Professor S Jayakumar's Speech at the Book Launch of "Creating Three Unique Singapore Laws: An Inside Story", 12 August 2026

Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong,

Ho Ching,

Distinguished guests, family, and friends.

As an author, I could not ask for a better audience than this gathering. We have former President Tony Tan and Mary. Tony was my contemporary in university in different faculties, and later, Cabinet colleague, and I developed a good friendship with him. Mary was my classmate in Raffles Institution (RI) when RI went co-ed for the first time at the HSC (Higher School Certificate) – what you call A-level – and I’m very glad that you are here.

Two former Prime Ministers, SM Goh Chok Tong and SM Lee Hsien Loong. Chok Tong, if I may call you Chok Tong, was responsible for getting me into politics and altering the course of my life, and completely changed my career plans, which I thought I would be an academic for the rest of my life. He then was my Cabinet colleague, and then became my boss as Prime Minister, and we developed a friendship. We are still good friends, both on and off the golf course.

And Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, we worked closely on the elected presidency and other legislation, and we were Cabinet colleagues. He was also my boss when he became PM, and we are good friends. One vivid memory I have, and there’s a photograph of it in the book, is when Yeo Ning Hong and I introduced him to the media when it was announced he was entering politics and fielded as a PAP candidate. I thank you for gracing this occasion as Guest-of-Honour this evening.

And Cabinet Ministers, former Cabinet Ministers, Senior Minister Shanmugam. Shanmugam was my student when I was a lecturer in the university, and the very first tutorial I had with him on constitutional law, I was so impressed that the next day I asked the staff to produce me the records of Shanmugam to see where this guy had come from. And no wonder he is now the Minister for Law.

And Vivian Balakrishnan, now my current boss at MFA, when he was at the eye centre as an eye surgeon, together with the late Dr Arthur Lim, took care and managed my cataract operation, also years ago.

And one other person I need to mention is Tan Sook Yee, whose late husband, the former Attorney-General Tan Boon Teik, and I worked very closely during the course of the three legislation, especially the elected presidency, where we had to produce draft after draft to Cabinet and Mr Lee Kuan Yew. And Sook Yee was Vice Dean of the law faculty when I was Dean, and gave me incredible support at that time. I want to thank all of you for coming today.

Many of you, friends, in recent days have asked me, “Prof, what is the difference between this book and your other books that you’ve written? You know, Be at the Table, Governing, Diplomacy.” Well, the short answer is all the books are different, of course, right? Different themes, different topics. But I would say that this book is different in the sense that it was probably the most challenging of the books that I’ve written. Challenging in two ways.

First, it was a challenge how to explain the three laws and the institutions created in those laws, which were fairly complex in detail and in law. How to explain it in a way that non-lawyers could easily understand? My audience was not lawyers, and I didn’t intend it to be a legal textbook. So, how to explain it in an easily understandable way was a challenge.

Second challenge was how to balance two things. First, the content and substance of the new institutions and the laws. How much to devote to that, and how much to devote to the very frank and candid discussions that took place within Cabinet, which the book spends quite a bit of time explaining. Well, have I struck the right balance? That’s for you and other readers to judge. I believe that as an author, one should not extol the virtues of your own book. So, in the remaining time that I have, what I propose to do is to pick up two or three broad-brush impressions of the features in the book, which I believe or hope will entice people to get the book and read it.

I will touch on, first, what I call lifting the veil of secrecy, or the lifting the veil of mystery. Secondly, opening a window through which you can see and have greater insights into the vision and farsightedness of Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Third, some dispelling of a few myths and misconceptions, and I’ll end off with a very broad personal reflection.

First, the book lifts the veil of secrecy or mystique about how the Singapore Government, especially the Cabinet, discusses important matters and comes to a decision. The People’s Action Party, both as a party and as a government, has always kept a tight lid on its internal deliberations. We all know that, right? I think that that is actually a sound policy. Because, for the principle of collective responsibility in Cabinet to work well, you need the Prime Minister and his Ministers to discuss important matters in a frank and candid manner, weigh all the options, before the die is cast and a public pronouncement or statement is made.

Secondly, it is important for party discipline. Next, I think it’s important to avoid a situation where a disgruntled or unhappy Cabinet Minister leaks distorted versions of what happened in Cabinet to the media, and you get troublesome speculation and rumours. So that’s sound policy. But as I’ve said in my preface to the book, it is a pity that the public does not have that understanding and insight to the way in which Cabinet discusses important matters, and as the book reveals, discussions are detailed, thorough, and robust. So, my book, with the permission of the former Prime Minister and with the present Prime Minister’s permission, lifts the veil of secrecy to an extent. To an extent, meaning the background to these three books. It gives you a glimpse into the inside story of how deliberations took place on these issues, the arguments, the rebuttals, the point, the counterpoint, the dynamics of the personalities, and finally, how the process of compromise and consensus were reached, all with one thought uppermost in the minds of all the members of the Cabinet. That is, what would be in the interest of Singapore? So it gives you, as it were, it transports you back in time to have a ringside view of what actually was being discussed.

Of course, what I’ve written is about the Lee Kuan Yew prime ministership era, but you know, I have worked under subsequent Prime Ministers Goh Chok Tong and Lee Hsien Loong, and I should say that the same approach of the Leader encouraging his Ministers to speak candidly, frankly, give alternative options, also continued with the premiership of Goh Chok Tong and Lee Hsien Loong. In fact – and I’ve written about this elsewhere – Goh Chok Tong, even before he was DPM, he instituted the idea of a pre-Cabinet luncheon preceding the formal Cabinet meeting. In other words, everybody attended except Mr Lee Kuan Yew, where we had a free-wheeling, informal discussion, no fixed agenda, but various things from Ministers’ minds would be brought, ideas would be floated. So, when a formal proposal came to Cabinet, there were no big surprises. And subsequent Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong, and I believe also Lawrence Wong, have continued the tradition. So, another layer of discussions.

The next broad-brush point I want to raise is, my book opens a window, I hope, for the readers to have an inside peek into the leadership style of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Much has been written, of course, of Mr Lee Kuan Yew as an individual, as a politician, as a statesman, and so on. I myself have devoted some pages of my previous books to that. But this book gives you a certain insight, into especially his vision and far-sightedness in approaching problems of Singapore. I found him unique, as I’ve said elsewhere. He’s probably one of the few persons who spends all his waking hours from morning to night thinking of only one thing: the future of Singapore, how to keep Singapore going. But his vision – and this is what is special – is not just during his tenure as Prime Minister. Indeed, not even during his lifetime. He thinks far beyond, and his far-sightedness is quite amazing.

I give you one example. Take the question of the GRCs – Group Representation Constituencies to ensure minority representation. At that time, when it was proposed as one of the trio of legislation, the opposition criticised it as well as a scheme to fix the opposition. But as the book shows, he had been thinking about this way back in the 70s. In the early 70s, he wrote a letter to all the PAP MPs, expressing his deep concern for the Malay PAP MPs, how they could effectively operate and function in a constituency which, at that time, was more predominantly Chinese speaking than now, when many are English speaking. And this has been documented in another book – The History of the PAP – written by another Jayakumar – Shashi, my son. So, that is an additional insight that the book gives.

Third, I want to touch on my attempt in the book to dispel some myths and misconceptions. The first myth is about Mr Lee Kuan Yew, that he was such a towering figure with such strong views. Some say he’s fierce. That the myth was, well, he brooks no dissent, no contrary views, and any firm proposal that he had, he would just ram it through. But if you read the book, you’ll find a different side of the story. You’ll find a Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who, although he felt very strongly about the elected presidency and he wanted a powerful wicket-keeper, he was willing to listen to the views of the younger Ministers. And, in fact, in the book, there’s one part where he says, “Look, to those who have reservations and disagreements, I ask you to put up alternatives.” And on page 73 of the book, you’ll find a quote that tells you a lot about Lee Kuan Yew. He says, “What is important is not” – and this is particularly relevant here – “What is important is not that the solution I propose be accepted, but that there be a solution formulated which would be workable with a new guard in charge.” I think that tells volumes about the man. And I recount in the book, Mr E. W. Barker, who was then the First Minister for Law, and I was Minister of State for Law, before the detailed discussions started on the elected presidency, he pulled me aside and said, “Jaya, you worked with the AG to give whatever drafts PM wants. But I better tell you, he can be very headstrong in his views. But he’s intellectually honest.” Intellectually honest, and the way I’ve described the discussion, you’ll find that that is true.

Final broad-brush comment I want to make is not found in the book. It’s a more personal reflection. I have been in Cabinet before, for some 30 years. I was involved in policymaking and the drafting of many laws. I found this trio of legislation – elected presidency, GRC, and the NCMP – to be the most interesting and the most challenging, as I said just now. I’m 87, and when you reach the age of 87, I feel that I consider myself blessed. But at this point, you cannot help but reflect on the past as you ponder over the future. As I reflect on the past, it is really amazing how Singapore has advanced to what we are today. As we ponder over the future, there are many unknowns, right? But one sure known fact is, when we became independent, we were small, we had unusual and unique circumstances. Now, after 61 years, we are still small, and we still have to operate under unusual and unique circumstances. So, how we got here is partly because the leadership in the past took important, innovative, unusual, and unique decisions, and pivotal decisions. And we look to the future where unfamiliar challenges will beset us. I think it is important for us not to be afraid to take, where necessary, unusual and innovative steps for our circumstances. Yes, I think it is important for us to look at the best practices of other countries, adapt them which are useful to us, but adapt them to our circumstances. But we should be very clear-eyed that whatever approaches of other countries may not always work in Singapore because of our circumstances. So, my book touches on three laws, right? But to me, it is really more than that. It is an illustration, in a small way, of how we had to figure out solutions for unusual situations, think out of the box, come out with the solutions. And as we face the future, we may need that ingenuity and the courage to take that approach.

Before I leave the podium, I want to thank a few people who have been most helpful. Apart from Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong honouring us, we have the Diplomatic Academy who put together this organisation [of the event], Yee Woan and her capable team. I want to thank the publishers, Straits Times Press and SPH, Sumiko, Hui Chieh, and Liang, who, over many breakfast sessions we journeyed over this book. I want to thank a few people from AGC who have, over several years, assisted me in working on this book: Seow Zhixiang, Toh Han, and much earlier, Vanessa. And finally, I should mention National Library Board, Julia and her team, Melissa and her team, and National Archives. Julia and her team for the tremendous support in the process of my handing over of my papers to them. And finally, my ever reliable secretary, Alicia. Once again, thank you so much for honouring me with your presence.

Thank you.

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