Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years

by Shing Huei Pei

Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years Volume 2

366 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2021

Reviews

[Sairesh Pillai · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the second volume of Goh Chok Tong's side of The Singapore Story does gloss over certain decisions made by his government, it does provide a keen insight into the man and his views on Singapore, leadership and life in general. I also find Mr Goh's choice to delegate the writing of this story to an authorised biographer an astute one, considering that it makes this collection of stories much more readable and personable compared to the much denser and less accessible memoirs of his predecessor.

[Chris Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standing Tall follows up Tall Order by covering Goh's Premiership of Singapore. The intent of the book is to provide readers with his insider thoughts during certain points of his Premiership. At the end of the book, Goh presents his own recollections on bite-size issues.

I appreciated that Goh took the time to adds a necessary historical account of 1990s Singapore. We do need these accounts for the historical record (regardless of the authenticity of their accounts). Additionally, I like the various modalities that Goh presents this historical account.

I did not appreciate the usual talking points. I think Goh/Huei Pei can afford to leave them out. It feels repetitive to read the usual biases that Goh has.

Apart from that, I think a third book would elucidate the 2000s. Maybe Tall Story? Call to Tall?

[En Yi WEI · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it on Amazon :)