ESM Goh: Draws parallels between Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad in congratulatory message

Obbana Rajah

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong offered his congratulations to Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Facebook yesterday evening.

The 76 year old, whose Facebook page is titled ‘MParader’, short for ‘Marine Parader’, the division ESM Goh represents in Parliament, made a comparison between Dr Mahathir and the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

He said,

“Watching Mahathir fight Malaysian GE14 reminds me of Lee Kuan Yew who famously said, “Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.””

Mr Lee will always be remembered for that quote he said during his National Day Rally speech in 1988. Incidentally, that was also when he was preparing to hand over the premiership to ESM Goh.

In his post, ESM Goh continued,

“One must salute Mahathir for his indomitable will and energy to right what he thinks is wrong with his country. He and his coalition partners scored a stunning victory. Congratulations to them on their success, and to Mahathir on becoming the Prime Minister of Malaysia for the second time.

Whatever happens on one side of the Causeway affects the other. This is a historic and unprecedented moment for our closest neighbour. We wish them well and success, and offer Mahathir and the new government our continued goodwill and friendship. — gct”

In his post, he also made references to a time when he was Prime Minister, the same time when Dr Mahathir served as Prime Minister as well. The two prime ministers were known for their disagreements over water prices, between the years 1998 and 2003.

Netizens had quite a bit to say on the matter:

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