The Sunday Times (The Straits Times’ Sunday paper) today (20 Nov) published a report about a forum on the rise and future of educational philanthropy. There were several keynote speakers in the Credit Suisse Philanthropy Forum 2016 – the most important being Education Minister Ng Chee Meng.
Mr Ng said at the forum that education is a strong driver of social mobility and is critical to breaking the poverty cycle between generations. He added that a key reason why giving is important is that it supports and creates virtuous cycles in our societies, in that those who give become role models to inspire others to do the same.
The Sunday Times (ST) in reporting the forum, included a picture of the Education Minister, but it wrongly identified him as ‘Mr Tan’.
It is unclear how the editors missed this major boo-boo. Unlike the 2011 Presidential Election, there is only one Tan in the current Cabinet – Tan Chuan-Jin. Perhaps the editors confused Ng with Tan because of the topic of the forum on philanthropy and charity. Mr Tan is the Minister for Social and Family Development.