ESM Goh shares Lawrence Wong’s growing up photos like a proud MP
April 21, 2022
It’s no secret that Finance Minister Lawrence Wong spent a large part of his formative years in the east.
The 4G PAP leader told The Straits Times in an interview that he grew up in an ordinary family in the Marine Parade housing estate and spent a majority of his schooling years in the area.
Minister Wong attended a PAP Community Foundation (PCF) kindergarten in Marine Parade and then moved on to Haig Boys’ Primary, where his mother taught. Subsequently, he went to Tanjong Katong Secondary Technical School and Victoria Junior College in his junior college years.
When quizzed why he didn’t attend Raffles Institution, he said it made sense for him to study near home, where all his friends were.
ESM Goh recalls Minister Wong’s Marine Parade roots
When it was announced that Minister Wong was chosen to be 4G leader on Apr 14, 2022, there were a flurry of congratulatory messages on social media.
Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong’s Facebook post stood out, he wrote: “Marine Parade can be proud of Lawrence. He grew up in our estate. His father was an RC leader. Congrats, Lawrence. You have your work cut out for you.”
Well, with a Facebook handle called Mparader, one could understand ESM Goh’s excitement of the appointment of Minister Wong as leader of the 4G team.
A few days later, ESM Goh followed up with another personal post, this time sharing photos of Minister Wong’s growing up years.
These photos were first published in 2015 in a blog called MP Then and Now, which also saw PCF Marine Parade celebrate its SG50 Carnival.
Minister Lawrence Wong posing with his pictures.
As a as a young boy in his PCF graduation gown.
“I was participating in an RC block party game (I still recall we were supposed to get the sweet from a plate of flour just using our mouth!)”
Playing in the car-park.
“There was an active Marine Parade Christian Fellowship group which my parents were part of, and I also have an old picture of me playing the guitar in one of their gatherings (I believe this was held at one of the multi-purpose halls in Neptune Court),” he wrote.
At the 1989 National Day dinner event (at the then Sin Leong restaurant), where he was among the group of students who received a book prize from ESM Goh.
Minister Lawrence Wong and some of the other book-prize recipients at the same event.
In his Facebook post, ESM Goh again reiterated the Marine Parade connection.
“Marine Parade is proud and excited to produce Singapore’s 4G leader… Congrats, Lawrence. We have your back, son.”