and I was wrong."
The economist's daughter, Ms Ankie Aeyelts Averink-Winsemius, 57, added it was a family joke that divers planted the fish.
A professorship at the Nanyang Technological University has been named after Dr Winsemius.
Mr Howe spoke of how the man, who only learnt about Singapore in his 50s, yet grew to love it deeply. He first came to Singapore in 1960 on a United Nations mission to "find out how this godforsaken place could be fished out of this morass".
He drew up plans to transform Singapore and became its chief economic adviser for the next 25 years. He worked for Singapore without being paid.
"All his trips here were totally out of (his) pocket and pilgrimages of love," said Mr Howe.
Even till he died from pneumonia last December, he kept up with Singapore's developments through newspapers and official reports.
Mr Howe believes Dr Winsemius, who had survived two world wars, empathised with the Singapore leaders who were building the country.
DR Winsemius made Singapore a second home for his family. His daughter Ankie Averink-Winsemius was the first to be roped in.
Then working on a separate UN project, she was called to "decipher his handwriting" for his survey report on Singapore in 1961.
"His handwriting was so atrocious no one could understand it," she quipped.
Over the years she and her mother accompanied Dr Winsemius on his regular trips to Singapore and the region. She still visits yearly.
"We become Singaporeans for those short periods then," she said.
Two of her three children have worked here briefly and her daughter Jolijn, 25, met her fiance here.
The above article was first published in The New Paper (March 20, 1997).
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