'I neglected him when he was young': Eddie Teo on sacrificing family time for his career in Security and Intelligence Division

He may have had to give up time with family to protect our country from threats beyond our borders, but his family still loves him all the same.

Eddie Teo, a former director of Singapore's Security and Intelligence Department (SID), shared with media in an interview on Aug 13 that his position required personal sacrifices.

He referred to a private Facebook post by his son, John Teo, who wrote a tribute to his father for receiving Singapore's highest civilian honour — the Order of Temasek (With Distinction), or Darjah Utama Temasek — on Aug 9.

"I was very touched by that because I know I neglected him when he was young," Teo admitted.

"I never spent the time I should have spent with him. But that's life. You choose what you do, and you can't go back and change things, so I try to make up for it now by spending more time with family."

Referring to the award conferment as a "deeply proud moment" for the family, Teo's son said that his father has devoted his entire life to public service.

"It is gratifying to be able to spend more time with him now as he enters a different chapter in life, with time to travel, discover new places, enjoy good food, and most importantly, simply enjoy the freedom of retirement.

"This honour is a fitting recognition of a life spent in service… we are immensely proud of you, and grateful for all you have given to Singapore and to our family."

SID's longest-serving director

Teo joined the Ministry of Defence's SID in 1970, climbing up the ranks and becoming director between 1979 and 1994.

He later took up the role of permanent secretary for Defence, permanent secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, and Chairman of the Public Service Commission.

Teo retired from his post in the Public Service Commission in 2018 after close to five decades in the public service.

He also served as chairman on the Council of Presidential Advisers from 2019 to June 1, 2026.

Recalling his priorities when he joined SID, Teo shared that he had to deal with threats from Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and racial politics — the 1969 race riots were a key issue that he needed to monitor.

"Over the years, the other issue which I anticipated would grow was Islamic terrorism, and I formed a little group within SID to start looking at the issue," Teo said.

Although the department's concerns have changed through the decades, their mission remains the same: to keep policymakers well-informed, give intelligence assessments that are objective, accurate and based in facts.

Teo stressed: "We were very conscious that we must never twist or change our assessments to fit policy.

"SID is not a department that formulates policy; it feeds our policymakers objective intelligence assessments, and we will never allow intelligence to be politicised, as has happened in some other countries."

Brushing shoulders with giants

Further adding to the intriguing nature of Teo's job was the "good fortune and privilege" of joining SID during the period when the late Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Keng Swee were Singapore's political leaders.

Then Prime Minister Lee worked closely with SID, even bypassing Goh, who was Deputy Prime Minister at the time, Teo said.

"The experience of working under both these legends is something that is difficult for me to explain to you, you had to have been there."

One of the joys he had working with Lee was bringing intelligence counterparts from other countries to meet Singapore's then-PM.

"They all want to see Lee Kuan Yew," Teo said. "But it doesn't mean that everyone that says they want to see Lee Kuan Yew, I bring to see Lee Kuan Yew, because if I do that, I'll lose my job."

The late Lee was only interested in people that Singapore could educate, benefit or learn from.

Education was a key aspect of these meetings, as Lee would put forward his perspectives for these leaders, potentially inspiring change where necessary.

Being able to meet both PM Lee and DPM Goh was a privilege and inspiring, Teo said.

"That's another reason why I stayed in the civil service and never thought of quitting, despite all the sacrifices that I had to make."

Delving deeper into his experience with Lee, Teo said that the late founding father of Singapore would not sleep until 3am, even on weekends.

Teo would receive calls from Lee at midnight and recalled how he would be tasked to work on operations on Fridays or Saturdays.

"So your weekend is gone," he quipped. "Despite all that, it was worth spending all my time in the public service, not getting rich… not to gain power."

He added: "The people I worked with showed me that Singapore was in a good place because they were doing all these things not for the money, not for the power, but to enhance Singapore's well-being and to serve the people of Singapore.

"And because your bosses behave like that, you also behave like that. And I never — not one moment in my whole career — felt that I should change jobs."

Teo also spoke of the late S R Nathan, Singapore's former President who was also a director at SID before Teo.

"I had very big shoes to fill when I took over. First of all, within the organisation, I wasn't number two. I wasn't his deputy. I was about six ranks below," Teo revealed.

He shared: "S R Nathan's support was very important… apart from Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Keng Swee, I had [him] as a mentor, and I could not ask for a better mentor."

S R Nathan did not show Teo the ropes — he was expected to already know what to do as director of SID, and the two maintained a strong friendship.

"I hope that the way I ran SID was worthy of his perception of how SID should go... In SID, you may do very good work, but only your direct bosses know about it, and for a very long time, that was one mistake I made.

"I did not allow him to get the National Day Awards because I thought it was a security risk. But wiser directors who came after me changed that policy, and I'm glad that now the good officers in SID can be given National Day Awards.

"So I owe S R Nathan a lot, and I will always remember him for what he did for me."

While in SID, Teo believed that he would work in intelligence forever — after all, the job was both inspiring and fulfilling for him.

He revealed that it was only when his permanent secretary pleaded with him to accept an offer to enter administration that he decided to leave.

"Because I respected my superior, I said okay, for your sake… But I left quite reluctantly."

Weeks prior to this interview, Teo retired from his role as chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisers.

"I haven't had time to enjoy my retirement yet, but my wife knows what I should do — that is, travel with her all over the world," he laughed.

"I think I'll get very exhausted doing that, so I'm not sure what I will do if I don't travel with her.

"But you know, it's in a way it's good to feel the sense of responsibility has been lifted from my shoulders. After 56 years, I am now free."

khooyihang@asiaone.com

他或许不得不放弃与家人相处的时间来保护我们的国家免受境外威胁，但他的家人依然一如既往地爱着他。

新加坡安全与情报局（SID）前局长张志贤（Eddie Teo）在8月13日接受媒体采访时表示，他的职位需要做出个人牺牲。

他提到了儿子张约翰（John Teo）在Facebook上发表的一篇私人帖子，帖子中张约翰赞扬他的父亲于8月9日获得了新加坡最高平民荣誉——淡马锡勋章（卓越勋章），或称淡马锡至尊勋章（Darjah Utama Temasek）。

“我对此非常感动，因为我知道在他小时候我疏于照顾他，”特奥坦言。

“我从来没有花足够的时间陪伴他。但这就是人生。你选择了你的所作所为，你无法回到过去改变过去，所以我现在努力弥补，多花时间陪伴家人。”

张先生的儿子称此次颁奖是全家“无比自豪的时刻”，并表示他的父亲毕生致力于公共服务。

“现在他进入了人生的新篇章，有时间去旅行、探索新地方、享受美食，最重要的是，享受退休的自由，能够有更多的时间陪伴他，我感到非常欣慰。”

“这项荣誉是对您一生奉献的恰当认可……我们为您感到无比自豪，并感谢您为新加坡和我们家庭所做的一切。”

SID任职时间最长的董事

张于 1970 年加入国防部安全情报局 (SID)，一路晋升，并在 1979 年至 1994 年间担任局长。

他后来担任国防部常务秘书、总理办公室常务秘书和公共服务委员会主席。

张先生在公共服务委员会任职近五十年后，于 2018 年退休。

他还于 2019 年至 2026 年 6 月 1 日担任总统顾问委员会主席。

回忆起加入SID时的首要任务，张先生表示，他必须应对来自马来亚共产党（马共）的威胁和种族政治——1969年的种族骚乱是他需要密切关注的一个关键问题。

“多年来，我预料到另一个会日益严重的问题是伊斯兰恐怖主义，所以我在SID内部成立了一个小组来研究这个问题，”Teo说道。

尽管几十年来该部门关注的问题发生了变化，但其使命仍然相同：让决策者充分了解情况，提供客观、准确且基于事实的情报评估。

Teo强调：“我们非常清楚，我们绝不能为了迎合政策而扭曲或改变我们的评估结果。

“SID 不是一个制定政策的部门；它为我们的决策者提供客观的情报评估，我们绝不会允许情报政治化，就像其他一些国家发生的那样。”

与巨人擦肩而过

更增添张先生工作趣味性的是，他有幸在李光耀和吴庆瑞担任新加坡政治领导人的时期加入新加坡情报局。

张先生说，当时的总理李光耀与新加坡投资发展局密切合作，甚至绕过了当时的副总理吴作栋。

“在两位传奇人物手下工作的经历很难用语言来形容，你必须亲身经历过才行。”

与李光耀共事的一大乐趣是，他安排其他国家的情报人员与当时的新加坡总理会面。

“他们都想见李光耀，”张先生说。“但这并不意味着每个说想见李光耀的人，我都会带他们去见李光耀，因为如果我那样做，我就会丢掉工作。”

已故的李光耀先生只对那些能够教育新加坡、使新加坡受益或向其学习的人感兴趣。

教育是这些会议的一个关键方面，因为李将军会向这些领导人提出他的观点，并在必要时激发变革。

张先生表示，能够见到李显龙总理和吴作栋副总理是他的荣幸，也令人深受鼓舞。

“这也是我留在公务员队伍中，从未想过辞职的另一个原因，尽管我必须做出各种牺牲。”

张先生更深入地回忆起与李光耀先生的相处经历，他说这位已故的新加坡建国之父即使在周末也会熬到凌晨3点才睡觉。

Teo 经常在午夜接到 Lee 的电话，他回忆说自己会被安排在周五或周六参与行动。

“所以你的周末算是泡汤了，”他打趣道。“尽管如此，我还是觉得把所有时间都花在公共服务上是值得的，而不是为了发财致富……也不是为了攫取权力。”

他补充道：“与我共事的人让我明白，新加坡处于一个良好的发展阶段，因为他们所做的一切不是为了金钱，也不是为了权力，而是为了增进新加坡的福祉，为新加坡人民服务。

“因为你的老板那样做，你也会那样做。而且我从来没有——在我整个职业生涯中，哪怕一刻也没有——想过要换工作。”

张先生还提到了已故的新加坡前总统纳丹先生，纳丹先生在张先生之前也是新加坡发展局的董事。

“我接手时面临着巨大的挑战。首先，在组织内部，我不是二把手，也不是他的副手，我的级别比他低了大约六个档次，”张先生透露道。

他分享道：“Nathan 先生的支持非常重要……除了李光耀和吴庆瑞之外，他就是我的导师，我再也找不到比他更好的导师了。”

SR Nathan 并没有指导 Teo 如何开展工作——作为 SID 的主任，他理应知道该怎么做，而且两人保持着深厚的友谊。

“我希望我管理 SID 的方式符合他对 SID 应有发展方向的理解……在 SID，你可能做了很多很好的工作，但只有你的直接上司知道，而很长一段时间以来，这正是我犯的一个错误。

“我当时不允许他获得国庆奖，因为我认为这存在安全隐患。但后来的几位更有远见的董事改变了这一政策，我很高兴现在新加坡情报局的优秀官员可以获得国庆奖。”

“所以我非常感激内森神父，我会永远铭记他为我所做的一切。”

在SID工作期间，Teo认为他会永远从事情报工作——毕竟，这份工作对他来说既鼓舞人心又充满成就感。

他透露，直到他的常务秘书恳求他接受一份进入行政部门的工作，他才决定离开。

“因为我尊重我的上级，所以为了你，我答应了……但我离开时非常不舍。”

在这次采访前几周，特奥从总统顾问委员会主席的职位上退休。

“我还没来得及享受退休生活，但我妻子知道我应该做什么——那就是和她一起环游世界，”他笑着说。

“我觉得那样我会非常疲惫，所以如果我不和她一起旅行，我不知道我会做什么。”

“但你知道，从某种意义上说，感觉肩上的责任卸了下来，也挺好的。56年后，我终于自由了。”

khooyihang@asiaone.com