SINGAPORE: A grandfather who lost more than half a million dollars to scammers remained unconvinced that he had been tricked, affecting his relationship with family members.
Frustrated, his grandson turned to Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming for help at a Meet-the-People Session in Marine Parade.
Even after Goh asked the police’s Anti-Scam Centre to contact the grandfather, it took time before the victim accepted the truth.
The case has stayed with Goh, who is also Senior Minister of State for Social and Family Development, serving as a sobering reminder of the human cost of scams beyond financial losses.
“Especially in those senior years, family relations are perhaps even more precious. Yet, because of scams, these are being strained,” Goh said.
He was speaking to The Straits Times at the Ministry of Social and Family Development building in Caldecott, reflecting on his time in politics so far.
The former brigadier-general took office as a Minister of State immediately after the 2025 General Election and was promoted in July to Senior Minister of State in the Home Affairs and Social and Family Development ministries.
His two portfolios cover a wide range of issues, from scams and fire safety to early childhood education and challenges faced by people with disabilities.
Tackling scams has been a particularly sobering task given their staggering impact, Goh said.
He joined the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2025, when Singapore's scam situation finally turned a corner, with the number of scam cases falling for the first time in eight years. Total scam losses that year also dropped 18 per cent from the record $1.1 billion lost in 2024.
But Goh said stronger measures were still needed to stem the scourge.
In Parliament, he introduced new anti-scam laws under the Scams (Countermeasures) and Other Matters Bill, under which people who supply online accounts on Carousell, TikTok, Telegram and Meta's platforms to criminals could potentially be jailed. The Bill was passed in September.
Another key measure Goh identified in the fight against scams is the establishment of the National Scams List, which shares information such as culprits' identities, bank accounts, phone lines and online accounts with the Government and its partners.
This allows stakeholders such as banks to stop the flow of scam proceeds and suspend accounts that could potentially be used for scams before money is transferred.
Goh said this would allow them to disable potential scammers' networks before harm is done, as well as dismantle fraudsters' existing infrastructure.
Family is the common thread Goh sees running through his two portfolios, and he finds it meaningful to do work that has a direct impact on Singaporean families.
The transition into his new career has been, in his words, “very intense”.
“(There is) a lot to learn; a lot to be exposed to. A lot of the things that I'm doing now are totally new compared with what my previous career in the military was like,” he said.
The career move meant more than swapping army uniforms for well-pressed suits.
He had to get used to working across different ministries within the civil service, compared with what he described as “kind of a closed ecosystem” in the military.
Rather than assume he knew how things were done, he made it a point to clarify, Goh said.
He added that his time in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) had given him a “good grounding”, shaping how he leads and makes decisions.
Goh had risen to the position of Chief of Staff – Joint Staff in the SAF, coordinating efforts between the army, navy and air force. His responsibilities over the years included managing resources for the armed forces, overseeing joint operations and engaging foreign counterparts.
He had also organised large-scale events such as the National Day Parade and tackled national crises, including the Covid-19 outbreak in migrant workers' dormitories.
“All these have given me a very rich palette of experiences that I can draw on,” he said.
Work in home affairs is similar to that at the Ministry of Defence, while social and family development is closer to his community and grassroots experience. Goh was a grassroots volunteer in East Coast for 17 years before entering politics.
On his recent promotion, he said: “With the word ‘senior’, what I feel from it is the responsibility for me to do even more. The weight on my shoulders has grown, and I have to work even harder to live up to the expectations within the two ministries.”
But his approach to work remains the same. It is still about engaging the ground and working closely with the civil service.
Behind his drive are his three children, aged 12, nine and six. He wants to help shape policies that will give them a future.
Being a father also allows him to “stay honest” when thinking about policy.
“If my (children) find it hard to understand, or I have a hard time explaining it to them, it may be a policy that's too complicated,” he mused.
Political life also means much less time at home. Goh is grateful to his wife, who “does more than her fair share” of parenting, especially as they prepare for their eldest son to sit the Primary School Leaving Examination in 2026.
He tries to set aside protected time for his family, such as sending his children to school every morning and having dinner at home at least once a week.
“One thing I remind myself often is that I must be able to look back in years to come and make sure I have no regrets with regards to family life, and that I've not missed certain parts of their childhood,” Goh said.
Beyond his ministerial duties, Goh is also an MP for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. He was part of a five-member People's Action Party (PAP) team that won the constituency in 2025, in Singapore's first walkover since 2011.
The results caught him by surprise.
“Coming from the military, I'm definitely not one to shy away from a tough fight,” he said.
With no opposition contest, Goh and his volunteers wasted no time in reaching out to residents to build rapport.
Another unexpected development came in July, when former acting minister-in-charge of Muslim affairs and Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC MP Faishal Ibrahim resigned from political office, Parliament and the PAP over inappropriate interactions with a female member of the public.
Goh said it was a pity to lose him as part of the team, but they respected Faishal for making the “responsible decision to step away”.
The other four MPs stepped in to cover Faishal at constituency events and house visits, dividing responsibilities for his former Kembangan ward among themselves.
Lawyer Ahmad Firdaus Daud, a PAP reserve candidate for the 2025 General Election, was appointed the second grassroots adviser in the ward in September.
Constituency work is the “more fun” part of his job, Goh said. He visibly lightened up when the topic came up, adding that attending community events sometimes helped him to destress.
The pressure of political life had weighed on him initially. He was worried about not knowing enough and how his words would be perceived.
Over time, he learnt that it was more important to be able to stand by his decisions and explain them “hand to heart”.
Ultimately, Goh holds himself to the larger goal of serving the majority of the population and leaving the country better off in the long run.
“I think that's something that I will be able to live with when I look back.”
