SM Lee Hsien Loong at the Temasek International Panel Closing Dinner 2025

Mr Lim Boon Heng
Temasek Chairman 

Mr Teo Chee Hean 
Temasek Deputy Chairman 

Members of the Temasek International Panel and Distinguished guests

A very good evening to everybody. I am delighted to join you at this year’s TIP Closing Dinner.

For more than two decades, the TIP has been an essential forum for Temasek. As a long-term investor with a global footprint, Temasek needs to be sensitive to strategic trends and subtle shifts in the business environment. The wide-ranging perspectives and thoughtful insights, which all of you here offer Temasek, are invaluable. They have influenced Temasek’s strategies in an uncertain world, and enabled it to do well over the years. So, I would like to thank all of you, for your time, wisdom, and your generous advice.

Tonight is also special as we are marking Boon Heng’s retirement from the Temasek Board.

Before Temasek, Boon Heng spent over 30 years in politics serving Singapore. First as a Member of Parliament, and eventually as a Minister and for many years, he was concurrently the Secretary-General of the National Trades and Union Congress (NTUC) – playing a key role in upholding and strengthening Singapore’s unique system of tripartism; and guiding the labour movement through severe crises, including the Asian Financial Crisis and SARS. 

After retiring from politics, Boon Heng joined the Temasek Board in 2012. And a year later, he succeeded Mr Dhanabalan as Temasek’s fourth Chairman. 

He had big shoes to fill, but he ably guided Temasek to new heights. In his 12 years as Chairman, Temasek’s net portfolio value has nearly doubled, growing from S$223 billion in 2014 to S$434 billion this year. Temasek also grew beyond Singapore and Asia, into Europe and the US.

Boon Heng played a key role in broadening Temasek’s global networks and ecosystem. He augmented the TIP with three regional panels — One each in Europe and the Americas in 2016; and another in Southeast Asia in 2023. He was an active member of the Asia Business Council, which comprised leading industrialists, Chairpersons, and CEOs, eventually chairing the Council himself for two years. He would visit Temasek’s international offices annually to meet the teams on the ground − as well as political leaders, business partners, and portfolio companies − to get a first-hand sense of the business environment, the opportunities, as well as the risks. 

But Boon Heng’s most valuable contributions were in steering Temasek at the strategic level. He knew that Temasek had a strong team of professionals, and that he did not need to be an expert in everything himself. So he trusted the management team on the more technical and operational aspects. And focussed on complementing them with his sound judgment, stable temperament, and extensive leadership experience. He stewarded the company’s overall direction, and brought balance to the team − actively managing the Board’s interactions with the management team; renewing the Board with more international members from diverse backgrounds; and guiding Temasek through a CEO leadership transition in 2021 – always a delicate process, in this case happily and successfully. In recent years, his calm and steady hand at the helm helped Temasek navigate safely through the COVID-19 pandemic, and increasingly testy geopolitics.

Today, Temasek is known for its commercial success, as well as its exemplary standards in corporate governance, sustainability, and resilience.

And yet under Boon Heng, Temasek never forgot that businesses must ultimately benefit society. Boon Heng firmly believed in this − that businesses can only succeed when their stakeholders, workers and communities, thrive alongside them. He never stopped seeing his purpose as improving the lot of the working man. As Temasek Chairman, he continued to champion the Labour Movement through the Temasek Tripartite Conversations, fostering dialogue and partnerships between the Government, corporates, and unions on key workforce issues. During COVID-19, Temasek, together with its portfolio companies and Temasek Foundation, rose magnificently to the occasion. Temasek and its portfolio companies contributed to nationwide mask and hand sanitiser distributions, and were crucial to the rapid setup of community care facilities on a huge scale to attend to tens of thousands of COVID patients when cases surged. They played a vital role helping Singapore pull through and overcome the crisis. This ethos of doing well, doing right, and doing good is encapsulated by Temasek's Purpose statement: ‘So Every Generation Prospers’ – an expression Boon Heng often cites passionately with conviction.

Thank you, Boon Heng, for your service to Temasek and Singapore. You have been a role model to Temasek’s Board and management, and an inspiration to all of us. I wish you good health, and many fulfilling years ahead.

Finally, I would like to welcome Chee Hean as Temasek’s fifth Chairman. We are entering increasingly choppy waters. The sea state is rising, to use a naval metaphor, but I have known Chee Hean for a long time, and I have full confidence that he will take Temasek forward ably in the years to come. I ask all to give Chee Hean the same strong support and cooperation that you have afforded Boon Heng.

Thank you very much.

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