Cover Singaporean businessman George Goh Ching Wah Photo: Ashley Matthew Teo
Singaporean businessman George Goh Ching Wah Photo: Ashley Matthew Teo
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The 63-year-old entrepreneur and philanthropist started planning his candidacy in 2016
Update: The Elections Department (ELD) announced on August 18 that Mr Goh’s application for a Certificate of Eligibility has been unsuccessful.
Unless you have been living under a rock these last few weeks, you’ll likely recognise the name George Goh. Ever since the entrepreneur and philanthropist made it known that he wants to run for the presidency of Singapore, he’s become a very public figure, with a myriad of opinions expressed by his would-be constituents. Some vocal locals are clearly upset—not only is this group happy with the candidacy of Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, but they were also hoping for a walkover.
Over social media, you can see and read multiple complaints about being potentially forced to go to the polls. Others are claiming that Mr Goh’s campaign is nothing more than a political show, that he’s a patsy being asked to challenge Minister Shanmugaratnam, but with no real chance of winning.
Still, others are eager to hear from and maybe support an independent candidate.
And this notion of independence seems to be the foundation of Mr Goh’s entire campaign. In an exclusive interview with Tatler Singapore, the affable and elder businessman explained that ever since the criteria to be President was changed in 2016, he’s been working towards ensuring that he meets the requirements dictated by the Government.
At the time of publishing, Mr Goh is still waiting to see if he will be issued his Certificate of Eligibility. He believes he’s done everything correctly: “I built a company; I put the company together. I saw the figure [with] the accountant, the auditor, and the lawyer. The figure is above 500 million. With this money, [if] they say I don’t qualify, something has gone very wrong somewhere.”
When he visited us at Tatler House earlier this month, the 63-year-old founder of Harvey Norman Ossia was accompanied by media veteran Bertha Henson, who is acting as an adviser, and a team of public relations consultants. We found him well-trained, giving safe and well-practised answers. He admitted, when pressed on his views of the LGBTQ+ community, that “my opinions don’t matter; they are only personal opinions.”
He continued: “If you are President, it is for all people. Whoever is in the job, he must understand. Just be a president for all people.”
In his own words, Mr Goh gives his take on a range of subjects, from today’s youth to what social issues face Singapore today.
Click to watch the video above.
About
Aun started his career in media, working at illustrious publications in NYC, Paris, and Hong Kong before launching his own Asia-regional lifestyle magazine, East, that was called "Asia's hippest magazine" by Asiaweek and "an Asian Vanity Fair" by Fortune. Committed to community service, Aun has helmed the visual arts and literary arts divisions for the National Arts Council in Singapore; led the marketing, communications, and corporate community investments teams at the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre; was the founding Chair of the Pangdemonium Theatre Company; and currently sits on the Board of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. In 2006, Aun co-founded The Ate Group, a content strategy and communications agency specialising in F&B, hospitality, luxury and lifestyle. Aun has run the content and communications teams at Tripadvisor; similarly run content and communications at a sustainability focused tech start up; and run marketing and communications at a global BPO with over 17,000 employees worldwide. Aun has also been a consultant for Mediacorp and has produced and hosted two food & travel television series for them. In 2015 he began working on the creation of a private members club, Straits Clan, which he launched in 2019 and sold the following year. Returning to his roots, Aun joined Tatler Asia in 2023 as editor-in-chief in Singapore and is committed to telling great stories of change makers through Tatler’s online and offline platforms.
Work
As Editor-in-Chief of Tatler Singapore, Aun leads all the content teams: branded content, print, digital, and the creative teams. He works closely with the heads of each team to ensure that Tatler continues to cover the most important, inspiring and exciting stories that are affecting Singapore and our region. He also works closely with the events and commercial teams and is always excited to collaborate on new ideas and projects that the Tatler team can activate.
Follow Aun on Instagram at @aun_koh (primarily a food account) and on Linkedin here.
