"Dr Goh Keng Swee's
men will assess your performance.
They use financial ratios," Mr
Ismail, the Personnel Manager said
to me, a Junior Veterinary Surgeon
of the Singapore Turf Club in
1988.
The Singapore Turf Club prior to
1988 was a private club registered
with the Registrar of Societies.
Membership into the Management
Committee was achieved as follows:
A proposed member's name is put up
during the meeting. Any "black
ball" seen during this proposal
will mean that the proposed member
was
rejected by a member of the Management
Committee and therefore shown the
door.
Some time around 1986
or earlier, a newspaper report
mentioned that the $286 million in
the 1986 bank deposits could be
shared by the 580 members if the
Club was dissolved as it was a
private club. Apparently, this
caused some action from the
Government.
On Jan 1, 1988, the Singapore
Totalisator Board (STB) was set
up. It appointed the newly formed
Bukit Turf Club (BTC) as an agent
to run the racing and 4-D
operations in Singapore. The
Singapore Turf Club was a private
club and now would be "dormant"
with the formation of the Bukit
Turf Club.
So, my 6th year of employment
contract was now assigned to the
Bukit Turf Club in the sense that
I was not asked to new a new
contract which would be
unfavourable to me as compared to
the old contract.
Dr Goh Keng Swee who had retired
from politics was the man in
charge of the new changes. The
"decision-maker" would be Mr Quek
Chee Hoon, an accountant resigned
from Temasek Holdings and was
appointed as the General Manager
of the STB. Mr Yu Pan Fey, an
accountant from the Big Four
(auditing firms) would be the
General Manager of the Bukit Turf
Club. The Senior Veterinary
Surgeon was no longer my immediate
boss as I had my performance
assessed by the Chief Stipendiary
Steward who was answerable to the
Racing Manager who reported to
another Head of Racing Department.
1988 - 1999 was a time of great
changes for the Singapore horse
racing industry and the people
involved. A newspaper report said
that the racing industry would
benefit from the progressive
management of the STB and would
turn around the decline in the
horse racing industry.
As a racehorse veterinarian
working for the last 5 years with
the horse trainers and jockeys, I
talked to them daily as I went
around treating their horses. I
could sense their hope and
aspirations for a better future
with the formation of the STB.
The trainers and jockeys are said
to be the prime movers of the
racing industry according to one
newspaper report. If the prime
movers were not
earning sufficiently from their
hard work and getting into debts
from bad horse owners who only
paid the fees when their horses
won the races, the horse
racing industry was in a bad
shape.
Therefore, they looked to the
leadership of Dr Goh Keng Swee and
his few good men and women to do
the right thing. Just as Dr Goh
had done to revamp the Ministry of
Education with his team of
analysts, as reported in the
newspapers.
What was the right thing to do to
reverse the decline in racing? The
STB's leadership had pin-pointed
the problem - a trend of decline
in racing profitability. In 1988,
almost all of the STB members had
no horse racing proficiency,
judgment or training in the
business of horse racing.
In
fact, the majority of top civil
servants and politicians (except
Mr E W Barker) did not want to be
seen inside the premises of the
Singapore Turf Club unlike in
countries like the U.K and
Australia. The
ex-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
first visited the Singapore Turf
Club officially only sometime in
1987 and that was the first time I
saw him at the Paddocks where
horses were checked prior to going
out on parade.
I was only an equine veterinary
surgeon with 5 years of employment
at the Singapore Turf Club. No
track record or qualifications in
business management. Around 8
years of veterinary service in the
Primary Production Department
dealing with pigs and chickens.
Then another 5 years dealing with
horses.
The reverse in racing decline
was a management problem. It
was not a veterinary problem
overall. It was none of my
business. I treated equine
problems, not human ones. Yet much
could be improved in the lives of
the trainers, jockeys and the
racehorses if I would not be
selfish and know what to do.
Knowing
what to do in a time of crisis and
great upheavals of the workplace
is the most
difficult thing for most people. I
could complete my last year of
employment contract as it was most
unlikely that the new management
would want to terminate my
services or the services of the
racing and betting managers. They
were well the few
good men and
women well chosen to be Dr Goh
Keng Swee's team and common sense
would dictate that you don't get
rid of the incumbents till you
know the in and out of their jobs.
It seemed to me that the decision
makers in the STB and BTC and
another lady assisting the STB
were qualified as accountants and
business management was their
forte.
So the financial ratios that the
Personnel Manager spoke to me
about made sense as accountants
are bean counters. What financial
ratios would be applicable to
monitor the performance of the
Veterinary Department of the Turf
Club? I had no clue as I had not
been interested in business
management in general and turf
club politics in particular in my
last 5 years as one of the two
Club veterinary surgeons.
Dr Goh Keng Swee's few good men and women tasked to
reverse the horse racing decline - Part 2 to be
written later and published in
Horses in July 2011.
BE KIND TO DOGS & CATS --- GET
EYE ULCERS TREATED WITHIN 4
HOURS --- IF YOU DON'T WANT
THEM TO BE BLIND.
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