The Civil Servant in Charge of Clean and Green Singapore, Lee Ek Tieng

Lee Ek Tieng (1933–2025) was the civil servant who headed the clean-up of the Singapore River, had the foresight to modernise the sanitation system, and ensured water self-sufficiency for Singapore. Writer Samantha Boh tells us how he did it with his colleagues and earned their respect.Samantha Boh is a journalist and an author who covers the environment and science. She has written extensively on scientific breakthroughs in biomedical science, robotics, water resources, recycling, and food wastage over more than a decade. She is a co-author of The Last Fools, The Price of Being Fair and Lee Ek Tieng: The Green General of Lee Kuan Yew.What Samantha Talked About02:59 – About Lee Ek Tieng07:16 – Lee Ek Tieng’s key achievements12:31 – His personality and leadership style19:07 – Conflict with Economic Development Board during industrial pollution control and backing from Lee Kuan Yew24:01 – Building water self‑sufficiency29:20 – How NEWater got its name31:16 – What colleagues said about him35:31 – His hobbies and DIY spirit38:03 – Books by NutgrafTranscript and ResourcesRead the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-civil-servant-in-charge-of-clean-and-green-singapore-lee-ek-tieng-samantha-boh/Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.This episode of BiblioAsia Podcast was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Samantha for coming on the show.The BiblioAsia Podcast by the National Library Singapore tells stories about Singapore history.