Building Bridges, Carving Niches: An Enduring Legacy
Authors: Grace Loh, Goh Chor Boon and Tan Teng Lang
Publisher: Oxford University Press (Singapore)
ISBN: 0195940059	Format: pbk, 280 pages	Copyright: 2000

PREFACE|EDITORS' PROFILE

Assoc Prof Grace Loh, Assoc Prof Goh Chor Boon and Ms Tan Teng Lang - three historians from the Humanities and Social Studies Education Academic Group of NIE - have the privilege of being the first researchers to access the vast collection of private papers belonging to OCBC (Oversea-Banking Chinese Corporation) stalwart, Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan.

The papers, archived at the Tan Foundation, were used along with numerous interviews with Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan to create Building Bridges, Carving Niches: An Enduring Legacy - a new book documenting the rise, expansion and consolidation of one of Singapore's landmark economic institutions, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC).

An insightful case study of how one bank evolved from a family-dominated company into a Fortune 500 company, the book was born out of a casual conversation in 1988. That was when NTU President, Dr Cham Tao Soon, suggested to Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan, OCBC's former Managing Director and Chairman, that a book on Singapore's commercial history, focusing on the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, be written.

Then Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Tony Tan, himself a Chairman of OCBC from 1991 to 1995, officiated at the launch of the book on 22 December 2000. He said, "The ebb and flow of OCBC's fortunes, the turning points, the triumphs, and the problems are recounted interestingly and in a readable fashion by the authors who also paid particular attention to the significant roles played by many prominent personalities in the growth of the Bank."

Foremost among this illustrious group is Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan, now 92, whose half a century with the Bank made him synonymous with it. Other luminaries readers will encounter in the book are Lee Kong Chian, Tan Lark Sye, Dr Tony Tan, Chief Justice Yong Pung How, Michael Wong Pakshong, I F Tang and Malcolm MacDonald.

Prof Leo Tan, Director of NIE, said: "In Singapore, we have few, if any, of such well-researched corporate publications. It is hoped that the book will pioneer the beginning of a genre of scholarly research and publication in local business history."

The book is available at all major bookstores at S$39.90



PREFACE|EDITORS' PROFILE

Grace Loh is formerly, Deputy Head (History) of the Humanities and Social Studies Education Academic Group of the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. She is the co-author of JSL - What's Behind the Name? and Beyond Silken Robes: Profiles of Selected Chinese Enterpreneurs in Singapore.

Goh Chor Boon is a lecturer in the Humanities and Social Studies Education Academic Group of the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. He is the author of Living Hell: Story of a WWII Survivor at the Death Railway.

Tan Teng Lang is a lecturer in the Humanities and Social Studies Education Academic Group of the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University.