[“I never thought one day I would be FAS president”: Up Close with Lim Kia Tong
You know all about Lim Kia Tong the public figure… What about him the person? Junpiter Futbol (JPF) sat down for an exclusive interview with the head honcho of Singapore football to delve deeper into his psyche…
As JPF reaches his office (Hin Tat Augustine & Partners) at the scheduled meeting time of 7pm, Lim Kia Tong is already seated at the reception area waiting for us.
Being someone who wear many hats – a criminal lawyer, president of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) as well as various involvements in football at the world, confederation and regional level – Lim places a strong emphasis on readiness and getting the little details right.
He prepares for every setting in which he is required to speak – be it in court, as a guest-of-honour at a local football event or representing Singapore at the FIFA, AFC or AFF Congress. And to JPF’s surprise, he mentioned that he even tried to prepare for this interview and read up for extra information in order to value-add.
It turned out to be an enriching session that took over two hours in which he let loose unusually on various topics – a far cry from his guarded public persona. Over the course, he tries to be as transparent and open as possible about his work, life, family and values.
Transparency is an ethic which he has adopted over the five years since he officially took over as the provisional president and thereafter the elected president of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) on 28th April 2017. Previous gaps in governance have been plugged and the national governing body now focuses on the spirit of inclusiveness to include all stakeholders, whenever permissible.
“I know for sure, transparency cannot merely be confined to ourselves and we must be seen to be transparent by our football fraternity,” he told JPF. “Whatever we’re doing is towards trying to share as much as possible with them.
“For example if the FAS need to make a decision, all the council members should participate and be]