Goh Chok Tong collects on election-result wager with Sitoh Yih Pin

Singapore — Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, and some friends, collected on a pre-election wager with Potong Pasir MP Sitoh Yih Pin on Friday (Sept 11).

The wager had been on Mr Sitoh’s election result in the Single-Member Constituency in the recent General Election.

In a Facebook post the same day, Mr Goh shared a photo of himself, Mr Edwin Tong, Mr Sitoh, Mr S Chandra Das and Mr Chua Kian Meng.

He wrote: “We wagered on his election result in Potong Pasir. Sitoh won handsomely but lost the bet.”

“Frankly, I would rather have paid for the lunch. What to do — another free lunch,” he quipped.

Mr Sitoh, 56, of the People’s Action Party (PAP) had been challenged by Mr Jose Raymond, 48, Chairman of the Singapore People’s Party (SPP). He secured a third term, receiving 60.69 per cent of the vote, against 39.31 per cent for Mr Raymond.

Mr Sitoh had claimed the SPP stronghold in 2011, after defeating Mrs Lina Chiam, wife of opposition stalwart Chiam See Tong. He garnered 50.4 per cent of the vote, winning by a narrow margin of 114 votes. It was third time lucky for Mr Sitoh, who had unsuccessfully challenged Mr Chiam there in 2001 and 2006.

He retained the seat for a second term in 2015, getting 66.4 of the vote, against 33.6 per cent for Mrs Chiam.

Mr Chiam had held the single-seat constituency from 1984 until 2011, when he left to lead an SPP slate in an unsuccessful contest in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

Mr Goh, 79, who had spent 44 years as an MP, announced his retirement from politics just before the recent General Election. In a letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, he said he decided not to stand in the elections “after much thought and with a heavy heart”. /TISG