Under The Angsana Tree: Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Story

Update 8 Feb 2024: Goh Chok Tong's son Goh Jin Hian found liable for losses of US$146 millions

Goh Jin Hian, CEO of Singapore's New Silkroutes Group Ltd, poses for pictures during an interview in Beijing, China, October 17, 2016. Picture taken October 17, 2016. REUTERS/Aizhu Chen (REUTERS / Reuters)

Singapore’s High Court has found Goh Jin Hian liable for $146 million in losses under his watch as director of a now-insolvent marine fuel supplying company, adding to the legal problems facing the son of former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.

Doing his duties “would have led him to realize that the company was being defrauded,” Justice Aedit Abdullah said in published remarks dated Jan. 24 on a petition involving Inter-Pacific Petroleum Pte. The defense argued there was no such breach or causation of loss, and regardless, the company qualifies for relief from liability under the companies act. “The financial position of the company was suspect and should have primed the defendant to look further and obtain a picture of the true state of the affairs of the company and monitor what was happening within it,” the judge said. “That was his duty as a director.” “Loss was caused to the plaintiff through the transactions and drawdowns which should not have been carried out and would not have been had the defendant performed his duties,” the judge said.

The development comes amid a number of scandals in the Asian financial hub known for its zero tolerance for corruption. A separate billion-dollar money laundering probe is already shining a light on fund flows from abroad and raising questions about loopholes that enabled an alleged criminal syndicate to accumulate massive amounts of wealth. Goh, 55, served as a director of Inter-Pacific Petroleum from 2011 to 2019, Channel News Asia reported. He was among four people charged last year with false trading offenses linked to investment holding company New Silkroutes Group Ltd. They are accused of creating a “misleading appearance with respect to the price” of its securities on 31 trading days between February and August of 2018. That’s equivalent to market manipulation.

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Son of Singapore’s Former Prime Minister Charged With False Trading Offenses

Goh Jin Hian, then CEO of New Silkroutes Group, photographed in September 2018

Goh Jin Hian, the only son of former Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, was among four people charged Wednesday with false trading offenses, Channel News Asia reported.

The 54-year-old ex-chief executive officer of investment holding company New Silkroutes Group Ltd., Goh stands accused of conspiring with three other men linked to the firm for creating a misleading appearance of the price of its securities on 31 trading days between February and August of 2018, according to the report.

Goh is also accused of pushing up the price of the company’s securities by placing orders and executing trades using his bank investment account. He was handed 39 charges under the Securities and Futures Act, while the three other men each received 31 similar charges. Goh and the three others charged could face a jail term of up to seven years and a fine of as much as S$250,000 ($183,000), or both, on each charge.

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Goh Chok Tong's son Goh Jin Hian & 3 others charged with market manipulation

Goh Jin Hian was chief executive of New Silkroutes Group from 2015 to 2020. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS

The former chief executive of Singapore-listed New Silkroutes Group, Goh Jin Hian, and three other men were slapped with a total of 132 charges related to false trading offences in the State Courts on Wednesday.

The other three men charged are the healthcare and energy firm’s former chief corporate officer Kelvyn Oo Cheong Kwan and former finance director William Teo Thiam Chuan, as well as Huang Yiwen, the sole director of GTC Group, a commercial market maker that New Silkroutes had engaged. Market makers help ensure there is enough liquidity in the markets.

Goh, 54, the only son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, was chief executive of New Silkroutes from 2015 to 2020. In 2020, he also stepped down as non-independent and non-executive chairman of the group.

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ESM Goh Chok Tong launches second part of biography titled Standing Tall

The new book takes a thematic approach to detailing key moments in Mr Goh's career as prime minister.ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH

When Mr Goh Chok Tong got a late-night call informing him that a Singapore Airlines plane had been hijacked in 1991, the then Prime Minister issued instructions calmly - then went to bed.

The response demonstrated his trust in his deputies and epitomised his leadership style, elements of which have been captured in a new book documenting Mr Goh's 14 years at the helm, from 1990 to 2004. On the SQ117 hijacking incident, Mr Goh, who retired from politics last year and is now Emeritus Senior Minister, observes in the second volume of his biography Standing Tall: "When you plan for worst-case scenarios, and when you trust the professionalism, dedication and judgment of those on the ground, you can stay calm and sleep easy."

The new book - a sequel to Tall Order published in 2018 - was officially launched on Friday (May 7) evening and takes a thematic approach to detailing key moments in Mr Goh's career as prime minister.

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Standing Tall: Part 2 of Goh Chok Tong's authorised biography out this year

The second volume of Goh Chok Tong's authorised biography is titled Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years. (Photos: Facebook/Goh Chok Tong)

Former prime minister Goh Chok Tong said on Friday (Jan 22) that the second volume of his authorised biography will reach bookshelves in late April or early May.

The release of the book, titled Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years, is planned to mark his 80th birthday, Mr Goh said in a Facebook post.

"Received this galley copy of Standing Tall from publisher. Cover is being designed and photos selected. Going through text one more time to tie up loose ends," said Mr Goh.

The first volume, titled Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story, was released in 2018. It tells the story of Mr Goh's life and career, from his childhood until he took office as Singapore's second prime minister in 1990, succeeding Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

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Launch of Standing Tall – The Goh Chok Tong Years

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was the guest of honour at the launch of Standing Tall — The Goh Chok Tong Years, the second volume of the former PM Goh’s biography, on Friday (May 7). Emeritus Senior Minister (ESM) Goh hoped readers will enjoy reading his biography.

The book’s author, journalist Peh Shing Huei, said it is “packed with drama, adventure, and also lessons for Singapore in the new millennia”. Mr Peh also penned Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story, Volume 1 published in 2018. In the first volume, he told the extraordinary story of Mr Goh’s life and career over half a century, revealing how Singapore’s second Prime Minister rose through a combination of strength, wit and a political nous which many, including himself, did not know he had.

This second volume captures the transformation of Mr Goh as a political leader, evolving from a Prime Minister with a touch of naivety to a hard-nosed strategist. How he introduced some of the country’s most controversial policies, including the foreign talent scheme and formula for ministerial salaries, while advancing a kinder and gentler Singapore with the likes of MediFund and Edusave.

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The Holy Goh

Often seen wearing an India-made Nehru jacket, which he found appropriate for Singapore’s air-conditioned spaces, he once quipped, “Maybe I will now start an India Fashion Fever.”

The decision by Singapore’s second (1990-2004) Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, to retire from politics when he is not much older than a man bidding to be the American president is significant because it is marked with grace, and thus entirely in character with the politician he was as he grew to the top job in the shadow of one of the 20th century’s towering statesmen.

Announcing his decision not to contest the forthcoming Singapore parliamentary election, Mr Goh wryly suggested that the prospect of becoming an octogenarian next year was a reason for his decision although he still felt fit.

Mr Goh’s stewardship of Singapore was perceived by many as an interim arrangement crafted by his predecessor, the legendary Lee Kuan Yew, to ensure he was not accused of nepotism if he anointed his son, the present Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, to succeed him.

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How the Holy Goh got on with the Father and the Son

I know the book Tall Order Volume 1 is about Mr Goh Chok Tong’s route to prime ministership, but what I didn’t expect was a glimpse of the mental gymnastics that the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew put him through. Like Mr Goh, I believe all of us were caught off-guard by Mr Lee’s 1988 National Day comments about preferring that Dr Tony Tan succeed him as Prime Minister. Now, some 30 years later, we read about the shock and consternation this news was to the man whom everyone thought would be Singapore’s next Prime Minister.

“I was perplexed, stunned and dumbfounded by his revelation. You have the awkwardness of facing the big crowd after the rally. You had to be very wooden when you came out,” so Mr Goh recalled in the book, wryly using the term that the late Mr Lee had attached to him just one week after.

Mr Goh thought there could be two reasons for Mr Lee’s public put down. Mr Lee himself had said that he wasn’t to be blamed if Mr Goh failed – because he wasn’t his first choice. Then there was the question of whether he wanted to derail the succession process by putting Dr Tan as first among equals. Or even place his son, who entered politics four years before. It’s a pity that Mr Goh never asked the man directly. But clearly, Mr Lee wasn’t ready to give up the job.

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Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story

Netizens mock ESM Goh as “seatwarmer Prime Minister” with doctored biography cover

Despite Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong’s assertion that he has always known that he was not a “seatwarmer” Prime Minister (PM) as many speculate, some have mocked Singapore’s second PM with a doctored cover of his recently released authorised biography.

ESM Goh has contended with speculation that he was only installed as a “seatwarmer” since he was head of Government after founding PM Lee Kuan Yew and before Lee’s son, current PM Lee Hsien Loong, took office.

An image posted by Facebook user Constance Chew on Facebook group, Concerned Citizens Band Together for a better Singapore, shows the original “Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story” title being altered to “Take Order: The Seat Warmer Story”:

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Goh Chok Tong facts

Goh Chok Tong (Chinese: 吴作栋; pinyin: Wú Zuòdòng) 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 is married to Tan Choo Leng and they have a son and a daughter, who are twins. Their son, Goh Jin Hian, is a physician and their daughter, Goh Jin Theng, lives in London with her husband.

Goh is a Singaporean former politician who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1990 and 2004, and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party between 1992 and 2004. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Marine Parade SMC between 1976 and 1988, and Marine Parade GRC between 1988 and 2020.

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