GE2025: ‘PAP doesn’t believe in gambling,’ says Gho Sze Kee on Mountbatten rival’s Bitcoin ideas

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SINGAPORE – Ms Gho Sze Kee, the PAP’s Mountbatten candidate, has cautioned voters against what she described as impractical policies from her election challenger, independent candidate Jeremy Tan.

Speaking at a rally on April 30, Ms Gho said Mr Tan wants the Government to invest in digital currency Bitcoin, a “wildly volatile” product.

The maritime lawyer noted that Bitcoin is not backed up by any physical asset or government body, and its value can go to zero with “nothing to back it up”.

“This is what I call gambling… The PAP does not believe in gambling,” Ms Gho, 46, told rally attendees at the Home of Athletics sports track in Stadium Boulevard.

Ms Gho has been a PAP activist since 2012 and the party’s Bukit Timah branch secretary since December 2020.

Mr Tan’s campaign website states that his proposed policies are centred on the termination of Housing Board flats being used as retirement assets and the creation of a Singapore-dollar-denominated Bitcoin exchange-traded fund as a form of savings protection for Singaporeans.

Ms Gho asked: “Why is he recommending Bitcoin and early retirement, when he himself has admitted that he made his money from a bricks-and-mortar distribution business?

“Walk the talk.”

Mr Tan, a 34-year-old retiree, had said in a media interview that he made his fortune when consumer goods conglomerate Unilever acquired a brand in his skincare distribution business. He had started investing in Bitcoin more than a decade ago.

Ms Gho said Mr Tan’s other Bitcoin-related proposals – such as Bitcoin baby products – require more money from the Government, adding: “Should this money drop from the sky? Some of the ideas are simply just not practical.”

Mr Tan proposed creating an account with $10,000 worth of Bitcoin for every baby here.

Noting that some younger residents had asked about her opponent’s Bitcoin-related proposals, Ms Gho said many of them told her that they rejected his ideas.

It is important, she added, not to confuse ideas and suggestions with actual policymaking.

Rounding up her comments on her challenger, Ms Gho said: “We do not run a country based on flashy sound bites. I will leave it to the residents to question his motivations.”

On her campaigning efforts, Ms Gho noted that she has been walking the ground in Mountbatten with outgoing MP Lim Biow Chuan over the past 10 months.

Mr Lim is stepping down after four parliamentary terms.

Ms Gho said she and her team have mapped out improvements to the estate, such as constituency sports clubs, career help, mental health support, childcare slots, connectivity improvements and dog runs.

“I am not a slick talker,” she said.

“I offer no catchy sound bites or slogans. I make no empty promises, but what I can give you is hard work, sincerity and the conviction to serve.”

Ms Gho said leaving Singapore in a better state for the next generation was why her team, Mr Lim and the PAP serve the people.

“There was no parachute involved. I have been walking the ground for decades, and I will be on the ground for Singaporeans for decades more.”

Paying tribute to Mr Lim’s contributions to the constituency, Ms Gho said again that she has big shoes to fill.

Mr Lim also spoke at the rally, voicing his concerns about Mr Tan potentially being unable to manage a town council, such as selecting a managing agent and keeping up with lift maintenance.

Mr Tan told The Straits Times on April 29 that he had reached out to former town council staff to learn more about running a town council.

Mr Lim, who is retiring to spend more time with his elderly mother, said Ms Gho would be assisted by experienced volunteers and can call him any time if she is elected.

Mr Lim was chairman of Marine Parade Town Council.

Likening Mountbatten residents to his family members, Mr Lim said he loves and cares for them dearly, and he hopes his successor would continue to improve the estate and build a stronger community there.

He assured residents that Ms Gho will do regular house visits. That is because “that is what I have been telling her for the last 10 months, ‘Please do not slack, please do not let me down’”.

While Mr Lim acknowledged he was a retiring MP who did not have to say nice things about the Government any more, he said: “From the bottom of my heart, I firmly believe that the PAP is the government for Singapore.”

“This is not a perfect government. From time to time, there will be policies that may be right at the time of implementation, but need to be tweaked after several years to take into account changing conditions,” he said.

“But for every government policy, the Government has to balance the rights of different groups and the trade-offs needed.”

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