Having 3 Lees in Cabinet would have made my job difficult: Goh Chok Tong
While he did consider bringing the late Lee Kuan Yew’s son Hsien Yang into politics, Goh Chok Tong conceded that the presence of three Lees in the Cabinet would be a great impediment to doing his job.
“But in Cabinet, how could I succeed as a PM if the father was there, the elder son and the second son too? Nobody would believe I am my own man, isn’t it? With three – what chance would you have?” said Goh in the first volume of his newly-released memoirs entitled Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story.
“I mean, that was how people would think, not knowing we are different individuals.”
In the book, the Emeritus Senior Minister (ESM) added that he ultimately decided against recruiting Hsien Yang into politics, despite the valuable private sector experience he would have brought. “I did not recommend him because I think he would be outshone by his brother.”
These are some of the revelations in the 280-page Tall Order, penned by former Straits Times journalist Peh Shing Huei and published by World Scientific Press. It tells the story of Goh’s life and career until he succeeded Lee Kuan Yew as PM in 1990.
Tall Order will be officially launched next Thursday, 8 November. Yahoo News Singapore‘s review of the book will be released on the same day.
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