SINGAPORE - Transport operator SBS Transit will not embark on "a global search" to find a new chief executive, says its chairman Lim Jit Poh.

Responding to a query from The Straits Times on Wednesday (Feb 13), Mr Lim, who is also chairman of SBST's parent ComfortDelGro Corp, said: "SBS Transit is a local company, we don't need to go on a global search."

The bus and rail operator's previous CEO Gan Juay Kiat quit in December over extramarital affairs involving one or more subordinates.

ComfortDelGro chief executive Yang Ban Seng has since been appointed to helm the subsidary while the group identifies and grooms a new CEO.

Asked if the eventual successor might be a military general, Mr Lim did not rule out the possibility outright. "Look at it this way, a large pool of scholars are from Mindef. Some of them will join private businesses, and if they like it, they stay."

Two other transport operators recently named former generals as top leaders.

Last August, former chief of defence force Neo Kian Hong replaced Mr Desmond Kuek - also a former chief of defence force - to helm rail operator SMRT Corp. SMRT said Mr Neo was picked after a global search.

Last month, bus operator Tower Transit Singapore picked former brigadier-general Winston Toh to be its new managing director. He replaced Mr Andrew Bujtor, who left the company in September 2018.