Former Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong has made sure to keep in touch with the parliamentarians from his party even though he stepped down from electoral politics earlier this year.
Although he retired from politics after spending 44 years in Parliament ahead of the July election, Mr Goh still serves as Senior Adviser to the People’s Association, Chairman Emeritus of the PAP’s Marine Parade Branch and as Adviser Emeritus to the ruling party-linked grassroots organisations (GROs) in his former ward.
Mr Goh has been meeting up with members of the PAP in the months after he retired. Earlier, he met with fellow retiree Khaw Boon Wan, incumbent MPs Edwin Tong and Sitoh Yih Pin as well as ousted former MP Amrin Amin among others.
On Tuesday (20 Oct), the Emeritus Senior Minister met with four PAP members who were newly elected to Parliament in the 2020 general election. Mr Goh wrote on Facebook that he met with Marine Parade GRC MP Tan See Leng, Nee Soon GRC MP Carrie Tan, Sembawang GRC MP Poh Li San and Yio Chu Kang SMC MP Yip Hon Weng to keep in touch with them.
Keeping in touch with new MPs: L to R. Dr Tan See Leng (Marine Parade GRC), Yip Hon Weng 叶汉荣 (Yio Chu Kang SMC), Carrie Tan 陈澮敏 (Nee Soon GRC) and Poh Li San (Sembawang GRC). —gct
Posted by MParader on Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Of the four MPs who met with Mr Goh this week, Dr Tan is perhaps the politician with the closest links to the former Prime Minister. Mr Goh personally mentored Dr Tan for about two years as he actively volunteered at Marine Parade GRC.
Dr Tan took over Mr Goh’s role as Branch Chairman at Marine Parade GRC in late June 2020 when Mr Goh announced his plans to retire. Days later, he was fielded as a first-time PAP candidate in the 2020 polls and was elected to Parliament.
Despite being a first-term MP, Dr Tan was made full minister in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s latest Cabinet line-up and serves as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Dr Tan also shares a connection with Mr Goh in that he was in the same organisation as Mr Goh’s son, Goh Jin Hian, several years ago.
Both Dr Tan and Dr Goh are medical doctors by training. Dr Tan co-founded Healthway Medical Group at the age of 27, in 1992. As co-founder and chairman of the company, he grew the group to become the second largest private primary care group in Singapore and successfully divested the group to a British firm, over a decade later in 2004.
That same year, Dr Tan joined Parkway Holdings. Over the next 15 years, he went on to serve in top management positions at Parkway and its subsidiaries. From 2010 to 2019, Dr Tan was the group CEO and Managing Director of Parkway Holdings and Parkway Pantai Limited. From 2014 to 2019, he was also the CEO and MD of IHH Healthcare BHD.
Dr Tan’s time at Parkway Holdings overlapped with the time Dr Goh Jin Hian spent at the company in senior executive positions between 1999 and 2011. Dr Goh has served as Gleneagles Hospital CEO, president of Singapore operations, and senior vice-president of growth, innovation and strategy, before he left the healthcare sector to join the oil and gas industry.
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