S$7 million gift for Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, thanks to business leader

8 October 2008

Mr Oei Hong Leong (left) presenting the cheque to Prof Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (right)

The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) at NUS has received a S$7 million gift from business leader Oei Hong Leong. It will be used to set up the Oei Hong Leong Scholarship for LKYSPP students from China. The gift will attract a 1:1 government matching grant.

“I think it’s good for Singapore to have an investment in these future Chinese leaders,” said Mr Oei at the cheque presentation ceremony held at the Bukit Timah Campus on 7 October 2008.

“After they study in Singapore, they go back, they will remember how they got their degree…If you get a tender competing with Taiwan or the Japanese, I think if the price is the same, they will pick Singapore," Mr Oei added.

Expressing his appreciation for the gift, Prof Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of LKYSPP, noted that the mission of the School is to “promote good governance in countries all over the region” and hence, gifts made to the School “generate lot of good for Asia and the rest of the world.”

Mr Oei bought shares in AIG in September, even as its stock plummeted and investors bailed out of the insurance giant. His move paid off as AIG share prices rose after the US government announced a rescue package for the company. Mr Oei sold the shares and made a gift of the proceeds to the School.

This is Mr Oei's second gift to LKYSPP. His first benefaction to the school, a S$1 million gift, was made in 2003.