Mountbatten SMC 'PAP doesn't believe in gambling': Gho Sze Kee on rival's Bitcoin ideas

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.

- Esther Loi

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 skin-care distribution business. He had started investing in Bitcoin more than a decade ago.