Jackie Chan is a man with a "big heart and a social conscience": Singapore former prime minister

Hong Kong’s most famous and controversial action star Jackie Chan is a man with a “big heart and a social conscience”, according to Singapore’s former prime minister.

Commending the martial artist for his newly minted role as the city state’s first celebrity anti-drug ambassador, Goh Chok Tong called Chan “charming and charismatic” after meeting him at the opening of a university campus on Friday.

“I like Jackie Chan not just because of his TV persona. I like him also because he has a big heart and a social conscience,” said Goh, who succeeded Lee Kuan Yew in 1990 and served 14 years as prime minster.

“He donated generously; he is an anti-drug ambassador,” Goh, 74, now a member of parliament for the Marine Parade constituency, said in a post republished on his official Facebook “fan page”, MParader.

Chan’s role as Singapore anti-drug spokesman comes just months after his son Jaycee Fong Cho-ming, 32, was sentenced to half a year in prison in mainland China for marijuana possession and "providing a shelter for others to abuse drugs".

Last week, Chan warned Singapore youths that drugs hurt “thousands and thousands of young children”, their country, and their family. Chan also told journalists that he supported the use of the death penalty for drug offences.