image: Cover for "Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years". view more
Credit: World Scientific
Volume two of the authorised biography of Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Standing Tall – The Goh Chok Tong Years, was launched along with its Chinese translation on 7 May by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National Gallery Singapore.
Published by international publisher World Scientific, the book documents the story of Mr Goh's life and career as the second Prime Minister of Singapore and is written by Singapore Literature Prize-winning author Peh Shing Huei.
Through interviews and access to People's Action Party documents and Mr Goh's notes, the book uncovers rare insights into Singapore politics.
When Mr Goh took over as the second Prime Minister of Singapore in 1990, many -- from within and without the country -- wondered aloud if the young country would survive Lee Kuan Yew. But he confounded naysayers and led Singapore for 14 years through recessions, terrorist attacks, electoral setbacks and even a mysterious virus. He introduced some of the country's most controversial policies, including the foreign talent scheme and formula for ministerial salaries, while advancing a kinder and gentler Singapore with the likes of MediFund and Edusave.
The unchartered post-Cold War world which Mr Goh stepped into posed challenges to the new leader, yet he not only cemented but also expanded Singapore's global space and stature. As part of Mr Goh's approach to diplomacy, he was known to build personal ties with other world leaders and come up with big ideas.
This book is a sequel to Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story, Volume 1.
Mr Max Phua, Managing Director, World Scientific, said, "This sequel is an excellent account on Mr Goh's life and career as Singapore's Prime Minister. I personally enjoyed reading the interviews on the decisions that he had to make. Shing Huei has once again put together a well-written biography and World Scientific is proud to be a part of this effort to capture Singapore's history from the perspective of one of her leaders."
Standing Tall – The Goh Chok Tong Years, will be sold at major bookstores including Amazon. More information about the book can be found at http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12212.
About the Author
Peh Shing Huei is an author of several titles, including three bestsellers. His book When the Party Ends: China's Leaps and Stumbles after the Beijing Olympics won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2016, and Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story, Volume 1, won the Popular Readers' Choice Awards in 2019. 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: Panjang: The Tall Boy Who Became Prime Minister; Neither Civil Nor Servant: The Philip Yeo Story; 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; Struck by Lightning: Singaporean Voices Post-1965
About World Scientific Publishing
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 140 journals in various fields. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit http://www.worldscientific.com.
For more information, please contact the World Scientific communications team at communications@wspc.com.
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