Goh Meng Seng

Goh Meng Seng (Chinese: 吴明盛) is an opposition politician in Singapore. Goh is currently the leader & founder of the People's Power Party.

Goh Meng Seng
吴明盛
Goh Meng Seng during his rally speech at Tampines Stadium as a candidate of the National Solidarity Party
Born1970
Singapore
NationalitySingaporean
EducationNational University of Singapore
OccupationDirector of Social Welfare Organisations, Politician
Political party

Political career

Goh contested in the 2006 general election with the Workers' Party in the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (Aljunied GRC) as one of 5 team members.[1] The team garnered 43.9% of the district votes, finished as one of the top three non-ruling party district performers and was eligible for a Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) position which was taken up by team-leader Sylvia Lim.

Goh left Workers' Party in 2006 after the election due to "some Internet postings which had tarnished the WP's reputation"[2] despite being a member of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and a member of the "A team" of the Workers' Party.[3] He joined the National Solidarity Party and became its Secretary-General.[3] Goh contested in the 2011 general election in the five-man Tampines Group Representation Constituency as team leader against the incumbent Mah Bow Tan (the Minister for National Development), receiving 42.78% of the votes.[4] Though his team lost, they improved significantly by 11.29% relative to the Singapore Democratic Alliance team that contested in the same district and finished with 31.49% of the votes against Mah in the 2006 general election.[5]

Goh stepped down from his post as Secretary-General of NSP after the 2011 election in June 2011 "for a breather and to take stock of his future", went into partisan political sabbatical to help Presidential hopeful Tan Kin Lian in his bid for presidency.[6] Goh was not elected into NSP's 14th Central Executive Committee thereafter.[7] Goh Meng Seng left NSP after the 2011 election.[8]

He returned to live with his family in Hong Kong after the 2011 election, from which he continues his political contribution mostly in the form of Facebook postings.[9] In a post, Goh courted controversy by suggesting that NSP was 'exacting revenge' on the Workers Party by contesting for the Hougang Single Member Constituency seat in the 2012 Hougang by-election.[10]

In May 2015, Goh announced that he was setting-up a new political party called the People's Power Party (PPP) barely a few months before the 2015 election. He became the party leader.[11] The application was approved officially in July 2015.[12] The death of Lee Kuan Yew was cited as one of the reasons for Goh's motivation to set up PPP, saying that without Lee's presence, "there's no one else who has such a strong political morality who can control everyone", and checks and balances can be achieved with separation of powers among different parties.[12]

PPP contested in the 2015 Singaporean general election as the youngest party.[13] It only contested the four-seat Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituency. The team consists of himself, Lee Tze Shih, Low Wai Choo and Syafarin Sarif.[14] The team lost to the People's Action Party team, which consisted of Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, Low Yen Ling, Zaqy Mohamad and Yee Chia Hsing. The PPP garnered 25,460 or 23.11% of the valid votes. The PAP garnered 84,731 or 76.89% of the valid votes.[15]

Goh would be contesting one last time in the 2020 Singaporean general election,[16] facing against Tin Pei Ling in the contest for MacPherson Single Member Constituency.[17] However, his efforts was all for naught, as he was defeated to Tin by a 71.74%-28.26% vote share.[18]

Education

Goh was educated at River Valley High School and Hwa Chong Junior College, before going on to the National University of Singapore where he completed a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in Economics.

gollark: How can you POSSIBLY fill those usefully?
gollark: 36 server racks‽
gollark: COOL bases are just bland industrial cuboids packed with machinery.
gollark: Maybe a keybinding.
gollark: Yeees.

References
  1. "singapore-elections.com: Singapore Election Candidates". Archived from the original on 2011-05-01.
  2. "SINGAPORE: Senior WP member quits over Net fracas". Archived from the original on 2011-05-12.
  3. "PPP Secretary-General: I will not support WP anymore". The Online Citizen. 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  4. "Singapore Elections Department : 2011 PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS". Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  5. "singapore-elections.com : Parliamentary General Election 2006 - TAMPINES GRC". Archived from the original on 2011-05-01.
  6. "Channel NewsAsia - Goh Meng Seng steps down as NSP chief". Archived from the original on 27 June 2011.
  7. "It's time to move on - Goh Meng Seng (with updates of NSP's new CEC)". The Online Citizen. 2011-06-26. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  8. "NSP's Goh Meng Seng to leave party". sg.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  9. "Interview with Goh Meng Seng former NSP Secretary General : Discusses about changes in Singapore and how it would affect the PAP and the opposition parties in Singapore". 19 November 2012. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014.
  10. Koh, Hui Theng (25 Mar 2012). "Goh Meng Seng's 'revenge' comment draws online bashing". www.asiaone.com. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  11. "Straits Times - Opposition veteran Goh Meng Seng applies to set up political party". 19 May 2015.
  12. Loh, Ronald (2015-09-07). "PPP's Goh Meng Seng says Mr Lee Kuan Yew's death part of reason behind founding of party". The New Paper. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  13. hermes (2015-10-11). "Might the other opposition parties merge?". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  14. hermesauto (2015-09-01). "GE 2015: People's Power Party team for Chua Chu Kang GRC revealed". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  15. Meixian, Lee (2015-09-12). "GE2015: PAP wins Chua Chu Kang GRC by wider margin". The Business Times. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  16. hermes (2020-06-28). "Singapore GE2020: Last GE contest for PPP's Goh Meng Seng". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  17. "GE2020: Goh Meng Seng to take on Tin Pei Ling in MacPherson SMC in People's Power Party's sole bid". CNA. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  18. Lau, Jean (11 July 2020). "GE2020 official results: PAP's Tin Pei Ling retains MacPherson with 71.74% of votes against PPP". The Straits Times. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
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