On 7 January 1984, Goh Chok Tong, then-Minister for Defence and Second Minister for Health, announced that a library would be built at the School of Management of the National University of Singapore in memory of Hon Sui Sen, who served as the Minister for Finance, as well as a Member of Parliament representing the Havelock Constituency, and who had died in the previous year.

The fund's committee included Ngiam Tong Dow, who served as its chairman, as well as Parliamentary Secretary Lee Yiok Seng, Ng Choon Ser, J. Y. Pillay and Hsu Tse Kwang.

It was also estimated that the library, which would hold 50,000 to 60,000 volumes, the contents of which were to reflect Hon's interests, would cost $1 million to operate annually.

The handing over ceremony, during which Huang Hsing Hua, then the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the university, would receive the keys to the library from Tan Swan Beng, then the Director General of the Public Works Department, was scheduled for 10 January.

[11] It was officially opened on 15 January 1988 with a collection including 30,000 books and bound journals by Goh Chok Tong.