Goh Chok Tong: Singapore's Mr. Nice Guy

Following Lee Kuan Yew was an unenviable task, especially when Singapore’s first prime minister preferred the accomplished Tony Tan as his successor, then his own son. Yet, perhaps because he was so different from LKY, Mr. Goh Chok Tong succeeded. Whereas LKY was physically unimposing, Goh towers over everyone at 6 foot 3 inches; whereas LKY loved the spotlight, Goh seems fine with or without it; whereas LKY was brash, Goh is the picture of calm and measured.

I first met Mr. Goh at the LKY School of Public Policy, where an American-based professor of Chinese descent lectured. One of the professor’s slides had a term offensive to Muslims but to not most Christians. No one said anything, but Mr. Goh, seated front and center, turned to the most senior professor present and stared at him pointedly for several seconds. The professor knew he was being stared down but did not turn his face. All was normal after some time, but Mr. Goh had made his point. For someone claiming not to be a natural public speaker, Mr. Goh proved that sometimes, one need not say anything to reveal one’s character.

After the lecture, I read Shing Huei Peh's Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story, Volume 1 (2018). Incredibly, Goh’s life is even more improbable than LKY’s. Mr. Goh was a mild-mannered economist who rose to prominence by making a private sector corporation more efficient then applying similar strategies to Singapore’s healthcare system. During his tenure as PM, he faced external interference within Singapore, leading to Operation Spectrum and the Hendrickson Affair. Though the United States now considers Singapore one of the world’s most secure destinations for investment, it once disdained Singapore’s de facto one-party system: 

“We had a deep suspicion of one man, one vote. Democracy favours the man with the most persuasive tongue, with the most populist policies… They [the United States] did not like the fact that the PAP [Singapore’s founding political party] was totally dominant. It was not democratic by their definition. Democracy [to Americans] means there must be another party, there must be a change in government every four, eight, or 12 years.” 

Throughout the book, Mr. Goh laments the PAP’s rare losses in Potong Pasir, Hougang, Anson, and Aljunied GRC. Before data science and technology became advanced, elections were more personal. Mr. Goh would walk districts, asking for input and votes. In Singapore’s oppressive heat, it is no small feat strolling from housing complex to housing complex, and I could sense Mr. Goh agonizing over every lost vote.

Singapore today faces many challenges. After transforming itself from third-world to first-world—in large part because of LKY, Mr. Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, and Mr. Goh Keng Swee—citizens face higher GST, inflation, kiasu, and the absence of a grand unifying vision. As we move forward in uncertain times, it is important to note that the most ordinary circumstances often produce the most remarkable people: “[T]hey [Singaporeans] wanted a more ordinary kind of prime minister. A more human one.” By today’s political standards, Mr. Goh could be called superhuman. If the PAP remains successful, future generations are apt to learn LKY may have been Superman, but Goh Chok Tong was Clark Kent. 

© Matthew Rafat (February 2024) 

Bonus: Edwin Thumboo is mentioned in Tall Order as a respected Singaporean academic and poet. Another interesting tidbit: one of Mr. Hsien Loong’s children is autistic. Finally, regarding the “Great Marriage Debate” of 1983—when LKY encouraged educated women to marry and have more children—cash grants were also offered to “less educated women who agreed to sterilization.”