1918 - 2010 Goh Keng Swee - People's Action Party - PAP

Goh Keng Swee: The Man
Master blaster
Death is often touted as a leveler
of men. In the case of Goh
Keng Swee, it has been quite
the opposite. And while much tends
to go to the grave with the deceased,
Goh’s death has proved to be revelationary
at two levels.
Those under 30 have
learnt the extent to which
the fabric of their lives has
been woven by one man’s
ideas. Those older have
found out his contribution
goes beyond that, to being
mid­wife for the birth of Singapore
as an independent
country.
What has also emerged
is how much can be accomplished
based on principles
that he followed. They included
being self­critical,
honest, tough, creative and
moral.
Goh was born on Oct 6,
1918, in Malacca, the fifth of
six children in the Methodist
family of a housewife and
a teacher. He had a Christian
name, Robert, which
he disliked. The Peranakan
family moved to Singapore
when he was two, and his
father went into the rubber
business.
His constant companions on the
plantation were books. He read mostly
serious stuff all his life, until he had
problems with his eyesight in his 80s.
Like his sisters, he played the piano.
He also picked up the accordion on his
own, and listened to classical music.
Goh attended the Anglo­Chinese
schools. An essay for his school magazine
at 13 perhaps foretold the direction
he would move in. In it, he insisted
anyone who wants to “prosper in this
world must have an ambition” – “to
make ourselves useful to our country,
our people and ourselves”.
Goh wore a trendy sharksin suit when he married Alice Woon in
1942. He was 24 then and she was 17.
He scored the second­highest
grades in his school for the Senior
Cambridge exams. He had distinctions
in English Language and Literature,
and Geography. His favourite subject
though was Mathematics.
His results won him a Queen’s
Scholarship and a chance to study
abroad. But he opted instead for Singapore’s
Raffles College, as it did not require
him to sit for extra subjects, and
the arts stream.
To better understand the effects of
the Great Depression on his family’s finances,
he did Economics as a major.
In 1939, he graduated with
just a Class 2 degree in Arts
but a distinction in Economics.
By all accounts, Goh did
not shine at his first job,
as a tax collector for the
government. But he met
his first wife, Madam Alice
Woon, at his office. He noticed
her when she pointed
out that the spectacles he’d
been looking for were on his
nose!
They married in 1942,
the day he turned 24. She
was 17. He wore a trendy
white sharkskin suit for the
occasion. They had one son
and remained together for
about 40 years, parting in
the mid­1980s.
After World War II, he
worked for the Social Wel­
fare Department. He set
up “people’s restaurants”,
which offered cheap nutritious
meals, and got an insight
into the poor living conditions
here. By this time, he was taking an
interest in politics.
It deepened when he was at the
London School of Economics in 1948
to study statistics. At the time, the British
Labour government was nationalising
industries, the communists were
PETIR MAY / JUNE 10
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