Goh Chok Tong v. Tan Cheng Bock - Is MSN reporting fair?

I am the last person to take an interest in politics but there are times when the gross injustice of what I see on the news repulses me and compels me to say something in defence of an innocent party who is wronged. This was precisely how I felt when I read this article which appeared on MSN two days ago: Tan Cheng Bock maintains a dignified silence despite Goh Chok Tong’s persistent digs.


In the news article, Jewel Stolarchuk says that "despite ESM Goh's lack of hesitance in attacking the man he once called his 'very close friend'... Dr Tan continues to take the high road" by remaining silent.

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Former PM of Singapore

File from Wikimedia Creative Commons.

As most Singaporeans know, Dr Tan, a Presidential hopeful (he applied to be Singapore's President in 2011 and 2017), had the rug pulled from under his feet when Parliament decided in 2017 that the next President should be from a minority race, thereby disqualifying Dr Tan from the outset. Dr Tan subsequently formed a political party to contest the ruling party at the next General Election. The MSN article is about Mr Goh's reaction to news that Dr Tan was starting a new political party.

Dr Tan Cheng Bock
File from Wikimedia Creative Commons

I read the article twice to see how ESM Goh had attacked Dr Tan as the writer asserts but I could find nothing that justified her allegation.

Let's examine very carefully ESM Goh's statements as reported in the article and see if the writer is justified in regarding them as attacks on Dr Tan.

1. This is what MSN wrote:

On 31 Dec 2018, Dr Tan said that he is retiring from his practice of medicine to serve Singaporeans – his post was taken to be the clearest indication at the time that he would contest politics once again. Just a day later, ESM Goh wrote on Facebook:  "To serve my country' is a well-worn out cliché favoured by politicians, new and old alike."

This and what Mr Goh said subsequently can hardly be construed as an attack. He was merely giving voice to what every reasonable person in Singapore must have been thinking. It is no secret to Singaporeans that Dr Tan aspired to be the next President. He had no expressed intention of becoming a politician again. His desire all along to the knowledge of all Singaporeans was to be our Elected President.

Assuming that the writer's assumption is right and Mr Goh was referring to Dr Tan, what Mr Goh said simply echoed our very thoughts:

How sincere is a politician's remark  that he wants to serve his county if he contests in a GE only because his dream of being the President was thwarted? 

We all know for a fact that Dr Tan's dream since 2011 was to be the President of Singapore. He applied again to be our President in 2017. If Parliament had not stepped in to ensure a President from a minority race, Dr Tan would have contested in the Presidential Election and he stood the chance of winning it. Let's suppose he did.  Dr Tan would then be our constitutional President (with very limited powers) under the present government.

Note that (and this is a very important point) Dr Tan would have been perfectly happy to serve as the constitutional President under the PAP government if his dream of becoming the President had not been thwarted.

How sincere and true then is Dr Tan's statement that he wanted to serve his country by starting his own political party and contesting in the GE?  It's a perfectly legitimate question that Mr Goh asks and not just Mr Goh alone but every citizen too.

2.  Next, MSN says this:

During the PSP’s media conference and official launch in August, Dr Tan put forth the message that the ruling PAP has changed and has “lost its way.” 

Mr Goh sniped on social media later: “Tan Cheng Bock says that Lee Kuan Yew invited him to join the PAP. Ouch! 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?” 

He added: “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”. He is like Don Quixote tilting at windmills”

How can this be an attack by Mr Goh? Dr Tan accused the PAP (Mr Goh's political party) of having "lost its way". Mr Goh merely replies to Dr Tan's statement by making an equivalent statement that it's Dr Tan who has "lost his way".

If you examine both the statements of Dr Tan and Mr Goh, you will see that a reasonable man has every right to question the veracity of Dr Tan's statement. How can Dr Tan say that the PAP has lost its way when in 2011 and again, very recently, in 2017, he did all he could to contest in the Presidential Election? Dr Tan wanted to be a constitutional president under the PAP government. To say that the PAP has "lost its way" is a serious allegation and here, Dr Tan has absolutely no justification for saying that.

At which point is the PAP alleged to have lost its way? Is Dr Tan saying that the PAP lost its way very recently - less than two years ago or is he saying that the PAP lost its way before that?

If Dr Tan thinks that the PAP lost its way before 2017, how noble and sincere was Dr Tan's intention when he fought so hard in 2011 (and he applied again in 2017) to be a constitutional Elected President under a government that had lost its way? Let's not kid ourselves. Everyone knows that the powers of a constitutional president are extremely limited and he appears more like a figurehead. This is the same with the constitutional heads of state all over the world (with very few exceptions) and particularly so in a republic such as Singapore. If you really believe that the ruling party has lost its way, it would be dishonourable to want to endorse such a government by being its figurehead president. Surely the right thing to do is to contest the ruling party in a General Election rather than to apply to be a President under such a party? But Dr Tan applied TWICE to be the President under the PAP government.

We must not forget that Dr Tan was a PAP man for a very long time. Dr Tan was a PAP Member of Parliament for 26 years - from 1980 to 2006. But he remained a PAP member up to May 2011 when he resigned as a party member only in order to be able to contest in the Presidential Election which requires applicants to be non-partisan. He continued to endorse the PAP government by contesting in a fierce battle to be the Elected President under the ruling party in 2011 and he applied again to be the Elected President under the PAP government in 2017. By Dr Tan's own conduct, it is reasonable to conclude that as an honourable man (I really do not once doubt Dr Tan's integrity and honour) he certainly did not think of the PAP as having lost its way at least from 1980 to 2017.

If Dr Tan says that the PAP only lost its way after he had applied to be President in 2017 and was thwarted by Parliamentary decision to elect someone from the minority race, Singaporeans will want to know if his only reason to enter politics is a personal vendetta against the ruling party because his hope of becoming our Elected President has been dashed?

Either way, Dr Tan has shot himself in the foot when he said the PAP had "lost its way".


3.  The MSN report gives one final alleged 'attack' by Mr Goh:

On Sunday (29 September), Dr Tan and his Progress Singapore Party (PSP) visited 29 constituencies across the nation in their inaugural islandwide walkabout. Sharing photos of PSP members reaching out to residents at Marine Parade GRC, ESM Goh wrote on Facebook: “PSP eyeing Marine Parade. ‘Et tu, Brute?'”

And again:

Despite ESM Goh’s persistent attempts at putting down his “very close friend,” Dr Tan continues to take the high road. When reporters asked Dr Tan about ESM Goh’s comments that he has “lost his way” last month, Dr Tan asserted: 

“I will never talk about my friend in public. That’s my answer. I won’t go into that as respect for my friend.”

But what can Dr Tan say in reply to Mr Goh's allusion to his Brutus-like betrayal? Dr Tan was a PAP MP for 26 years and a PAP member for more than 30 years.  He only left the PAP in order to contest in the Presidential Election. Dr Tan's desire to be our President under the PAP government is a further endorsement of the PAP. And it was Mr Goh who made it possible for Dr Tan to enter politics in the first place. And as if all that is not enough, Dr Tan even reached out to residents in Marine Parade which is Mr Goh's constituency. Must Dr Tan actually use a real dagger before Jewel Stolarchuk will accept that Mr Goh's "Et tu, Brute?" is appropriate?


A NEED FOR FAIR NEWS REPORTING

It's very hard to defend the MSN report as unbiased or even professional.  The writer seems determined from the very outset to see Mr Goh's legitimate remarks as "attacks" and to paint Dr Tan as the honourable man who takes the high road by not replying to Mr Goh's remarks. I have shown why such a conclusion cannot be reached if you look at all the facts which are openly available to everyone and known to most Singaporeans.

I'm generally loath to make political comments of any sort in my blog. I am neither an establishment man nor one who sycophantically defends the government in everything it does and every policy it comes up with. I have repeatedly excoriated the Ministry of Education for not disbanding the Speak Good English Movement and I have filled this blog with countless articles (click here for a list of such articles) on how you can be sure that the Speak Good English Movement has as much knowledge of English grammar as Phua Chu Kang has of Latin declensions.  If I see that the establishment is wrong, I will say so openly. But when I see a news report which is unjust and biased and yet has an extensive reach, I feel compelled to at least voice my objection.