Publication: The Straits Times, p A28 Date: 7 August 2009 Headline: The Goh Chok Tong years LY SMU

THE GOH CHOK TONG'

YEARS A new book on the Goh Chok Tong era looks at the legacy of a Hokkien boy from the heartland who transformed Singapore during his 1990 -2004 premiership. What was his impact? Insight reports

%Y LEE SEW HUA SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

IN THE popular mind, Mr Goh Chok Tong was a lanky, transitory figure in poli- tics when he became Singapore's second prime minister on Nov 28, 1990.

He was succeeding a force of history, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and presumed to be warming the seat for the latter's son, Mr Lee Hsien Loong.

But that seat-warmer epithet is now shelved, for Mr Goh turned out to be quite a transformer for Singapore.

That is the principal premise of a new collection of essays titled Impressions Of The Goh Chok Tong Years In Singapore.

Launched yesterday, it is co-published by the NUS Press and the Institute of Poli- cy Studies (IPS).

The 580-page book ambitiously chroni- cles and analyses the man and the era: how Singapore politics and economics, the nation's place in the world and swathes of society all changed in the 14 years when Mr Goh led the city-state.

The 45 essays often cast Mr Goh, now a Senior Minister and aged 68, in a new and significant light, and not always rev- erently.

From the eyes of different writers, we get to see a quiet rebel, a friend of Ma- lay-Muslims and an economist-states- man spinning a web of free trade agree- ments, among other portrayals.

Rather heartwarmingly, too, one sees a popular grassroots politician and a Hok- kien boy who rose from the heartland.

However, there is an unyielding side to the Nice Guy.

Murdoch University professor Garry Rodan notes in his essay that Mr Goh ex- ploited "dependence on the state" in his electoral tactics. "On the eve of the 1997 polls he warned that opposition estates risked eventually becoming 'slums'," he recalls, in a reference to the ruling party's strategy of linking votes to estate upgrad- ing.

Mr Goh also displayed sharp elbows in his use of defamation suits against the po- litical opposition, and his brandishing of out-of-bound (OB) markers in the Cather- ine Lim case when the novelist-turned- political-commentator wrote two searing critiques that cut to the heart of local poli- tics in the mid-1990s.

The Catherine Lim incident is also re- marked upon by well-known lawyer K.S. Rajah, who in his essay gives his opinion that OB markers "do not seek to remedy a social or legal mischief but seek to re- strict the freedom of co-imication".

Including Mr Rajah among the contrib- utors - who are not all academics - is a smart editorial decision. Joining him is a solid spectrum of specialists in their fields, such as sports writer and editor Godfrey Robert and blogger and gay rights activist Alex Au, who analyse the Goh effect from less conventional angles.

The authors often discem Mr Goh's du- al attributes as a consultative but canny political player in various fields. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon2 himself touched on this duality in his 2004 Na- tional Day Rally speech, when he paid tribute to Mr Goh: "Chok Tong estab- lished his own style, milder, gentler, con-

Then-PM Goh with his p r m , Mr Lee Kuan Yew, in 1992. ST FILE PHOTOS Mr Goh with PAP c d l e ~ w BeMrd Chon (svnd from left), S. Dhanabalan (centre), Lim Chee OM (far right) and other colleague^ and offielais on a working tnp to Batam in 1979.

long eschewed welfarism, he introduced a "semi-welfarist" style with measures like government contributions to individu- als' Medisave accounts, media veteran P.N. Balji points out in his essay, while his consultative style would flower into the "inclusive government" of the third prime minister, Mr Lee Hsien Loong.

Mr Goh also ignited an "India fever" - a road not taken by his predecessor.

Such contrasts with founding PM Lee Kuan Yew naturally run through the book, with an enormous focus on how Mr Goh's kinder, gentler ethos infused poli- cy. His humanity sh ie s through health care, education and his special connec- tion with Malay-Muslims, among the wealth of examples cited in the volume.

While contrasts with the authoritarian era of the first prime minister are strong- ly present, the continuity in their politi- cal choices is also sharply evident.

"There were clear boundaries, not just the out-of-bound (OB) markers, in politi- cal participation. Whether it was the me- dia or political opposition, the PAP was to remain supreme," the quartet of edi- tors note in their introductory essay.

The editors are Singapore Manage- ment University political scientist Bridg- et Welsh, Monash University scholar James Chin who is based in its Malaysian campus, as well as seasoned researchers A m Mahizhnan and Tan Tarn How from the IPS.

They have edited an incisive first draft of the Goh years for the layman.

For readers, the book unfolds in an ac- cessible style and attempts to unwrap the thinking behind choices made by Mr Goh and his team - attempts to, for in the ab- sence of direct information from Mr Goh himself, it is not always clear where the man ends and his administration begins. This ambiguity is amplified in a party and policymaking culture long reputed to be highly driven by consensus.

Apart from Mr Goh, other policy play- ers therefore feature prominently in parts of the book. One of them is Mr George Yeo who, in his previous role as Minister for Information and the Arts, persuasive- ly re-articulated the arts as a "public good", as Mr Tan Tam How argues.

Hints of hardliners at work are also

present here and there. IPS fellow Gillian Koh and Mr Balji, in separate essays, men- tion that after the People's Action Party (PAP) lost four seats in the 1991 General Election, there was talk that hardliners were questioning if Mr Goh's lighter touch was right.

With government decisions made mostly behind closed doors, we can ex- pect little insider feel from the book. But to their credit, the essayists connect the dots compellingly enough to offer new in- sights.

Although not a biography, the book is sparser in anecdotes than one may imag- ine. A big part of the fascination about the man's politics and policies, after all, derives from his heart for people.

One early story of Mr Goh prefigures his makiig as the people's prime minis- ter. As told by health economist Phua Kai Hong, members of the Gerontological So- ciety were invited in 1986 to speak at a seminar in Marine Parade, Mr Goh's long- time ward.

The speakers were delighted, hearing that Mr Goh had "a special interest and soft spot for the elderly population", Dr Phua writes.

But it was "panic stations" when the speakers struggled to fix a slide projector. "Goh sat through all the crooked presenta- tions with a mildly amused but sympa- thetic expression," he recounts.

During the break, he noticed Mr Goh watching across the hall as everyone tried to fix the projector again. "He broke away from the crowds who were sipping tea with him and came straight towards us to offer his help!"

Everyone fiddled with the machine a little more, Mr Goh thanked them, and the show went on.

Rightly, several authors also argue that this humane style has limits, whether in PAP politics, architecture or language pol- icy.

In that light, it can be said the Goh Chok Tong years could have been even more transforming. slewhua&ph.com.sg

Mr Goh was a student at Raffles Institution. mwithotherseout m r m h (he's in the catre). Bdow: As captain of tha swimmir team (left,

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sultative and inclusive, but firm and clear."

In like vein, the book's depictions of Mr Goh and his influence have a fittingly complex texture, varying from author to author.

But ultimately, he is very much seen as the man under whom Singapore made the transition to the First World.

That leap is evident, whether from a scrutiny of statistics or a study of society

between 1990 and 2004, the years when he was prime minister.

GDP per capita in that time doubled from $22,000 to $44,500 at current mar- ket rates. Singapore made it to the circle of developed nations officially in 1996, around the mid-point of the Goh years.

Beyond the numbers, he made an im- pact on society and governance in new ways.

Notably for a government that had

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