Document Code: SG-H-CS-41 Full Title: Chan Chin Bock — EDB Pioneer, Third Chairman, and Author of Heart Work Coverage Period: 1940s–present Level Designation: Level 3 Profile Primary Sources Consulted:
- Loke Hoe Yeong, Speaking Truth to Power: Singapore's Pioneer Public Servants (Singapore: World Scientific, 2019) — dedicated chapter
- Chan Chin Bock, Heart Work (Singapore: Economic Development Board and EDB Society, 2002)
- Chan Chin Bock, Heart Work 2: EDB & Partners: New Frontiers for the Singapore Economy (Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2011)
- National Library Board, Singapore Infopedia, "Economic Development Board"
- The Straits Times, various articles
Related Documents:
- SG-H-MIN-62 | Hon Sui Sen — EDB founding chairman and Finance Minister
- SG-H-CS-19 | Philip Yeo — later EDB chairman; successor generation
- SG-H-CS-14 | Ngiam Tong Dow — fellow EDB chairman
- SG-H-DPM-01 | Goh Keng Swee — architect of EDB and industrialisation strategy
- SG-E-01 | The Industrialisation of Singapore — EDB and Economic Transformation
Version Date: 2026-03-20
Section 1: Key Takeaways
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Chan Chin Bock is one of the founding generation of officers at the Economic Development Board (EDB), Singapore's lead agency for industrial development and foreign investment attraction. He spent 35 years at the EDB (from 1964), rising from investment promotion officer to Third Chairman (1972–1974).
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As one of the first overseas centre directors, stationed in New York in 1968, he was part of the small team of Singaporean officials who physically went to multinational corporations in the United States and persuaded them to invest in a tiny, newly independent nation that most American businesspeople had never heard of. This was the work that laid the foundation for Singapore's transformation from a port city with high unemployment to a global manufacturing and business hub.
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He served as EDB Chairman from 1972 to 1974, succeeding Hon Sui Sen and I.F. Tang, and preceding Ngiam Tong Dow and subsequent chairmen. His chairmanship coincided with the critical period when Singapore was consolidating its initial wave of MNC investments and diversifying into higher-value industries.
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During the period when he managed EDB's overseas network of 17 offices, Singapore's foreign investment commitments increased from S$320 million to S$1,668 million — a more than five-fold increase. He received the Public Administration Medal (Silver, 1969), Public Administration Medal (Gold, 1973), Meritorious Service Medal (1988), and the EDB Society Distinguished Fellows Award (2003).
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He authored Heart Work (2002) and Heart Work 2 (2011), two of the most important published accounts of the EDB's work from an insider's perspective — documenting the strategies, tactics, and human stories behind Singapore's industrialisation from the viewpoint of the officers who executed it on the ground.
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He is a founding member of the EDB Society, the alumni association of former EDB officers, alongside I.F. Tang, Ngiam Tong Dow, P.Y. Hwang, Philip Yeo, and others — a network that represents the institutional memory of Singapore's economic development apparatus.
Section 2: The Record in Brief
Chan Chin Bock joined the Economic Development Board in 1964, during the critical period when the EDB was shifting from import-substitution to export-oriented industrialisation. The EDB had been established in 1961 under the chairmanship of Hon Sui Sen, with Goh Keng Swee as its political champion. Chan was part of the second wave of EDB officers who built on the founding vision.
In 1968, he was posted to New York as one of the EDB's first overseas centre directors — a role that required him to identify, approach, and persuade American multinational corporations to establish manufacturing operations in Singapore. This was investment promotion at its most basic: cold calls, factory visits, presentations to corporate boards, and the relentless selling of Singapore as a stable, efficient, and business-friendly location. The competition was intense — other developing countries were making similar pitches — and success depended on the credibility and persistence of the individual officers.
He became the third Chairman of the EDB in 1972, succeeding I.F. Tang. During his chairmanship, the EDB managed the transition from labour-intensive to more capital-intensive industries, responding to the challenge of rising wages and the need to move up the value chain. He also navigated the global economic turbulence of the early 1970s, including the oil crisis.
After his chairmanship, he continued to serve the EDB in various capacities over a 35-year career. He later described the 1985 recession — Singapore's first since independence — as an "emotional experience" that dealt the country a reality check after 20 years of continuous growth.
His two books, Heart Work (2002) and Heart Work 2 (2011), documented the EDB story from the inside, preserving the institutional memory of Singapore's most consequential economic agency.
Section 3: Timeline of Key Events
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1940s | Born |
| 1964 | Joined the Economic Development Board (EDB) |
| 1968 | Posted to New York as one of EDB's first overseas centre directors |
| 1972–1974 | Third Chairman of the EDB |
| 1974 | Awarded Public Administration Medal (Gold) |
| 1985 | Navigated Singapore's first post-independence recession |
| Late 1990s | Retired from EDB after approximately 35 years |
| 2002 | Published Heart Work (with EDB Society) |
| 2011 | Published Heart Work 2: EDB & Partners |
| Present | Founding member, EDB Society |
Section 4: Significance
The EDB is arguably the single most important institution in Singapore's economic development. It was the instrument through which the government's industrialisation strategy was executed — attracting the multinational corporations whose investments provided jobs, technology transfer, and export markets that transformed Singapore's economy.
Chan Chin Bock was part of the small cadre of officers who did this work at the operational level. The EDB's success depended not only on favourable policies and infrastructure (which the government provided) but on the quality and dedication of individual officers who could persuade corporate decision-makers in New York, Tokyo, and Frankfurt to invest in a country that, in the 1960s and 1970s, was still largely unknown. Chan was one of these officers.
His two Heart Work books are essential primary sources for understanding how the EDB operated and how Singapore's industrialisation was actually achieved — not as abstract policy but as the cumulative result of thousands of individual negotiations, relationships, and decisions by officers like Chan.
Sources and References
- Chan Chin Bock, Heart Work (Singapore: Economic Development Board and EDB Society, 2002).
- Chan Chin Bock, Heart Work 2: EDB & Partners: New Frontiers for the Singapore Economy (Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2011).
- Loke Hoe Yeong, Speaking Truth to Power: Singapore's Pioneer Public Servants (Singapore: World Scientific, 2019).
- National Library Board, Singapore Infopedia, "Economic Development Board."
This document is part of the Singapore Governance Knowledge Corpus.