Goh Chok Tong

Goh Chok Tong (born 20 May 1941) is a Singaporean former politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Singapore from 1990 to 2004, and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party from 1992 to 2004.

Goh was born in Singapore on 20 May 1941 to Goh Kah Choon and Quah Kwee Hwa, who hailed from the Minnan region of Fujian province in China.

He has Chinese Hokkien ancestry.

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 completed a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours degree in economics at the University of Singapore, and a Master of Arts degree in development economics at Williams College in 1967.

Upon his graduation, Goh returned to Singapore to work in the government.

Goh's dream of getting a PhD was disrupted as the government would not transfer his bursary bond to the university, where he had signed on as a research fellow after graduation.

In 1969, Goh was seconded to the national shipping company Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) as the company's Planning and Projects Manager.

His career advanced quickly and by 1973 he was the Managing Director.

At NOL, Goh worked under the company's founder, Muhammad Jalaluddin Sayeed, with whom he maintained close ties.

He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Marine Parade SMC from 1976 to 1988, and Marine Parade GRC from 1988 to 2020.

Prior to his appointment as prime minister, he was the country's deputy prime minister, where he advocated for the Medisave, a scheme that allows Singaporeans to set aside part of their income into a Medisave account to meet future medical expenses.

Goh also advocated for the Edusave Awards, a monetary reward for students who did well in school based on either their academic achievements or character, to enshrine meritocracy.

During his tenure as prime minister, political reforms like the introduction of Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMP), to allow more oppositions into Parliament, Group Representation Constituency (GRC), to make sure that the minorities are represented in Parliament and Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP), to have independent opinions in Parliament since all NMPs are non-partisan, were also proposed by Goh when he was serving as Deputy Prime Minister after assuming the responsibility of the government in a carefully managed leadership transition.

In the 1976 general election, Goh, then 35, was elected as Member of Parliament for Marine Parade SMC as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate.

He was appointed as a Senior Minister of State.

Despite having been passed as first assistant secretary-general by Tony Tan, Goh was surprisedly asked by Lee Kuan Yew to lead and organise the by-election, which was ostensibly because of Goh previous successful campaigns in organising the 1979 by-election at Anson SMC and the 1980 General Elections.

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.

Goh was tasked to organise the 1981 Anson SMC by-election which was a pivotal event in shaping his political sensibilities.

Early on in the campaigning for the 1981 Anson SMC by-election, a chasm of leadership emerged as volunteers and older activists for the previous MP Devan Nair departed along with the MP.

The new PAP candidate was Pang Kim Hin, who has difficulties connecting to the ground as he had a reputation of being a "rich man's son", being the nephew of Old Guard minister Lim Kan San.

Despite being a three-cornered fight, it was apparent that the main opposition candidate was J. B. Jeyaretnam, who was a veteran opposition at the time, having previously came close in winning the seat at Telok Blangah Constituency, which is of close proximity to Anson.

The rising costs of housing and upcoming public bus fares was a source of unhappiness among voters.

PAP lost the Anson seat with a 37-point swing in just 10 months since the last General Election, marking the first time since Independence that PAP has lost a seat.

This watershed event prompted gossip with the PAP that this could signal the end of Goh's political career.

While Lee Kuan Yew was worried that Goh may lack the political sensitivity of the ground, as he failed to detect the possible loss of the seat and remained overconfident until very close to Polling day, he did not blame Goh for the loss, as he reflects this incident in his memoir: From Third World to First.

In 1985, Goh became 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 and Ong Teng Cheong; Lee accepted their decision.

However, during the 1988 National Day Rally, Lee Kuan Yew publicly discussed his preferred choice of successor to the nation – ranking Goh as number 2 below Tony Tan, and while praising his 'faster mind', criticized his indecisiveness and softer and consultative approach to leadership.

This led to Goh feeling humiliated and flabbergasted, as he reflects on this incident in his memoirs, Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story.

On 28 November 1990, Goh succeeded Lee Kuan Yew and became the second Prime Minister of Singapore.

During the first year of Goh's premiership, Lee remained as secretary-general of the PAP.

Goh enacted the Elected President scheme in 1991 as presidents before were appointed by Parliament.

He is also introduced the Vehicle Quota Scheme to limit the number of vehicles in the city-state.

On 12 August 2004, Goh was succeeded by Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, and was subsequently appointed as a senior minister in the Cabinet and chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) between 2004 and 2011.

He resigned from the Cabinet in 2011 before stepping down as a Member of Parliament (MP) and retired from politics in 2020.

He was given the honorary title Emeritus Senior Minister in 2011 by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

In 2015, Goh was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by his alma mater, the National University of Singapore, for his contributions to the country.