I should not reprise 2006 role: SM Goh
GIVEN a choice, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong would not want to reprise the mission he was given in the 2006 polls, which was to win back the opposition Hougang and Potong Pasir wards for the People's Action Party (PAP).
While stressing that his eventual role in the next general election would be decided by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as the PAP's secretary-general, SM Goh said he should not take on the role again because he 'would not want to be too active out front'.
Also, it is necessary for younger MPs and ministers to gain battlefield experience, he told The Straits Times in an interview this month.
SM Goh noted that PM Lee is already doing so by giving more campaign work to the younger ones, without naming any.
It is a development he supports, adding that 'most of the work would have to be done by PM and his younger team'.
What he would want to do at the next polls, due by February 2012, is to visit contested hot spots, he said, citing Potong Pasir and Hougang as two wards he would like to revisit.
Part of the reason is nostalgia, as he has visited both wards many times and he has 'a certain empathy for the people there, especially the grassroots leaders'.
'I also want to get a sense of how the two constituencies have developed over the past five years,' said SM Goh.
Mr Sitoh Yih Pin and Mr Eric Low, the PAP challengers in Potong Pasir and Hougang respectively, were first fielded at the 2001 polls when SM Goh was prime minister and the PAP's secretary-general. He stepped down for PM Lee in 2004.
However, in the 2006 election, both PAP candidates fared worse and both Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong and Hougang MP Low Thia Khiang increased their share of the votes.
This happened despite substantial estate upgrading carrots being dangled before the residents and SM Goh's presence at the two wards' election rallies.
A day after Polling Day in 2006, SM Goh praised the loyalty of the two opposition MPs' voters.
He said then: 'They know that upgrading will come sooner or later, and between upgrading and loyalty for somebody who has put in good work - 15 years in Hougang (Mr Low) and 22 years in Potong Pasir (Mr Chiam) - they backed the incumbent.'
KOR KIAN BENG
Additional reporting by Andrea Ong and Teo Wan Gek
GIVEN a choice, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong would not want to reprise the mission he was given in the 2006 polls, which was to win back the opposition Hougang and Potong Pasir wards for the People's Action Party (PAP).
While stressing that his eventual role in the next general election would be decided by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as the PAP's secretary-general, SM Goh said he should not take on the role again because he 'would not want to be too active out front'.
Also, it is necessary for younger MPs and ministers to gain battlefield experience, he told The Straits Times in an interview this month.
SM Goh noted that PM Lee is already doing so by giving more campaign work to the younger ones, without naming any.
It is a development he supports, adding that 'most of the work would have to be done by PM and his younger team'.
What he would want to do at the next polls, due by February 2012, is to visit contested hot spots, he said, citing Potong Pasir and Hougang as two wards he would like to revisit.
Part of the reason is nostalgia, as he has visited both wards many times and he has 'a certain empathy for the people there, especially the grassroots leaders'.
'I also want to get a sense of how the two constituencies have developed over the past five years,' said SM Goh.
Mr Sitoh Yih Pin and Mr Eric Low, the PAP challengers in Potong Pasir and Hougang respectively, were first fielded at the 2001 polls when SM Goh was prime minister and the PAP's secretary-general. He stepped down for PM Lee in 2004.
However, in the 2006 election, both PAP candidates fared worse and both Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong and Hougang MP Low Thia Khiang increased their share of the votes.
This happened despite substantial estate upgrading carrots being dangled before the residents and SM Goh's presence at the two wards' election rallies.
A day after Polling Day in 2006, SM Goh praised the loyalty of the two opposition MPs' voters.
He said then: 'They know that upgrading will come sooner or later, and between upgrading and loyalty for somebody who has put in good work - 15 years in Hougang (Mr Low) and 22 years in Potong Pasir (Mr Chiam) - they backed the incumbent.'
KOR KIAN BENG
Additional reporting by Andrea Ong and Teo Wan Gek
