The following is an English translation of an article that appeared in Lianhe Zaobao today, 29 August 2015.
The poison pen letter that the new Workers’ Party candidate received the night before put him in the spotlight. However, even after an entire day of answering questions from the media, Goh did not cancel his interview with Zaobao and met up with Zaobao at a Bedok coffeeshop to discuss his views on constructive politics in the upcoming elections.
The PAP is not the enemy
“I don’t see the PAP as the enemy,” Goh said, revealing his perspective towards Singapore’s political landscape. To him, as a rational political party, the Workers’ Party’s aim is to provide constructive criticism and new ideas through debates in Parliament for the betterment of Singapore. He also added that the Workers’ Party does not oppose the ruling party for the sake of opposing.
Goh is Head of the Sociology department at NUS. It is not surprising that a sociologist is contesting in the upcoming elections. Throughout the interview, Goh tackled the questions seamlessly, switching from his dual roles as a sociologist and as a candidate in the upcoming elections.
Goh emphasized that he “does not see the PAP as the enemy, but as a community believing in a particular political ideology”. He added that constructive politics should be about debating perspectives on critical issues rather than smearing each others’ reputations. He also added that he disdains the idea of finding candidates at the last minute before the elections, as that brings the focus away from real issues and focuses on winning the elections as the end game instead.
A more politically aware society does not erode Singapore’s competitiveness
In 2011, Workers’ Party’s leader Low This Kiang left his home ground in Hougang SMC to lead a team of five candidates to successfully contest Aljunied GRC, ousting former Foreign Minister George Yeo and his team. This led to the 2011 elections being called a “watershed” election, changing the political landscape of Singapore.
Goh expressed his views that a more politically vibrant society would not make Singapore less competitive or lead to Singapore’s downfall. He also added that the PAP’s constant teachings that a two-party political system would destabilize Singapore’s economy is a sign of the PAP’s fear of a loss of political control. “This shows a sign of distrust in the people of Singapore, which is quite weird in my opinion,” he added.
Goh was a volunteer with WP in the 2011 elections. He pointed out that Low Thia Kiang’s decision to move from Hougang SMC to contest a GRC was a clear signal to Singaporeans that they needed to support a bigger opposition presence in Parliament. It was then that Singaporeans probably felt the risks of extended single-party rule for the long-term future of Singapore. While the Workers’ Party did not successfully win all their seats, the GRC win provided Singaporeans with the never-seen-before possibility of a louder opposition voice, and an alternative to the ruling party, and the upcoming elections will only intensify that possibility.
Goh said that he might be contesting in East Coast GRC or Fengshan SMC. He stated that frankly, he never thought about contesting in the elections, even though he started volunteering with the WP and officially joined the party in 2013. He merely wanted to help WP internally.
It was only after the 2011 elections that he felt a calling towards entering politics, like a “national duty”. He pointed out that the biggest difference between being a political candidate and a sociologist is that a political candidate needs to be a ” future academic” and chart out possibilities about the future of Singapore.
Goh is married with a son. While he did not say much about the poison pen letter during the interview, he expressed criticism towards “gutter politics”, and pointed out a need to improve Parliament and the media’s coverage of politics in Singapore in order for Singapore to mature politically.
Goh issued a statement yesterday morning on the poison pen letter which accused him of his alleged affair with a female student. He denied all of the accusations, calling them “baseless accusations”, and mentioned through Facebook that he had made a police report at his neighbourhood police station. In a note he posted on Facebook, he said that a Zaobao interviewer gave him a deadline to respond to the poison pen letter before the article would be published. However, before the stipulated time, the news article about the letter and its allegations was circulated on the internet. “This meant I had to reply to the baseless comments immediately.”
Goh added, “Our media is controlled. However, there are some good reporters and we should work together to improve the reporting standards in Singapore.”
Goh was one of the candidates introduced by the Workers’ Party last Wednesday, and he questioned the coincidental timing of the poison pen letter, which appeared immediately after WP’s announcement.
Zaobao’s editor replies
With regards to the poison pen letter, Workers’ Party Hougang SMC MP Png Eng Huat said: “The Workers’ Party welcomes people to scrutinize the candidates that we field. If there is real evidence, we welcome people to talk to us about it. However, the people who report it on the internet and through social media are anonymous. If you have evidence, please come to us.”
Zaobao’s chief editor clarified in response to Goh’s Facebook note: “Zaobao tried to contact him many times on the matter. His first response to us was on 27 Aug at 10pm. Our reporter went to him to clarify his reply and gave him a deadline of 11.20pm to verify the contents of our article before publishing. However, he had not replied by 11.20pm. As we have a deadline to send in articles, we thus used his first response from 10pm. After realizing the miscommunication about the deadline for verification, Zaobao published his latest response to the allegations at 11.15pm online and in the papers on 28 Aug. Zaobao has no malicious intent against Goh and is happy that he is still willing to grace us with this interview.”
