ESM Goh Launches Special Marine Parade Edition of "Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story"

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong launched an exclusive Marine Parade Edition of Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story at the Marine Parade Public Library on 1 December 2018, where limited copies of the book were sold at a special price.

In a heartfelt tribute to the constituency where he has served as its Member of Parliament in 10 general elections and one by-election, ESM Goh said that he would not have succeeded in politics, without having Marine Parade as the starting point of his political journey. Over the years, the area was transformed from a piece of reclaimed land to "a home for all ages" and this could not have been done without people "with integrity, commitment, ability, selflessness and drive to run a constituency".

He acknowledged those who had helped him, including his Elections Agent in the 1976 General Elections, Chong Ah Fatt, who passed away at a young age.

In his speech, author Peh Shing Huei shared an anecdote about Marine Parade:

"The five commissioners of the book are all grassroots leaders of Marine Parade. At the start of the project, they gave me only one suggestion. They told me, through Kok Pak Chow: "Please write as little about Marine Parade as possible. The people of Marine Parade all know ESM Goh very well. We want you to tell his story to the rest of Singapore, to the rest of the world. Let them know about Goh Chok Tong." This speaks of the generosity and openness of Marine Parade.

And so I did. That is why Marine Parade makes up only one chapter in the book -SORRY! - and even then, the title of the book was spelled wrongly as "Marine P-A-L-A-D-E". It was intentional. My spelling is not that bad. For those who have not read the book, you have to read to find out why your hometown has been spelt wrongly."

The event was attended by Mr Edwin Tong, 2nd Adviser to Joo Chiat Community Centre Management Community (CCMC), Ms Tin Pei Ling, Grassroots Adviser to Macpherson Grassroots Organisations, as well as Mr Anand Nalachandran, Vice-chairman of Marine Parade CCMC, who also gave the opening address.

Photo: ESM Goh (left) and Peh signing copies of the book for Marine Parade residents.

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. All royalties from the book will go to two charities founded by ESM Goh, the Mediacorp Enable Fund and EduGrow for Brighter Tomorrows.

Sales of the book will continue on Monday, 3 December 2018 at Marine Parade Community Club and Joo Chiat Community Club while stocks last.

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 144 journals in various fields. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit www.worldscientific.com.