EVENTS | LUMEN
13
After his stint as Director of the Science Centre , Professor Tan was offered the position of Director of the National Institute of Education ( NIE ). He strongly believes in taking the hot seat instead of being an arm chair critic of our education system .
“ It was harder in NIE because everyone has a PhD or Masters . When you ’ re the Director you are not the boss . You are the facilitator . They will tell you : ‘ Yes , yes we follow you ’, but like cats they will go off in the direction they want to go . And I realised if I follow the traditional way of running the NIE there will be no future for the teachers because these professors would all want to do their research and forget about teaching . I found that in today ’ s world we are always looking for the line of least resistance , the easiest way to get things done ... and we forget about education . The fundamentals are about character building , honesty , holistic education that develops the mind , the body , the heart and the soul .”
“ The essence in leadership is not about leading people . It ’ s about getting out there and doing what you can , what you think you cannot do , but nothing is impossible until it is proven to be impossible . ‘ Failure is not an option ’, is what my Irish Brothers always taught me . They caned me . Corporal punishment was the order of the day , and I never complained to my parents , because I would get a second caning if I told them a Brother had caned me that morning . So I remember that discipline , honest hard work and using creativity , which the Lasallian spirit has . It is embedded in the culture of Lasalle . Using the creativity which is ingrained in us , to the fullest of our ability will ensure that first , we will have a bright future , secondly , our society will have a bright future , and thirdly , our country and the world will be a better place to be in .”
Mr Richard Magnus serves as the Chairman of the Casino Regulatory Authority . Prior to his current appointment , Mr Magnus served as the Senior District Judge after 40 years of distinguished service with the Singapore Legal Service . For his contributions to the Singapore Judiciary , he was conferred The Public Administration Medal ( Gold ) ( Bar ) in 2003 and The Meritorious Service Medal in 2009 . The following is an excerpt of his lecture focusing on ethical leadership .
“ You often hear people say that we need a new leadership style for this century , in the news , local forums , and in the new world . In the globalising world with a better indicator of workforce and constituency , that is no longer inclined to be seen and not heard , a new leadership , of course , is called for but style is not the key leadership issue . Substance is . It is about core behaviour about the job , not service details and tactics , a core that changes little over time , across different cultures or in different industries and societies and ethics to me is an essential core of that substance .
For leaders to be effective they can be caught between the rock and a hard place if you like , be caught among public and private morality . Let me discuss a conundrum on the ethical part of the equation . I am not personally in favour of gambling ; yet find myself as chairman of the Casino Regulatory Authority . Can a leader maintain his conscience and sense of integrity by
“
... you do what is right , when there is wrong , you bring hope when there is despair , you bring peace where there is none .
“ distinguishing between the public square and his own private space ? I get involved , I try to understand what the issues are , I try to understand the rules of gaming I try to understand the behaviour of potential gamblers , I try to understand the economic value of this , I try to understand the social repercussions of this particular area so I dirty my hands trying to understand that and what policies need to be put in place in order to proscribe the harm as less as possible and that ’ s where the challenge really is .”
“ Engagement is in fact a norm now . It has to be a norm . I think we cannot go on the basis of making decisions autocratically without ensuring you know really what their answers are and it is actually for your own good ... the only body that has decided on the norm of consensus is the European Union as well as ASEAN . No other bodies have done it . In other words , it is not realistic within a society that it is multicultural ... now I think a cosmopolitan country like Singapore to be able to arrive at a consensus , ... everybody agrees that this should be done , but everybody can agree I think with the ethics of it , with ethics of the decision that has been made and therefore , ethics would be the one that binds and glues the population .”
Mr Magnus first drew inspiration from his time in SJI . Recalling how he was actively involved in the St Vincent de Paul society , he used to go to the neighbourhoods along the school , Bras Basah Road , Queen Street , Bencoolen Street , where there were a lot of