Goh Chok Tong

Goh Chok Tong
吴作栋
Goh in 2008
2nd Prime Minister of Singapore
In office
28 November 1990 – 12 August 2004
PresidentWee Kim Wee
Ong Teng Cheong
S. R. Nathan
DeputyOng Teng Cheong
Lee Hsien Loong
Tony Tan
Preceded byLee Kuan Yew
Succeeded byLee Hsien Loong
Senior Minister of Singapore
In office
12 August 2004 – 20 May 2011
Serving with S. Jayakumar (2009–2011)
Preceded byLee Kuan Yew
Succeeded byTeo Chee Hean
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Secretary-General of the People's Action Party
In office
15 November 1992[1] – 6 November 2004[2]
ChairmanOng Teng Cheong
Tony Tan
Preceded byLee Kuan Yew
Succeeded byLee Hsien Loong
Member of Parliament
for Marine Parade
In office
23 December 1976 – 23 June 2020
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byTan See Leng (PAP)
ConstituencyMarine Parade SMC
(1976–1988)
Marine Parade GRC
(1988–2020)
Senior positions
Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore
In office
20 August 2004 – 30 April 2011
Preceded byLee Hsien Loong
Succeeded byTharman Shanmugaratnam
Ministerial offices
Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore
In office
2 January 1985 – 28 November 1990
Serving with Ong Teng Cheong
Preceded byGoh Keng Swee
S. Rajaratnam
Succeeded byLee Hsien Loong
Tony Tan
Minister for Defence
In office
1 June 1982 – 30 June 1991
Preceded byHowe Yoon Chong
Succeeded byYeo Ning Hong
Minister for Health
In office
6 January 1981 – 31 May 1982
Preceded byToh Chin Chye
Succeeded byHowe Yoon Chong
Minister for Trade and Industry
In office
15 March 1979 – 31 May 1981
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byTony Tan
Personal details
Born (1941-05-20) 20 May 1941 (age 83)
Singapore, Strait Settlements
Political partyPeople's Action Party
Spouse
(m. 1965)
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Singapore (BA)
Williams College (MA)
Signature
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese吳作棟
Simplified Chinese吴作栋
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWú Zuòdòng
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationNgh Jok-dung
JyutpingNg4 Zok3 Dung6
Southern Min
Hokkien POJGô͘ Chok-tòng

Goh Chok Tong[a] AC SPMJ (born 20 May 1941) is a Singaporean former politician who served as the second prime minister of Singapore from 1990 to 2004 and as a senior minister of Singapore from 2004 to 2011. He served as the secretary-general of the People's Action Party (PAP) from 1992 to 2004 and 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 savings 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.

Shortly before and during his tenure as prime minister, Goh proposed political reforms like the introduction of Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMP), to allow more opposition into Parliament, Group Representation Constituencies (GRC), to make sure that minorities are represented in Parliament and Nominated Members of Parliament (NMP), to have independent opinions in Parliament since all NMPs are non-partisan. Goh assumed the responsibility of government in a carefully managed leadership transition. In 1990, He introduced the Vehicle Quota System to limit the exponential increase of personal vehicles. In 1991, Goh also enacted the elected presidency scheme in 1991, with previous presidents having been appointed by Parliament.

On 12 August 2004, Goh was succeeded by Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew,[3] and was subsequently appointed as a senior minister in the Cabinet and chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) between 2004 and 2011.[4] He resigned from the Cabinet in 2011, and was given the honorary title of "Emeritus Senior Minister" by Lee. He stepped down as a Member of Parliament (MP) and retired from politics in 2020.[5]

  1. ^ Jayakumar 2021, p. 710.
  2. ^ Jayakumar 2021, p. 712.
  3. ^ "New prime minister takes office in Singapore". NBC News. 13 August 2004. Retrieved 21 April 2022. Lee Hsien Loong, scion of Singapore's founding father, was sworn in as the third prime minister Thursday.
  4. ^ "Our History". www.mas.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 14 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  5. ^ Lim, Joyce (25 June 2020). "GE2020: Goh Chok Tong to retire from politics after 44 years as MP". Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).