Where did you grow up?

The East Coast.

I was born on 18 November 1965.

I’ve always been an East Coast boy. I’ve got email addresses such as katongkid at yahoo.com, at gmail.com, at hotmail.com etc.

Which part of East Coast?

I was born in an apartment above a tyre shop at the corner of Nallur Road and East Coast Road. I think it’s still there. Opposite the tyre shop was a bakery.

At the end of Nallur Road was the beach. Many people don’t know this: if you go to the end of Nallur Road at the intersection of Marine Parade Road, you will see the old seawall on the right side of the road.

If you tell people you live in Nallur Road, they’ll say, “Wow, rich”.

Ours was a rental. But all the houses there were huge villas. The whole road, left and right, all the way to the beach were all villas.

Then my family moved to Changi for a while. Do you remember Somapah? Jalan Pergam? We were there.

Somapah is where SUTD (Singapore University of Technology and Design) is now.

Is it now? Back then, it was a kampong.

So, always east coast, Changi.

We went to Changi Beach a lot.

And then your family moved again?

Yes. I grew up mostly at Neptune Court and Tembeling Road.

What did your father do?

My dad worked for the government. He was a social worker who rose through the ranks to become a respected and influential figure in the Singapore social services scene.

My mom was a school teacher.

Where did she teach?

She had a long stint at Tanjong Katong Girls’ School. And then for a while, she was at Tampines Secondary School. After retirement she was a school counsellor at St. Stephen’s Primary. Everyone called her Mrs Veloo.

She taught English and history.

If I remember correctly, your father was a musician.

Yes, my dad was a Renaissance man. He played the Carnatic violin, a violin adapted for the use in Carnatic music, a South Indian classical music tradition. He was also a well known cha cha dancer and gave dance performances.

He was also a sportsman. He was a hardcore RI (Raffles Institution) boy and was disappointed that his three sons didn’t go to RI.

Were your parents born in Singapore?

Both my parents were from Malaysia.

My dad was from Penang. My mom was from Ipoh.

They met in University of Malaya (Singapore). My mom came to study at UM in the Bukit Timah campus.

She stayed in Eusoff College and was one of the first residents. It was an all girls hall back then.

My dad stayed at Raffles Hall which was on the other side of Dunearn Road.

They must be very smart.

I don’t know what is very smart, but I guess at that time, in the 60s, if you went to university, it was a big deal.

So your dad came here for secondary school?

He was very young when his father passed away and his mom brought the whole family to Singapore to live with relatives. They lived in Katong, in Ceylon Road, during the Japanese occupation.

He went to Telok Kurau Primary and then RI, the same schools as Lee Kuan Yew. We always joked about that.

Was he a self-taught musician?

I’m not very sure about that but he was a pretty accomplished Carnatic violinist.

I believe he played at temples.

Growing up, our home was always filled with music. My dad loved the crooners — Perry Como, Andy Williams, Dean Martin — but he also played Malay and Indonesian artistes, a genre I still have a soft spot for today. And in the mix, there was always the sound of Indian classical music drifting through the house.

He passed away in 2018.

What about your mom? Does she live with you?

No. She is very independent and lives on her own in Bedok.

Do you identify yourself as middle class?

I never thought about identifying myself as anything, but since you asked, I wouldn’t say middle class.

Comfortable?

Not uncomfortable.

What about your siblings?

I’ve got two younger brothers.

Ramesh is a pilot with Singapore Airlines (SQ). He is a captain and flies the A380. He’s three years younger than me, born in 1968.

My youngest brother, Sanny, was born in 1976. He lives in Australia now. Sanny is the only one who followed his passion and became a musician. I respect that a lot.

We all went to St. Stephen’s and St. Patrick’s.

I read about his band, Boredphucks. Why was it banned then?

Back then, the Boredphucks would slip Hokkien swear words into their songs on stage. Sure, it caused a stir, but come on, it was hilarious. Sanny’s a bit of a legend in Singapore’s rock scene, the kind of cheeky character who’s always testing the limits and getting away with it.

What kind of student were you?

I was a very good student. I was always the top boy in St. Stephen’s and also in St. Pat’s.

Why St. Pat’s?

Because if you’re in St. Stephen’s, you go to St. Pat’s. All of my classmates in primary school went to St. Pat’s. It was the thing to do.

Why always east coast?

Because my dad was from the east coast. He grew up in Katong. He was a Katong Kid before me.

Back then government servants were not paid a lot so we always rented.

We also lived in Changi and then Chai Chee for a while, but always renting.

I think the first place that we bought was Neptune Court.

Neptune Court was developed by the Ministry of Finance for public officers and civil servants.

Back then, St. Pat’s was a not-so-great school.

Reasonable.

My batch actually has a lot of very well-known people. A lot of us have done very well in our careers.

I think it started changing around our time. Before us, it was your typical neighbourhood school.

Later, Katong and Siglap started changing. The mixture of people in Singapore, the demographic, slowly started changing. The real estate got expensive.

Slowly. After Neptune Court came Laguna Park, then Mandarin Gardens, and then Bayshore Park.

Marine Parade was very pricey back then and it still is.

So is it true that all St. Pat’s boys have to marry Katong Convent girl?

Mostly true. Many of the girls I dated were from Katong Convent. Or we would call them KC girls.

Back then, of course, after St. Pat’s, everyone went to Temasek JC.

Victoria JC wasn’t built yet.

So you were always among the top students? Hardworking or just smart?

I was always among the top students, but I kind of rebelled in Secondary 4 because there were many expectations of me. I didn’t do as well in my O-levels but I got into Temasek.

And in Temasek, I never studied.

I hung out with this group who played carrom and skipped classes all the time.

It was a sudden change from being the top student to someone who couldn’t be bothered with studying.

I repeated a year in Temasek.

You were distracted?

I always wondered what happened during those JC years. I suppose I was changing as a person.

Naturally. But still, you did well enough.

I did well enough.

It wasn’t straight As like I always used to get.

What about ECA? Were you a sportsman?

No, I was never a sportsman. I was always in music and drama. Primary school, secondary school, always in music and drama. Either acting in plays, or in a band singing.

Were people surprised that you did not pursue the artistic route?

Yes, it was surprising.

I don’t know why I ended up in science. I probably should have gone into the arts. Maybe it was because I was in science in St. Pat’s.

Back then, if you don’t do science, that means you cannot make it.

Exactly. All the top students were pushed into the science classes.

I think if I had gone into the arts, I would have had a different life. Probably ended up as a lawyer.

Are you close to your brothers?

I would not say super close, but close enough.

Tell me about Ramesh.

He studied science in CJC and did very well. He was their top rugby player.

He was also in the commandos and then he went to the US to study.

He got into a masters programme in Arizona. It was going to start in six months and he had nothing to do. So he came back to Singapore for a break.

He saw an ad in the newspaper recruiting pilots for SQ and he applied. And the rest is history.

What about your NS?

After Temasek, I did NS as a police inspector.

I enjoyed my time in the Singapore Police Force.

I learned a lot and I was exposed to aspects of Singapore that people are not usually exposed to.

Was it because you grew up slightly more privileged?

I won’t say I was privileged. We lived in Neptune Court and my parents were in the government service.

What I was exposed to was eye-opening.

We raided illegal gambling dens and lounges. I came across the bodies of people who died in traffic accidents and by suicide. I saw real poverty — like 10 people living in a one-room flat.

I remember thinking, “Wow, this actually happens in Singapore.”

Maybe it was ignorance on my part, but I was not exposed to it before.

I know what you mean. I often feel guilty about being disconnected too. But it is also not something we are always comfortable to talk about.

I agree and I just feel sorry. Singapore is getting very expensive.

But it wasn’t enough to make you want to sign on with the police force?

No. So, after NS, I went to NUS.

I was in NUS engineering for a year. I never studied.

Again, I was distracted.

I stayed in Kent Ridge Hall. Staying in the halls was a lot of fun. I made a lot of very close friends.

Of course I did really badly. My results were terrible because I never studied.

No choice. I must go overseas.

Good thing your family could afford it.

Yes, my parents prioritised education, and all three sons studied abroad.

My dad ended up being quite senior in the government and he used his CPF savings to fund our education.

He was in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development.

He helped a lot of people during his career and is known as one of the pioneers of social work in Singapore.

We were not living in a big house or anything.

My mom did okay too. If you were a graduate teacher in Singapore then, you would be making good money.

Who decided on Indiana University (IU)? You or your parents?

I think we went to some university placement people. You pay them like $500 and they would advise you on how to go about applying and where to apply to.

Back then, there were a lot of Singaporeans in IU.

Also, the Midwest was a little bit safer and cheaper than going to the West or East Coast.

Four years? Three years?

Three and a half years. I excelled.

I did very well.

And what did you study?

Info science.

This is funny because I went there not knowing what to study.

I did very well in my studies there because I told myself, “Better study this time”.

I also wanted to make money to reduce the financial burden on my family.

I tried being a waiter and I hated it.

In my second year at Indiana, I ended up being the computer guy in the computer lab and was making good money.

I was the guy helping everyone with their computer problems.

I could do my homework while I was on duty in the lab.

The business school there was famous so I ended up doing computer science and a business degree.

You were good at maths and all?

I guess I was okay at maths.

Computer science back then was all about programming. It was also not the most popular course compared to now.

And that was when the Internet age was about to start?

I sent my first email in 1989. It was all text – no images.

Indiana invested a lot into its computer equipment and we always had the latest computers.

I remember using the Mosaic browser in 1993.

Did you enjoy Indiana?

I really enjoyed myself. Met a lot of people from all over the world.

Got exposed to a lot of things.

There was a huge Singaporean community and when you have a big community from the same country, you tend to hang out with them.

Did you?

In a way, I did. It was fine because there was always Singapore food, and food always brings Singaporeans overseas together.

Of course I also hung out with a lot of Americans.

Did you travel a lot when you were a student?

Yes, we travelled quite a bit.

We drove all over the US. And I really enjoyed it. I fell in love with the country and the culture.

We went to Chicago a lot because Chicago had good Indian food.

I know it sounds cliché, but I loved the sense of freedom.

Your parents could have sent you to Notre Dame?

No, Notre Dame is too expensive.

Were you trying to graduate as soon as possible?

No. I didn’t want to graduate because I really enjoyed going to school.

I could see myself becoming a graduate student. I enjoyed the academic life. I would have loved to stay on. Campus life is the best.

Especially in the Midwest, you experience all four seasons. The Indiana campus is beautiful and is surrounded by nature.

What did you do after university?

I did quite well in my studies so I had a lot of job offers in the US.

They were from consulting firms, IT companies and investment banks.

If I had taken the investment banking jobs, I would probably have ended up in New York, and my life would have been so different.

I had consulting job offers in Chicago as well as in Cincinnati.

I accepted a job at a small company in San Francisco called Ingersoll Rand-Schlage.

That happened because a Singaporean who was working there knew me from Indiana.

Was this guy older?

He was older than me.

He did his master’s. He knew me because I was the president of the Singapore Society at Indiana.

And guess what? Guess who lived in Bloomington, Indiana?

Our ex-President Devan Nair. I actually invited him as a guest of honour, when we had our annual Singapore dinner and dance event.

Did you know him personally?

I knew his son, but I can’t remember his name now.

Wow, such a small world.

SR Nathan, another of our former presidents, visited Mr Nair in Bloomington when he was the US Ambassador.

My dad and Mr Nathan worked together in the government. He knew my dad very well.

He attended my wedding with his wife.

Let’s go back to your job hunt.

I got the job in San Francisco. They flew me out there, wined and dined me.

I took a day off and walked around San Francisco and the city sold itself to me. It was a no-brainer.

Schlage is a well known lockmaker. It was embarking on a business process reengineering (BPR) project, moving from mainframes to the latest technology.

BPR was the ‘thing’ back then and I was lucky to get exposed to it right out of university.

I worked as an application programmer, developing what was then the latest in enterprise software.

So you moved to San Francisco?

I rented a U-Haul and I towed my car. I drove from Indiana all the way to San Francisco.

People were advising me not to stay in San Francisco itself but I wanted to live downtown, in the city.

I found a place in North Beach that was a 10-minute walk from Fisherman’s Wharf.

How long did you stay in the job?

Not very long.

But I stayed in San Francisco for about 12 years.

I was lucky because that was the beginning of the dot-com boom.

I joined Cisco. After Cisco, I did consulting work for a bunch of startups.

In the ’90s, San Francisco was at the heart of the tech renaissance, and I was fortunate to be right there – seeing new ideas emerge, watching technologies evolve, and staying close to the trends that were shaping the future.

I noticed that in your resume, you moved from tech to sales and back to tech.

Yeah, that’s when I came back to Singapore.

But first let me tell you more about my San Francisco story.

Okay go ahead.

I’ve always loved music. And one of the reasons I wanted to live in the city was the big music scene there.

There were concerts and parties, and I was very attracted to that.

I found myself at a lot of these late-night underground parties.

I met the guys who were organizing these mega dance festivals for 20,000 to 30,000 people.

A lot of these parties were held in empty warehouses in Oakland.

I ended up joining these guys. We were called Funky Tekno Tribe or FTT. We were a collective of DJs, producers, artists and dancers.

What was your role?

I was a promoter. It had nothing to do with IT but everything to do with producing these events – from curating the music and DJs to the decor and atmosphere.

You had a day job and then this side gig?

Yeah, it all happened at night.

We became so well-known across the US that up-and-coming acts would come to us, asking if we could put on their shows in San Francisco.

Looking back, it was such a magical time, being right in the heart of the West Coast underground scene in the ’90s.

We threw these unforgettable, high-energy parties where techno, house, drum & bass and every other beat found a home under the same roof.

I still smile thinking about it – this kid from Katong, halfway across the world, somehow helping shape a piece of dance music history.

I worked with icons like Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx, and played a part in jumpstarting San Francisco’s drum & bass scene, bringing in LTJ Bukem, Goldie and the Metalheadz crew, Talvin Singh, Roni Size Reprazent … the list goes on.

Those nights were electric, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

How did you return to Singapore eventually?

I met my wife-to-be in San Francisco. Both of us had been in the US for more than a decade and we were ready for change.

Where is she from?

She’s from Stockholm, Sweden

I met her through mutual friends.

And you got married?

We got married in Singapore in 2002.

And you have two boys?

That’s right. They are 11. Twins.

You became a dad when you were 48?

We had been trying for a long time and ended up doing IVF.

Do you worry that you won’t be around when they grow up?

A little bit concerned. I need to make sure that I stay healthy.

What brought you back to Singapore?

I didn’t really want to come back to Singapore.

In 2002, we decided we wanted to travel and live in different parts of the world.

Oracle made me a really good offer to move back to Singapore.

My wife was curious about Singapore. So we decided to try for one or two years.

We are still here in 2025.

Given your credentials, you could work and live anywhere in the world.

Yes, I could if I wanted to. We thought of moving to Europe but eventually decided to stay. We do visit Sweden every year during the summer months.

I won’t want to live there though.

It is freaking expensive.

Still cheaper than Singapore.

The work life balance would be better there?

Yes, summers are glorious but the winters there are brutal.

Does your wife like Singapore?

She loves Singapore.

She has actually spent more time living outside Sweden than in Sweden.

Marriage is already difficult but you’re in a bicultural marriage. How do you manage?

In the end, people are all the same. It’s all about communication. She is my better half. She and our kids are the best things to ever happen to me.

Are your kids more Singaporean?

They grew up here and they go to local school. They identify themselves as Singaporean. They will have to serve NS.

They are tri-lingual. My wife speaks to them in Swedish, and they study Mandarin at school.

Back to Oracle.

I came back and worked at Oracle. I did pretty well and ran one of their Asia Pacific teams.

My specialty is running technical teams for technology companies. That’s what I’ve been doing the whole time.

I travel quite a bit for my job.

I’ve run both Asia Pacific and global teams.

Even now?

Now I’ve got a slightly different role.

You’re Chief Technology Officer of F5, a US-based company?

Now, I’m a technology evangelist. So I evangelise solutions. I meet customers. I work with them on technology solutions for their business challenges. I speak at public events and I write about technology.

Describe in a very short sentence what kind of company is F5.

F5 makes applications faster, safer and more reliable by managing the flow of traffic between users and apps, ensuring they work securely anytime, anywhere.

We deal with the technology infrastructure that underpins all networks including the Internet.

When we talk about your concerns for your children, what in particular are you worried about?

When I think about my children’s future, my biggest hope is that they live lives they’re truly happy with, that they feel at peace with their choices, whether in their careers, studies or passions.

I never want them to feel boxed in or pushed into a path they didn’t choose for themselves, whether it’s a partner, a profession, a course of study or a sport.

I can’t help worrying about the world they’ll inherit.

It’s going to be very different from the one we grew up in. In Singapore, we’ve been sheltered from many of the hardships our neighbours have faced, and we’ve been able to thrive under the global order shaped by the US after World War II.

That stability gave us opportunities we sometimes take for granted but it’s shifting now, possibly even disappearing.

What keeps me up at night is wondering what skills and mindset my kids will need to succeed in this new, more uncertain world.

It’s not just about technical knowledge or academic achievements anymore.

It’s about adaptability, resilience, empathy, and the ability to navigate complexities, because the rules of the game are changing, and they’ll need to be ready for that.

Are you still living in the East Coast area?

No, I’m not. We live in the Holland Road area.

Music aside, how do you relax?

I walk every day. I work out in the gym. I read. I do gardening. And of course I listen to music.

Tell me about Audio Exotics.

It’s where my love for music and curating events come together.

All the audio equipment here is state of the art and available for sale, but what sets me apart is the experience: I don’t just sell gear, I offer an unforgettable auditory journey, set in a beautifully designed environment, surrounded by original artworks.

It’s not just a showroom, it’s a sanctuary for music lovers.

For me, this is more than a business. It’s a way to turn my passion into something sustainable.

One day, I’ll probably be doing this full-time.

When is retirement?

I don’t think I’ll ever retire. It’s not in my vocabulary.

I love what I do with technology and I’m very good at what I do.

I also love music and what Audio Exotics is becoming. We are globally known for what we do.

I would probably do both for sometime.

What is the biggest setback so far in your 60 years of existence?

Because we had wild success with FTT in San Francisco, I felt that I could have pursued the music industry full-time instead of my tech-related job.

We had plans to open a record label, run national tours and to start a DJ agency.

But in retrospect, it was never going to be easy.

As I’ve gotten older – and with kids in the mix — I’m not as plugged into the scene as I used to be. But I still feel like I have a good sense of what’s going on in music and culture.

It’s still there, that instinct. It just takes a bit more time and effort now, and honestly, I don’t always have that to spare.

But when I do tune in, it keeps me curious and connected. It’s a reminder that the world’s always moving.

For me, it’s not about chasing trends. It’s about staying open to what’s changing around me.

But how is that a setback?

It’s not a setback. Maybe just a detour. I mean, my FTT business partners are still doing it. We celebrated our 30th anniversary last year in San Francisco. A huge crowd turned up.

Now I’m putting what I’ve learnt into Audio Exotics.

We are now 60 and we are as old as our country. How are you similar to Singapore?

Singapore has done very well for itself.

So have you.

I have this huge appetite for learning and always jumping into new things like starting Audio Exotics.

That’s one thing I have learned from Singapore.

Forever learning, forever pushing for the best, for excellence. And not settling for anything less.

So what kind of Singaporean are you?

I am a product of Singapore, shaped by a place that always looks forward.

I’ve always had this inner drive. Not because things aren’t good, but because I believe they can always be better.

For me, “enough” just means it’s time for the next step. I enjoy the process of growing, learning, and improving.

It’s simply how I see the world.

So being kiasu is not a bad thing.

Kiasu may not be a bad thing. But kiasu is “cannot lose”, so maybe we are not talking about “cannot lose”.

It’s more like “don’t settle”. The belief that we can always do better.

Do you attach any significance to being the same age as Singapore?

Not really.

But I think all of us are amazed at how well Singapore has done.

Singapore has a strong global brand. When you say you’re from Singapore, it carries weight. It means something to people around the world. There’s a lot we can learn from what we’ve built here.

That said, no system is perfect. Having led global teams, I’ve witnessed firsthand the hunger and resilience of people from different countries. I’ve also seen some of the limitations we face in Singapore.

If we’re not willing to adapt, we risk falling behind. Change is constant and embracing it is essential.

One concern I have is that we may be over-protecting our people. In trying to shield Singaporeans, we are holding them back. It’s probably well intentioned on the part of our government.

But it might do more harm than good in the long run.