The Unseen Singapore #4 Prominent Ibrahim Siblings

While the trio of Ng brothers dominate the military sphere in Singapore, the Ibrahim family has a huge influence within the information industry.

The most prominent of the lot is Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, a highly respected representative of the Malay Muslim community who is currently Singapore's Minister for Communication and Information.

Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim tried to persuade Singaporeans to accept his proposed internet code of conduct but met with lukewarm response. Interestingly, his sister Zuraidah Ibrahim is the Deputy Editor of The Straits Times' Political desk, churning out her objective analysis of the political situation in Singapore. Given Zuraidah's professionalism as a journalist, there is obviously no discussions about work at the Ibrahim's dinner table.

Low and behold, Yaacob and Zuraidah may be successes in their own right but they definitely cannot hold a candle to elder brother Ismail Ibrahim, Singapore's first Malay president scholar! Sad thing is, nobody knows his whereabouts now. If you do, let us and the rest of Singapore know.

The Unseen Singapore #3 Influential Ng Brothers-in-Arms

The man on the street will know all about the Lee family and its influence in Singapore. But do you know about the Ng family who is the true king maker in Singapore?

The 3 Ng brothers are respectively the Singapore Chief of Defence Force (Ng Chee Meng), Director of the Security Intelligence Division (Ng Chee Khern) and the Chief of Navy (Ng Chee Peng) at present.

This monopoly on military might and information intelligence is truly unrivalled. The Ng genetics must be awfully potent to produce 3 top generals within a household in a single generation.  

The Unseen Singapore #2 Foreign Talent Brides: The Hungarian Connection

The foreign immigration issue has been harped upon these many years and many Singaporeans have highlighted their antagonism towards our immigration policies. Everyone knows the terrible tales about China brides, Vietnamese brides and even Pinoy brides .

But do we know that our 1st Foreign Minister, the respected S. Rajaratnam had a Foreign Talent bride? The same applies to former CEO of HDB Mr. Liu Thai Ker who personally supported the communion between himself and an FT.

Both men married Foreign Talent brides and coincidentally, both spouses came from the exotic Eastern European country of Hungary! As you can see, our Singaporean men have been *hungary* for foreign spouses since the 1950s and its definitely not a recent phenomenon.

The Unseen Singapore #1 Influential Chan Siblings

Most Singaporeans know about the legendary female Ambassador to the United States Chan Heng Chee who held her own in Washington for 16 years. Chan is also famous for being a fervent critic of the Singapore government before being offered the ambassadorship in 1996.

Little do Singaporeans know that her brother Chan Heng Wing is Singapore's Ambassador to Bangladesh. What's more, Chan Heng Chee's elder brother is in fact Ala
n Chan Heng Loon, the CEO of Singapore Press Holdings! What an influential and prominent trio from the Chan family, the Chan ancestors must be smiling with glee.