Next month, Permanent Secretary at the Transport Ministry Alan Chan Heng Loon replaces Tjong Yik Min in the top job.

Mr Tjong, who joined Singapore Press in 1995, previously headed Singapore's Internal Security Department, the domestic security agency.

Mr Chan is regarded as a pillar of the country's powerful establishment. He will be on unpaid leave from the civil service and report to Singapore Press executive chairman Lim Kim San.

The company controls most of the print media in Singapore, including the flagship, the Straits Times.

Two years ago the government-linked company also ventured into the broadcast arena, previously dominated by fellow government-linked company MediaCorp.

Singapore Press said Mr Tjong had resigned with immediate effect "to pursue his own interests".

Previously, Mr Chan combined his civil service career with non- executive board positions at other government-linked companies.

Between 1996 and last year he was a director at DBS Group, the government-linked financial group which recently bought Dao Heng Bank Group in Hong Kong.

Mr Chan also served for two years on the board of PSA Corp, which runs Singapore's largest container port.

Ministers have long maintained it was important for the Government to exercise indirect control over all domestic media, which is tasked with the job of "nation building".

Since the 1970s Singapore Press shares have been divided into two classes, ordinary and management. The management shares are controlled by the minister for information, who has handed most of them to banks, including DBS, and other government-linked companies.

                                                            Home