Goh Chok Tong (born 20 May 1941) is a former Singaporean politician who served as the 2nd Prime Minister of Singapore from November 1990 to August 2004 for 13 years. Goh was appointed as the next Prime Minister of Singapore after Lee Kuan Yew stepped down from position which Lee had held from June 1959 to November 1990 for 31 years. He is the only living former Prime Minister of Singapore and holds the honorary title of "Emeritus Senior Minister".
He served as the 2nd Secretary-General of the People's Action Party from November 1992 to December 2004 after 1st Secretary-General Lee Kuan Yew stepped down from position. He subsequently served as Senior Minister and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) from 2004 to 2011.[1] On 25 June 2020, it was announced that Goh would retire from politics and step down as the Member of Parliament (MP) after 44 years. He will not contest in the 2020 Singaporean general election, signalling the renewal of the leadership of the People's Action Party (PAP). [2] He was a Member of Parliament representing Marine Parade SMC for 12 years and another 32 years after it was absorbed into Marine Parade GRC. Template:Infobox Chinese
Early life[]
Goh's father was from Yongchun County, Fujian province, China, while he was born in Singapore and his family belongs to the Hokkien dialect group, now more commonly known as Minnan.[3][4] Goh studied at Raffles Institution from 1955 to 1960. He was a very competitive swimmer in his younger days and was given the nickname "Bold".
Goh earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with first class honours in economics from the University of Singapore, and a Master of Arts in development economics from Williams College in 1967. After his studies, Goh returned to Singapore to serve in the Administrative Service.[5]
Career at Neptune Orient Lines, 1969 to 1977[]
In 1969, Goh was seconded to the Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) as a Planning and Projects Manager. His career advanced quickly and by 1973, he became the Managing Director and led NOL to achieve impressive financial results during his tenure. Here Goh worked under Muhammad Jalaluddin Sayeed, with whom he maintained close ties.[6]
Early political career[]
Goh, on his first election as Member of Parliament for Marine Parade in 1976.
In the 1976 Singapore general election, at the age of 35, Goh was elected as Member of Parliament for Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency, as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate. He was appointed a Senior Minister of State for Finance. In 1981, he was promoted to Minister for Trade and Industry and later served in other appointments including Minister for Health and Minister for Defence.[7]
In 1985, Goh became the first Deputy Prime Minister and began to assume the responsibility of the government in a carefully managed leadership transition. According to Lee Kuan Yew, his preferred successor was Tony Tan; however Goh was selected by the second generation of PAP leaders that included Tony Tan, Suppiah Dhanabalan, and Ong Teng Cheong, and Lee accepted their decision.[5]
Prime Minister, 1990 to 2004[]
Goh and U.S. President George W. Bush signing the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement in the White House, 6 May 2003.
On 28 November 1990, Goh became the second Prime Minister of Singapore, taking over from Lee Kuan Yew. Lee remained an influential member of his Cabinet, holding the post of Senior Minister. The 1991 general elections, the first electoral test for Goh, led to the party winning 61% of the popular vote. In 1992, Lee Kuan Yew handed over the post of Secretary General of People's Action Party to Goh, successfully completing the leadership transition.
As Prime Minister, Goh promised a more open-minded and consultative style of leadership than that of his predecessor. This greater openness extended also to the socio-economic spheres of life, for instance, in his support for the rise of "little bohemias" in Singapore, enclaves where more creativity and entrepreneurship could thrive.[8]
His administration introduced several major policies and policy institutions, including:
- Medisave
- Non-Constituency Members of Parliament
- Government Parliamentary Committees
- Group representation constituency
- Nominated Members of Parliament
- Vehicle Quota Scheme
- Elected President
- Singapore 21
During the period under Goh's administration, Singapore experienced several crises, such as the 1997 Asian financial crisis, threats of terrorism including the 2011 Singapore embassies attack plot by Jemaah Islamiyah, the 2001-2003 economic recession, and the 2003 SARS outbreak.
As Secretary General, Goh led the PAP to three general election victories in 1991, 1997, and 2001, in which the party won 61%, 65% and 75% of the votes respectively. After the general election in 2001, Goh indicated that he would step down as Prime Minister after leading the country out of the recession.[5]
During an interview with the magazine Time in July 2003, Goh surprised his nation by announcing that his government is now openly employing gays, even in sensitive jobs, despite homosexual acts remaining illegal under Section 377A of the Penal Code (Singapore).[9] His announcement drew a strong backlash from conservatives of the island nation but nevertheless reinforced Goh's image as an open-minded leader.
Senior Minister, 2004 to 2011[]
Goh Chok Tong speaking at a rally at Potong Pasir during the 2006 general election. The banner behind him shows the campaign manifesto of the People's Action Party, "Staying Together, Moving Ahead".
On 12 August 2004, Goh stepped down as Prime Minister and began service as Senior Minister in Lee Hsien Loong's Cabinet. On 20 August 2004, Goh assumed the post of Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.[10] After a number of threats of terrorism in Singapore, Goh met local Islamic religious leaders in 2004, and made a visit to Iran, where he met Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, and visited local mosques. The Straits Times speculated that this was meant to develop relationships between Singapore and Iran.
Goh subsequently visited other Middle-Eastern countries as Senior Minister, with a view to improving diplomatic relationships and thus gaining wider business opportunities for Singaporean businessmen, especially in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait.
On 1 February 2005, Goh was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, "for eminent service to Australia/Singapore relations".[11]
On 19 May 2005, Goh signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with Israel's Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit to Israel, superseding the agreement signed in 1971. Improvements in the agreement include enhancements to the withholding tax rate on interest income, which was reduced from 15% to 7%. This would benefit Singaporean businessmen with investments in Israel and vice versa, by ensuring they are not taxed twice. Goh also discussed for an agreement to recognise each other's certification standards, so as to ease the flow of goods between the two countries.
He currently is a patron for the Institute of Policy Studies, a government think tank.
In the Singapore general election, 2006, Goh was tasked to help the PAP win back the two opposition wards of Hougang and Potong Pasir.[12] However, he was unsuccessful in this task, as Low Thia Khiang and Chiam See Tong retained their respective wards.
In 2006, Goh was briefly considered for the job of United Nations Secretary-General. The job eventually went to Ban Ki-moon.[10][13]
In 2008, Goh was invited to join the InterAction Council of Former Heads of State and Government, an independent international organisation of former world leaders.
On 24 January 2011, Goh announced that he would continue to seek re-election to Parliament at the 2011 general election. Over the following months, he progressively released snippets prior to the election on the importance of grooming a successor who could be part of the fourth generation PAP leadership to helm Marine Parade GRC in the long run.
Emeritus Senior Minister, 2011 - 2020[]
After the 2011 general election, in which the opposition made unprecedented gains by winning a group representative constituency (Aljunied), Goh and Lee Kuan Yew announced that they were retiring from the Cabinet in order to give Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the rest of his team a clean slate in which to make a fresh start in the new parliamentary term.
On 18 May 2011, Lee Hsien Loong announced that Goh was to be appointed a senior advisor to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and would be given the honorary title of "Emeritus Senior Minister".
On 24 June 2011, Goh was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government.
On 4 May 2012, Goh was appointed as Patron for Advancement of the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
On October 2014, the Madame Tussauds Singapore museum unveiled a wax figure of Goh. At its opening, Goh posed for pictures with his statue.[14]
On 23 July 2019, Goh Chok Tong had underwent angioplasty surgery at Singapore General Hospital. “On doctors’ advice, went for angioplasty on Tuesday. It is a common procedure especially for those around my age. I am now back in my office. With stronger blood flows, I expect to be better than before. Will have to cancel some events in the meantime though. Sorry for that,”. In November 2014, Goh Chok Tong had went for prostate cancer.
In an interview in 2019, Goh stated that he believed a 75% to 80% majority in Parliament, in the future, would constitute a 'strong mandate' for the Singapore government. In the same interview, he noted that he does not believe the electoral system needed any further tweaking.[15]
On 4 August 2019, Goh made a Facebook post stating that he felt saddened by how his long-time friend, former PAP politician Tan Cheng Bock, had "lost his way" by forming a new political party, Progress Singapore Party (PSP), to contest in the next general election.[16]
On 25 June 2020, Goh made a Facebook post announcing his retirement as a Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC after 44 years of service and will therefore retire from politics.[17][18]
Family[]
Template:Wikiquote Goh is married to Tan Choo Leng and they have a son and a daughter, who are twins. Their son, Goh Jin Hian, is a medical doctor at Mount Elizabeth Hospital while their daughter, Goh Jin Theng, is in London with her English husband, Lee Craven.
References[]
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- ↑ 闽籍华侨华人社团
- ↑ 吴作栋 新加坡前总理吴作栋盛赞千岛湖开元]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Mauzy, Diane K. and R.S. Milne (2002). Singapore Politics Under the People's Action Party. Routledge ISBN 0-415-24653-9
- ↑ Sayeed of Singapore, By Ardeshir Cowasjee, Dawn newspaper, 25 September 2005
- ↑ Goh Chok Tong, Cabinet of Singapore
- ↑ Quoted in "Singapore can become an entrepreneurial society" by Eugene Low, The Business Times, 19 August 2002, and analysed in Brand Singapore: How Nation Branding Built Asia's Leading Global City by Koh Buck Song, Marshall Cavendish 2011, page 160.
- ↑ Singapore letting gays halfway out of the closet
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 [1]
- ↑ It's an Honour: AC
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Bibliography[]
- Impressions of the Goh Chok Tong Years in Singapore by Bridget Welsh, James Chin, Arun Mahizhnan and Tan Tarn How (Editors), Singapore: NUS Press, 2009.
- Brand Singapore: How Nation Branding Built Asia's Leading Global City by Koh, Buck Song. Marshall Cavendish, Singapore, 2011. [[]].
- Article on civil society in the Goh Chok Tong era - "What plants will grow under the tembusu tree?" by Koh Buck Song, The Straits Times 9 May 1998.
External links[]
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