URA chairman, NParks consultant lead National Day honours list

SINGAPORE — Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) chairman Peter Ho is a familiar name from the public sector, having been in the Singapore Administrative Service for more than three decades. But he took a backseat in 2010, when he retired from a lifelong career in public service.

So when the news came that he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order at this year’s National Day Awards — the highest honour to be given out this year — he was both honoured and surprised.

“I have been retired for almost six years. My roles in public service since retirement have been much more behind-the-scenes and more varied than when I was in full-time service,” said Mr Ho, 62.

Apart from being URA chairman, Mr Ho doubles up as a senior adviser to the Centre for Strategic Futures and a senior fellow in the Civil Service College. He is also an adjunct professor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and a visiting fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Before his retirement, he was head of the Civil Service and permanent secretary at various ministries, including Foreign Affairs and Defence.

When asked about his proudest moments to date, Mr Ho was quick to downplay his contributions. “Each time I was put in a position to draw up a plan or to make a decision, I always felt that the main judgment was whether it would make things better for Singapore and for Singaporeans ... in my experience, you always feel that you could have done better,” he said.

Lessons are learnt “all the time”, said Mr Ho. “Then you move on, and try to do better and differently the next time.”

The biggest challenges in his 34-year-long public service career tended to stem from having to think ahead. The future could not be predicted, but plans and decisions for the long term still had to be made, he said.

In the years ahead, he mused that the Republic would face great challenges in the form of an ageing population and evolving economic structure, among others. “We need to acknowledge that they cannot be overcome in the short term, and that there are no quick fixes and straightforward solutions,” he said. He proposed three steps to tackle them: Boldness in action, willingness to try things out, and finally to manage the risks.

Mr Ho was one of the 3,959 award recipients at the National Day Awards this year, which saw the biggest pool of recipients since 1999. The awards are a nod to acts of merit and service to the Republic.

Other recipients included Mr Junichi Inada, the 64-year-old managing director of WIN Landscape Planning and Design in Osaka, Japan. Mr Inada was given the Public Service Star for his contributions to the greening of Singapore.

A landscape architect by training, the Osaka native first came to Singapore in 1983, upon his professor’s recommendation. He joined the National Parks Board (NParks) in November that year, and slowly rose through the ranks to become Director of Planning and Development in 1989, before leaving five years later.

During his time with the statutory board, Mr Inada spearheaded the development of several regional parks — Bishan Park and Marina City Park, now known as Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park and Gardens by the Bay, respectively.

He also conceptualised the park connector network, which NParks has brought to life through the development of about 300km of Park Connectors island-wide over the years. The idea of such a network was one of more than 10 ideas by Mr Inada, a hobby cyclist, when he was tasked with conceptualising the next phase of Singapore’s Garden City vision in 1987, he said.

He named Pasir Ris Park’s adventure playground for children — the first of its kind then — and the redevelopment of the Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG) as memorable projects at NParks. “The SBG redevelopment project is one of the most important projects I have done in my career,” said Mr Inada.

In 1989, he helped to implement the SBG masterplan, and transformed the gardens into a site for recreation, research, education and conservation. The green space became Singapore’s first Unesco World Heritage Site last year. Mr Inada now lives in Japan but continues to consult for NParks.