Former minister Yeo Cheow Tong to retire from politics
December 30th, 2009 | 
Author: Written by Our Correspondent
Former transport minister Mr Yeo Cheow Tong will not be taking part in the next general election due by February 2012 and will retire from politics for good.
Mr Yeo, who have been a MP since 1984, felt “it’s time to call it a day and let a younger person take over.”
He left the Cabinet in 2006 but stay on as a MP at the request of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
However, according to some unverified rumors circulating in cyberspace, Mr Yeo was “removed” from his cabinet position because of some “problems” in his personal life.
A website bearing Mr Yeo’s full name set up two years ago by an anonymous blogger claimed that Mr Yeo was in “financial distress” from his wife’s “investments” in property.
It also alleged that Mr Yeo is now working for Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group and drawing a salary of around $18,000 a month.
Mr Yeo has not refuted the allegations publicly or taken any action against the blog so far.
Another minister who has retired is Dr Lee Boon Yang who was appointed as a non-executive Chairman on the board of Keppel Corporation, a gigantic state-owned company. Dr Lee is a vet by training.
With the announcement of Mr Yeo’s retirement, it appears that the next election is around the corner.
As in the past, the ruling party will first announce the retirement of its ministers followed by introduction of its new candidates in the media.
The electoral boundaries and polling date are usually revealed only in the last minute to catch the opposition off guard.
With the mainstream media firmly in its control, the ruling party has managed to keep scandals of its leaders under wraps and allowed only good news to be released to the public.
This explains why over 90 per cent of Singaporeans had expressed confidence in their leaders and public institutions in a survey done by the United Nations Development Programme, the highest in the world.
The opposition is also disadvantaged by the short campaign period of only nine days which hampers their efforts to get their message across to the electorate.
With the ruling party giving out Singapore citizenships like freebies to foreigners, it will be an uphill task for the opposition to mount a credible challenge against it in future elections to come.
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22 Responses to “Former minister Yeo Cheow Tong to retire from politics”
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What about the sick old man?
hey!maybe ltk wants to “have tea with yeo cheow tong” and see whether he could use his experience for the benefit of the opposition and all singaporeans…is he already past 65?
anyway,even if he is,that’s still very young compared with
gct or mm lee?
…’more good years’ahead for you,yeo cheow tong , if you join hands with ltk or cst?
don’t waste “local talents”…
It’s not surprising. Go to http://www.yeocheowtong.com and you will know why he must step down. It’s another of those long line of sacrifices PAP have to make to remain credible in the eyes of the populace.
There are more skeletons in the PAP closet.
The article started with one subject and ended with another.
Btw what has this moron contributed to Singapore?
huh? yeo only got 18k sing dollar per mth? not 180k? i thought these ministers are well-sought after talent by the whole world who will get the top million dollar salary.
I’ve emailed an article for TR to publish but I’ve not gotten any reply and neither has TR published it.
Here’s the article:
I take issue with Mrs Lily Chan-Wong Jee Choo, Deputy Director (Policy and Property), HDB’s reply in the ST article “Singles do get benefits” on 23 Dec 2009.
Mrs Chan had made the following statements:
1. “Permanent residents (PRs) do not enjoy any housing subsidy and can buy only from the resale market.”
2. “Singles are not allowed to buy new flats as the subsidy included in the selling price is for a family of at least two.”
I would like to point out the falsity of statement 1. A Singapore citizen (SC) and PR family nucleus can buy a flat directly from HDB and hence PRs do enjoy housing subsidies. A SC-PR nucleus enjoys the same level of subsidy as a SC-SC nucleus when buying flats directly from HDB.
In statement 2, Mrs Chan stated that Single SCs are not allowed to buy new flats as the subsidy is for “a family of at least two”. Yet, it is a fact that SC-PR nuclei can enjoy subsidies when buying new flats. Is Mrs Chan implying that the PR counterpart in the SC-PR nucleus is more deserving than a Single SC and hence entitled to the subsidy? Is HDB insinuating that a Single SC is less deserving than the PR counterpart to have a stake in public housing? In the resale market, Half Housing Grants are applied to enable only eligible members of the family nucleus to enjoy housing subsidies. Why was the Half Housing Grant concept not adopted in the sale of new flats to SC-PR families to ensure equity?
It is a shame that the person involved in HDB policies is ignorant of the fact that PRs do enjoy housing subsidies and makes such factually inaccurate statements in the press. It would be a tall order to expect HDB to formulate equitable policies when HDB staff involved in policy work are not even familiar with their own HDB policies, much less appreciate the detrimental effects of such ill-thought policies which are felt so starkly by the layperson. Considering that HDB had displayed such poor fundamental knowledge of their own policies, I would not be surprised that the queries in my letter go unanswered.
Regards
Mr Tan
time to clear out deadwood and bring in fresh tinder?
unfortunately, there’s still some more deadwood around
as for the financial distress in property investments, that’s nothing so long they invested and lost their own money, but if the allegation by the site that a rescue was carried out is true, then it really is serious.
Fair and Square
a. Please do not suggest a useless retiree like YCT to join CST or LTK. Why do you think PAP cut him loose?
b. Anyway YCT has too much unnecessary baggage. I am not suggesting anything untoward, but take a real good look at the postings in the internet.
c. Typically with all the adverse postings, YCT or his wife, Helen should be suing to clear their name. Why not even a whimper?
d. Also if we want LKY to step down perhaps CST himself could set an example by stepping down first. Then we can be on moral high grounds.
e. The media hasn’t been fair to the opposition thus far. Do we expect any different this time around?
f. I am not saying anything about the past elections but perhaps this time around, we could invite some of the Elections Commissions e.g. EU or UN or other pressure and interest to observe and produce a fair report at the end of the election exercise.
Any other suggestions?
sorry – corrections:
f. …..we could invite some of the Election Commissions e.g. EU or UN or other pressure and interest GROUPS to observe and perhaps produce a fair report at the end of the election exercise.
PAP got new candidates? I don’t really care. Money-minded like their predecessors I bet.
kopitiamahpek,
its typical of TR to lump irelevant sentences together to fan the Opp flame is all of us.
ha ha
@KennaSai
well,it’s good to to give people a second chance to make amends.
YCT is not that old,really.
perhaps,if he is out of the system,he can be a better contributor to society?
i was thinking that it might help opposition a little to have someone who was once an insider?
elsewhere;like in japan,we have people who were from the LDP coming out to contribute.
a bit of history with YCT
29 November 2006
Ngoi, 46, has been on no-pay leave from NTU’s mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty since he was charged with giving false information to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in January. The case ended yesterday after he pleaded guilty to two other charges of giving false information to the authorities. He was fined $6,000.
Yesterday’s hearing came a month after Ngoi was acquitted of lying to CPIB that his former China mistress, Ms Guo Juan, had paid Singaporean Lau Chee Khuen, 36, to marry her.
Mr Low Peng Kit, chairman of the Yew Tee Citizens’ Consultative Committee, called the NTU don a man who ‘has a heart for the people’
Even former transport minister Yeo Cheow Tong called Ngoi a reliable person who could be entrusted with the task of handling large sums of money.
Mr Yeo, a Member of Parliament for Hong Kah GRC where Ngoi lives, wrote in his testimonial that he found the NTU lecturer to be helpful, hardworking and dedicated.
‘He was a good leader, and was able to motivate and help fellow grassroots members and leaders to do their best.
‘He was reliable, and from the way he ably managed tens of thousands of dollars for constituency events, his integrity was never in doubt.’
Mr Yeo appointed Ngoi chairman of the Yew Tee PAP Community Foundation management committee in 2000.
Concluding his testimonial, Mr Yeo wrote: ‘Prof Ngoi devoted most of his spare time to the residents, spending numerous hours on most days in Yew Tee on community work.
‘He has never given me cause to doubt his commitment to the community nor his
integrity and reliability.
Maybe “The People’s Man” will replace him.
I thot for some reason or other, this deadwood was already made redundant by PAP years ago. It was a kind of surprise that they see the need to make the announcement.
Is it a wayang to show that that it was a happy ending, afterall ?
Yew Cheow Tong is another example of a talentless talent that the PAP likes to crow about. He was paid millions of dollars during his tenure as minister, but pray tell me what did he achieve during that time?
he’s still around meh? thought this piece of dead wood already thrown into the fire long ago!
Spring cleaning come early??
YTC had to walk the plank after the exposure of wife and sister-in-law.(Singaporean)
Temasek(foreign CEO)Goodyear had to walk the plank after a short stint and exposure??? (disagreement in policies or disagreement in true Family line )
Are the THINK TANKS-ADVISERS truly doing their work on due diligence? How many more of such high flyers are there??? they don’ come cheap
get rid those that are turned off by politics, the ones that may have potential scandals, and those who talk too much.
replace them with lapdogs and lackeys.
shiok.
Actually we should get those who doesn’t want anything to do with politics to be the politicians.
You will be surprised to find out those who does not want it usually do a better job then those who wants it.
Same for selecting OCS cadets to become officers/leaders in the SAF…use to evaluate OCS cadets [except for the white horses as it is hands off] and our selection is usually skew more to those who do not want to be the leaders but are responsible that deliver the goods usually but this is in the late 80s…those who just wants the leadership, most times then not they screw the pooches. Past the 1990s not sure if the selection criteria has been change and amend till out of shape due to self serving fools and wayang short term thinking idiots.
Leadership lesson 101.