'It saddens me to see how Tan Cheng Bock has lost his way': ESM Goh Chok Tong
SINGAPORE — Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has accused Progress Singapore Party (PSP) secretary-general Tan Cheng Bock of having “lost his way”.
“Tan Cheng Bock was my classmate in Raffles Institution. I have known him close for over 60 years. It saddens me to see how he has ‘lost his way’,” said Goh in a Facebook post a day after the PSP held its public launch.
At an earlier PSP media conference on 26 July, Dr Tan – a former People’s Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament – pointed to an “erosion of transparency, independence and accountability” in the PAP-led government as his key reason for starting his party.
“I didn’t change. The PAP changed,” he said.
Goh criticised Dr Tan’s claim that he had been invited by late former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew to join the PAP.
“He omits to say that I put his name up to LKY. Surely I deserve some credit – or rather, blame – for who he has become now?” said Goh.
The 72-year-old MP for Marine Parade GRC also took aim at the PSP’s slogan, claiming, “‘For Country, For People’. He has conveniently left out ‘For Me’!”
In his post, Goh also compared Dr Tan to “Don Quixote tilting at windmills”, making reference to the titular character of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic novel in which a nobleman decides to become a knight and live by an archaic code of chivalry – but ends up fighting imaginary enemies instead.
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