Harnessed to a paraglider, he soared with the wind.

'The hardest part is jumping off the cliff. Once you manage to do that, it's about catching the upwind. Then it becomes really thrilling,' says Mr Lee, now 57, of his experience in 2000.

When he rang home to tell his family members and said he wanted to try bungee jumping next, they coaxed him out of it, not wanting him to take the risk. He never did that bungee jump.

Mr Lee's point: 'Sometimes, it's better to just jump off the cliff and not think and evaluate too much. If our instinct and judgement tell us it's the right thing to do, just do it and make it work!'

He related this story over lunch at the historic Singapore Cricket Club, to illustrate why the EDB Society - of which he is president - wants to put together a seminar series featuring Singapore's pioneers.

The idea is to capture for today's generation what it was like for the founding generation to, in a sense, jump off a cliff.

Says Mr Lee: 'What strikes me about Singapore's pioneers is how they ventured into the unknown based on gut feel and good judgement. Today, Singapore is very good at perfecting the known. But our pioneers could operate in the unknown and make it work.'

'How did they do it? Are there lessons we can learn? As Singapore is moving from an industrial phase of development to one based on innovation, those entrepreneurial traits become important again, because we are once again operating in unchartered waters.'

Mr Lee, who is also chief executive officer of the National Arts Council, added that there was a 'time window of opportunity' to capture the stories of the pioneering generation.

Together with The Straits Times, the EDB Society is organising a series of seminars with Singapore's economic and policy pioneers.

Titled Pioneers: Inside Stories, the series kicks off with a session with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Aug 6 at the Arts House.

The event is open to members of the EDB Society - consisting mainly of former staff and board members of the Economic Development Board. Some seats are available to members of the public.

There are also plans for an interview and book series on the pioneers featured.

Straits Times editor Han Fook Kwang explained why the newspaper agreed to be involved when approached: 'We want our readers to hear first-hand from these pioneers their stories on what they did to make this place what it is today.'

The seminar series will be held once in two months and will feature former Cabinet minister S. Dhanabalan, former civil servants JY Pillay and Sim Kee Boon, and former EDB chairmen Ngiam Tong Dow and Philip Yeo.

'Later sessions will include pioneers in our public housing programme, the transformation of Singapore's urban landscape, stories behind our manpower and education strategies and similar tranformational initiatives,' said Ms Norma Sit, EDB Society secretary.

A website on the project has been set up on the Straits Times website at www.straitstimes.com/pioneers.

Singaporeans are invited to send questions or comments to the speakers to be featured. Also wanted are their memories or photographs with these pioneering figures or the places they are associated with. They can send these to stpioneers@sph.com.sg.

Executive content producer Clarence Chang said: 'We are glad to do our part to put the entire seminar series online in video format, including reactions and views and photos from the audience or the man on the street. Call it National Education meets YouTube - Singapore style.'

muihoong@sph.com.sg