Mar 29, 2011
GE 2011
Banker knows all about poverty
He now wants to reach out to the disadvantaged
By Robin Chan
THE impoverished and the hard-pressed in business will find a champion in Mr Gan Thiam Poh, a man who has walked in their shoes.
The 47-year-old senior vice-president at DBS Bank spent most of his growing up years not certain if there would be enough food on the table, or knowing if he would be able to complete schooling.
His father was an odd-job labourer who carried rice and vegetables, and his mother worked in a factory to supplement the family income.
Mr Gan, the second youngest of six children, sold fried popiah around the neighbourhood to help pay for textbooks and school fees.
When his father died suddenly on the night of his exams in his freshman year at the National University of Singapore (NUS), he offered to apply for a bursary to lessen the financial burden on his mother.
But she refused, he said.
'My mum told me right to my face: 'Thiam Poh, you are my son, we have got to stand on our own feet, if possible'.'
She eventually relented and he received a $1,500 annual bursary from the Gan Clan Association which helped him see the rest of his way through university.
The experience left a deep impression on him about the need to pay it forward to help the underdog in society.
It led to him serving as a grassroots volunteer in Potong Pasir, even though it had been an opposition stronghold since 1984, when veteran Chiam See Tong first won the parliamentary seat.
Explaining his decision to get involved in grassroots work, Mr Gan used the Chinese idiom yin shui si yuan, which means 'When you drink water, remember the source'.
He said yesterday at his introduction as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate: 'I still feel deeply indebted to the community and society and want to give something back from my experience.'
He added that he wants to reach out to the disadvantaged: 'In today's Singapore, I think we tend to forget the needy in our midst.
'When I say needy, I don't just refer to those who are economically not well-off. I also refer to those who are emotionally in need, or who feel they are less fulfilled or... disadvantaged, such as young couples on the threshold of building a family, the businessman facing difficulties, or housewives who find that they don't have enough money to go to the market.'
In introducing Mr Gan at a press conference, PAP chairman Lim Boon Heng described him as someone who 'knows what it is like to be in 'opposition',' - a reference to his time in Potong Pasir.
He also said that Mr Gan's 'courage and commitment attracted the attention of the party leaders'.
Mr Gan first started volunteering at the Potong Pasir Community Club in 1996. He has been vice-chairman of the Citizens' Consultative Committee and was the PAP's Potong Pasir branch secretary till December last year.
Although he now walks the ground with Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Transport, in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, he still takes time to have dinner with his mother at her Potong Pasir flat.
Asked how the PAP might win back Potong Pasir, he said: 'I should ask the residents in Potong Pasir, how will they allow the PAP to have a chance to serve them? That will be better.'
[email protected]
A grassroots leader and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) banker who grew up in an opposition ward, Mr Gan was asked for his views on the PAP in Potong Pasir and how he could help promote local firms.
Why has the PAP been losing in Potong Pasir?
I think we are still trying our best to determine the reasons. The PAP has worked very hard there for the past 25 years. The question has been evolving. We have been analysing, trying to think about what could have been done better after each general election... At every election, the PAP tried its very best to win the hearts and minds of Potong Pasir residents. We were still unable to do so.'
Given your experience in Potong Pasir, do you think you would have a better chance there?
'I don't want to say I have a better chance. You've got to take every election seriously. You've got to try your best. You've got to take your opponent seriously. I don't want to jump to conclusions about whether I'd have a better chance or not. But if I were asked to contest there, I will try my best.'
How will you promote the cause of SMEs, if elected?
'I will talk to them, find out what their wishes are. Certainly SMEs are important for any country. I will want to speak in Parliament about the aspirations and the challenges that SMEs face and I hope we can then help them improve to the next level.'
GE 2011
Banker knows all about poverty
He now wants to reach out to the disadvantaged
By Robin Chan
THE impoverished and the hard-pressed in business will find a champion in Mr Gan Thiam Poh, a man who has walked in their shoes.
The 47-year-old senior vice-president at DBS Bank spent most of his growing up years not certain if there would be enough food on the table, or knowing if he would be able to complete schooling.
His father was an odd-job labourer who carried rice and vegetables, and his mother worked in a factory to supplement the family income.
Mr Gan, the second youngest of six children, sold fried popiah around the neighbourhood to help pay for textbooks and school fees.
When his father died suddenly on the night of his exams in his freshman year at the National University of Singapore (NUS), he offered to apply for a bursary to lessen the financial burden on his mother.
But she refused, he said.
'My mum told me right to my face: 'Thiam Poh, you are my son, we have got to stand on our own feet, if possible'.'
She eventually relented and he received a $1,500 annual bursary from the Gan Clan Association which helped him see the rest of his way through university.
The experience left a deep impression on him about the need to pay it forward to help the underdog in society.
It led to him serving as a grassroots volunteer in Potong Pasir, even though it had been an opposition stronghold since 1984, when veteran Chiam See Tong first won the parliamentary seat.
Explaining his decision to get involved in grassroots work, Mr Gan used the Chinese idiom yin shui si yuan, which means 'When you drink water, remember the source'.
He said yesterday at his introduction as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate: 'I still feel deeply indebted to the community and society and want to give something back from my experience.'
He added that he wants to reach out to the disadvantaged: 'In today's Singapore, I think we tend to forget the needy in our midst.
'When I say needy, I don't just refer to those who are economically not well-off. I also refer to those who are emotionally in need, or who feel they are less fulfilled or... disadvantaged, such as young couples on the threshold of building a family, the businessman facing difficulties, or housewives who find that they don't have enough money to go to the market.'
In introducing Mr Gan at a press conference, PAP chairman Lim Boon Heng described him as someone who 'knows what it is like to be in 'opposition',' - a reference to his time in Potong Pasir.
He also said that Mr Gan's 'courage and commitment attracted the attention of the party leaders'.
Mr Gan first started volunteering at the Potong Pasir Community Club in 1996. He has been vice-chairman of the Citizens' Consultative Committee and was the PAP's Potong Pasir branch secretary till December last year.
Although he now walks the ground with Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Transport, in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, he still takes time to have dinner with his mother at her Potong Pasir flat.
Asked how the PAP might win back Potong Pasir, he said: 'I should ask the residents in Potong Pasir, how will they allow the PAP to have a chance to serve them? That will be better.'
[email protected]
A grassroots leader and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) banker who grew up in an opposition ward, Mr Gan was asked for his views on the PAP in Potong Pasir and how he could help promote local firms.
Why has the PAP been losing in Potong Pasir?
I think we are still trying our best to determine the reasons. The PAP has worked very hard there for the past 25 years. The question has been evolving. We have been analysing, trying to think about what could have been done better after each general election... At every election, the PAP tried its very best to win the hearts and minds of Potong Pasir residents. We were still unable to do so.'
Given your experience in Potong Pasir, do you think you would have a better chance there?
'I don't want to say I have a better chance. You've got to take every election seriously. You've got to try your best. You've got to take your opponent seriously. I don't want to jump to conclusions about whether I'd have a better chance or not. But if I were asked to contest there, I will try my best.'
How will you promote the cause of SMEs, if elected?
'I will talk to them, find out what their wishes are. Certainly SMEs are important for any country. I will want to speak in Parliament about the aspirations and the challenges that SMEs face and I hope we can then help them improve to the next level.'
