Tang Liang Hong participated in a five-member WP group led by opposition leader JB Jeyaretnam in the Cheng San GRC poll of 1997.
It faced off against a formidable PAP group that included former Minister of Education Lee Yock Suan and the incoming Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zainul Abidin Rasheed.
Tang brought up the issue of mosque construction, claiming that if Malays do not ballot for the PAP, they would not have mosque built in Cheng San. The PAP describes Tang as an anti-Christian Taiwanese bigot.
Goh Chok Tong, the then-prime secretary, argued that the PAP government believes in fair and equal care for all religions in Singapore.
According to Mr. Goh, the outcome of the Cheng San outcome will indicate where Singapore is headed: whether it shifts to a more Chinese-dominant culture or stays multiracial.
In response to a visit to the hospital, where he and another PAP frontrunners had thrown their bodyweight behind the party’s stone in the midst of what was anticipated to be a difficult challenge, Mr. Goh made this point.
Tang’s name was most recently revived in the political realm during a 2017 political debate on the Oxley Road story.
Mr. Goh, who was Emeritus Senior Minister, challenged the WP during the discussion to define its place regarding claims against then-prime secretary Lee Hsien Loong regarding how he had handled 38 Oxley Road.
Low Thia Khiang, the then-WP commander, questioned why Mr. Lee did not reimburse his younger sisters for their claims that he had abused his position in relation to what was going to be done with the house.
Mr. Low made the point that Mr. Goh, the excellent minister at the time, had sued WP member Tang for filing a police record against him during the 1997 general election.
” Personal relatives cannot sue, but political opponents and reviewers, sue until your pants drop,” said Mr. Low.
Mr. Goh rebuffed Mr. Low’s claims, calling them “political demagoguery.” ” And Tang Liang Hong, he’s not my brother,” said Mr. Goh.