Charity Book Launch for "Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story" Raises $2 million

Photo (L-R): Tham Loke Kheng (CEO, Mediacorp), Ku Geok Boon (CEO, SG Enable), ESM Goh, Seah Kian Peng (Chairman, Marine Parade Leadership Foundation), Niam Chiang Meng (Chairman, Mediacorp)

At the charity book launch of Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story held at the Fullerton Hotel on 21 November 2018, $2 million was raised for two charities started by Emeritus Senior Minister (ESM) Goh Chok Tong, namely, EduGrow for Brighter Tomorrows, and the MediaCorp Enable Fund (MEF). More than 250 autographed copies of the book priced at $2,000, $10,000 and $50,000 were sold.

The MEF helps people with disabilities maximise their potential through early intervention for children who are hearing impaired, or those who have autism or Down Syndrome. Two awards will be introduced to highlight the achievements and potential of people with disabilities.

The EduGrow fund is part of the Marine Parade Leadership Foundation (MPLF), which was set up 9 years ago to encourage and train young Singaporeans from Marine Parade and the surrounding constituencies to serve the community. EduGrow aims to help disadvantaged students from kindergartens and schools in the Marine Parade do better through a holistic approach that goes beyond tuition.

Guests included Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance and Education Ms Indranee Rajah and Minister for Communications and Information Mr S Iswaran. Former ministers Wong Kan Seng, S. Jayakumar and Yaacob Ibrahim, top lawyers Davinder Singh S.C. and Alvin Yeo S.C., and Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings, Ho Kwon Ping also attended. Representatives from Marine Parade, Mediacorp, Keppel Corporation, SMRT Corporation, NTUC Fairprice Foundation Ltd, Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd and CapitaLand, among others, were present.

In his speech, ESM Goh thanked Robert and Philip Ng of Far East Organization for their generosity. He shared that he chose to hold this charity book launch at the Fullerton Hotel because of the memories it held:

"I started work in the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Office in City Hall. A year or so later, it was transferred to the Ministry of Finance in Fullerton Building. Here, I literally worked my way up, from the second floor to the top floor where my offices were at different times, and in my civil service career. Here was also where Neptune Orient Lines was born. Here was also where I started my political journey as Senior Minister of State for Finance. And my final reason for choosing this place? I officially opened the Fullerton Hotel as Prime Minister on 1 January 2001."

ESM Goh reiterated his hopes for younger Singaporeans to step up and serve the country, as the reason for launching Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story. As a beneficiary of the system of meritocracy in Singapore, ESM Goh emphasised the importance of maintaining "an open system with opportunities for all Singaporeans to advance themselves."

Published by homegrown international publisher World Scientific, this new book documenting the story of Goh Chok Tong's life and career was officially launched on 8 November 2018 by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The book is written by Singapore Literature Prize-winning author Peh Shing Huei.

About the author

Peh Shing Huei is a Singapore Literature Prize-winning author of several books, including the No. 1 bestseller Neither Civil Nor Servant: The Philip Yeo Story. He is a founding partner of content agency The Nutgraf, and former news editor and China bureau chief at The Straits Times.

Other books written and co-written by the author: Dream Island: The Mad, Mad World of Philip Yeo; Project 0812: The Inside Story of Singapore's Journey to Olympic Glory; Rings of Stars and Crescent: 70 Years of the Olympic Movement in Singapore; When the Party Ends: China's Leaps and Stumbles after the Beijing Olympics; Struck by Lightning: Singaporean Voices Post-1965.

As the largest privately-held Singapore publisher and a leading independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research and professional communities, World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organisations like the Nobel Foundation and US National Academies Press to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. The company publishes about 600 books annually and 135 journals in various fields. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit www.worldscientific.com.