Tan Jee Say, SDP
SINGAPORE: Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Tan Jee Say said he was surprised about what his former boss Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said about him on Saturday night and wished he had not gone down to this personal level.
Mr Tan was speaking to Channel NewsAsia during a walkabout at Empress Road market with other SDP candidates from his team on Sunday morning.
At a People’s Action Party (PAP) rally for the Marine Parade GRC, Mr Goh had pointed out that Mr Tan appeared to have ’benefited’ from his previous appointment, and he wanted to make known why Mr Tan left the civil service.
In response, Mr Tan, who was Mr Goh’s Principal Private Secretary in the 1980s, said he had already intended to leave the civil service at the end of his government bond, but was persuaded to stay on in his position.
This was when Mr Goh was Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Tan said it was never his mission in life to remain in public service and after five years, he resigned with Mr Goh’s blessing.
He added that he was surprised as Mr Goh had earlier stated he would not comment on any candidate outside of Marine Parade GRC.
Mr Tan is contesting in Holland—Bukit Timah GRC on the SDP ticket.
He also refuted Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s comment that he was not ’qualified’ to speak on manufacturing, saying that he was trained in economics and had experience in policy making during his time at the Trade and Industry Ministry.
Mr Tan added that his proposal to shift Singapore’s reliance away from manufacturing has earned the endorsement of industry players here as well as Lord Butler who oversaw the United Kingdom’s economic transformation in the 1980s and 1990s.
—CNA/ck/fa