Patrick Tan and the Two Lees

When Patrick Tan sits at his desk in his 24^th floor corner office overlooking Keppel Harbour, hanging on the wall directly in front of him is a black-and-white portrait of Bruce Lee. He is in his iconic pose – fists tightly clenched, muscles tense, ready to do battle. His expression is one of intensity and fearlessness.

Sitting prominently upright behind Patrick, in his bookcase, is the memoir of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew – that hardcover autobiographical tome written by the man whose vision, political acuity and tenacity resulted in the economic lifeblood gushing through the shipyard 24 stories below.

You can tell a man by the friends he keeps. But an even more accurate barometer of character perhaps, is the role models he aspires to. To understand the JNP mindset of service, professionalism and loyalty to the nation, one must understand Patrick Tan. And to access the mind of Patrick Tan, one finds a key in the subjects of the portrait and the book that feature prominently in his office – and in his life.

It is easy to see in Patrick pronounced shades of the two Lees. Their shared qualities of personal discipline, obsessive pursuit of excellence and order, fearlessness and iron will, are evident. But we who know about the famous from books and films must be careful to distinguish the legend from the man. And that is where Patrick and his role models part ways.

In Patrick, the line between persona and personality is blurred, almost non-existent. With him, what you see, is in essence, what you get. There is a homogeneity of values between his professional and personal affairs. He wears no hats, no masks and no costumes. He has in fact succeeded in blending his public and private lives into a single, singular life. He often remarks that he likes his life to be colourful – and indeed it is. But his are colours brilliant, vibrant and rich that exist on a single palette. And Patrick the artist applies them generously onto the canvas of the lives of the people around him as well.

He shows himself to the world – the good and the great, the lowly and the humble – as he is, and as how he would like to be. He does not discriminate between title or standing; it is the basic humanity in the people around him pulls him to them – and them to him. From the multi-millionaires who are his colleagues, to the street sweeper, he regards them as the same children of God that they are. He is but their brother. And he is his brothers’ keeper.

Patrick is, in a phrase, a man of complex simplicity. But, as he also likes to say, there is no secret to his success or character. He has merely done what he believes he should be doing. “My life is about myself for others,” is one of his dictums. The difference between him and most is that he has chosen to do everything to the best of his ability and then some. And that is where his path re-converges with that of his role models.