Goh Meng Seng

Goh Meng Seng
Goh Meng Seng during his rally speech at Tampines Stadium as a candidate of the National Solidarity Party
Native name	吴明盛
Born	1970 Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Education	National University of Singapore
Occupation	Director of Social Welfare Organisations, Politician
Political party	People's Power Party (2015-Present) National Solidarity Party (2009-2011) Workers' Party (2001-2009)

Goh Meng Seng (Chinese: 吴明盛) is an opposition politician in Singapore who was previously the Secretary-General of the National Solidarity Party (NSP)^[1] before becoming the Secretary-General of the People's Power Party (PPP).

Political career

Goh contested in the 2006 general election with the Workers' Party in the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (Aljunied GRC) as one of 5 team members.^[2] The team garnered 43.9% of the district votes, finished as one of the top three non-ruling party district performers and was eligible for a Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) position which was taken up by team-leader Sylvia Lim.

Goh left Workers' Party in 2006 after the election due to "some Internet postings which had tarnished the WP's reputation"^[3] despite being a member of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and a member of the "A team" of the Workers' Party. He joined the National Solidarity Party and became its Secretary-General. Goh contested in the 2011 general election in the five-man Tampines Group Representation Constituency as team leader against the incumbent Mah Bow Tan (the Minister for National Development), receiving 42.78% of the votes.^[4] Though his team lost, they improved significantly by 11.29% relative to the Singapore Democratic Alliance team that contested in the same district and finished with 31.49% of the votes against Mah in the 2006 general election.^[5]

Goh stepped down from his post as Secretary-General of NSP after the 2011 election in June 2011 "for a breather and to take stock of his future".^[6] He also gave up his seat in the Central Executive Committee of NSP and went into partisan political sabbatical to help Presidential hopeful Tan Kin Lian in his bid for presidency. Goh Meng Seng left NSP after the 2011 election.

In May 2015, Goh announced that he was setting-up a new political party called the People's Power Party barely a few months before the 2015 election. He became the party leader.^[7]

His party contested in the Singapore General Election 2015 as the youngest party to date. It only contested the four-seat Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituency. The team consists of himself, Lee Tze Shih, Low Wai Choo and Syafarin Sarif. The team lost to the People's Action Party team, which consisted of Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, Low Yen Ling, Zaqy Mohamad and Yee Chia Hsing. People's Power Party garnered 25,460 or 23.11% of the valid votes. PAP fared better, and garnered 84,731 or 76.89% of the valid votes.[4]

Despite being a veteran politician, he and his team was one of the worst performing candidates in the election. He returned to live with his family in Hong Kong after the election, from which he continues his political contribution mostly in the form of Facebook postings.

Education

Goh was educated at River Valley High School and Hwa Chong Junior College, before going on to the National University of Singapore where he completed a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in Economics.

References