Civil career In 1957, Cheng started as a veterinary officer in the
Primary Production Department (PPD). In 1961, Cheng was the acting director of the PPD when the director, Tham Ah Kow, went on leave prior to retirement. In 1962, he became the Director of the PPD until 1970. In 1971, he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of National Development. Cheng was also appointed as Deputy Chairman and Chairman of
Housing and Development Board between 1976 and 1978 and then served as the Chair of
Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) from 1978 to 1981. In 1979, Cheng was appointed Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of Culture, which oversaw Singapore’s broadcasting entity,
Radio Television Singapore. Seeing the need for reform, he started the privatisation of RTS, leading to the formation of the
Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) in February 1980. He became SBC’s first General Manager and later served as Deputy Chairman from 1980 to 1988. Under his leadership, SBC expanded its programming, particularly in Chinese-language drama, and adopted commercial broadcasting practices including licence fees and advertising.
Diplomat Cheng entered diplomatic service in 1988, when he was appointed Singapore Ambassador to Japan, with concurrent accreditation as Ambassador to South Korea from 1988 to 1990. In 1991, Singapore upgraded its diplomatic relationship with the People’s Republic of China, appointing Cheng as its first Ambassador to China, a post he held until 1998. During that posting, he helped plow the ground for bilateral cooperation, including the establishment of the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), Singapore’s first government-to-government project with China. After his appointment in Beijing, Cheng served as Ambassador-at-Large with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) until his retirement in 2004. Cheng’s public-service career spanned 47 years. == Personal life and death ==