Koh Poh Koon

Early life and education

Koh comes from a local Teochew family and spent the first three years of his life living in Punggol, where his family lived in a farmhouse at Lorong Cheng Lim. The family then moved to a four-room HDB flat in Toa Payoh. His father was a bus driver who drove the cross-island public bus service 82. Koh was the oldest child in his family and often worked odd jobs when he was young to support the family.

Koh had his early education at the now-defunct MacRitchie Primary School, before going on to study at Maris Stella High School and Hwa Chong Junior College. He then studied Medicine at the National University of Singapore, graduating with an MBBS degree in 1996. He subsequently obtained an MMed (Surgery) from the National University of Singapore as well as Fellowships from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Academy of Medicine in Singapore. He also received Health Manpower Development Programme Scholarships from Singapore's Ministry of Health for advanced training in the surgical treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases in Edinburgh and at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Career

Koh is the founding Director of the Colorectal Cancer Genomic Health Service at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH). Prior to his appointment as a Minister of State, Koh was the Medical Director and Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at a private practice at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, as well as a Consultant Surgeon at both SGH and Changi General Hospital.

Koh had also served as a Clinical Lecturer at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. His interest in medical research has also led him to serve as an Adjunct Clinician Scientist with the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

Political career

Dr. Koh officially entered Singapore politics in January 2013, when he contested in his first parliamentary election at the Punggol East SMC by-election as the PAP's candidate. He was defeated by the candidate of the Workers' Party, Lee Li Lian.

In 2015, Koh contested in the general elections as a part of the six-member PAP team in Ang Mo Kio GRC in which the team won and Koh was elected into parliament.

Punggol East by-election (2013)

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the previous Member of Parliament for the ward, the PAP's Michael Palmer (who served as the Speaker of Parliament from 2011 to 2012), who stepped down after he revealed that he had an extra-marital affair.

It was reported that Koh had initially turned down Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's invitation to be the PAP's candidate in the election as he was worried that he may not be able to serve the residents well. However, after further discussions, he accepted the offer.

In the by-election, Koh faced two candidates who had stood against Palmer in the 2011 general election – Lee Li Lian of the Workers' Party (WP) (who won 41.01% of the votes in the constituency in 2011) and Desmond Lim of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) (who won 4.45% of the votes in 2011). A fourth candidate, Kenneth Jeyaretnam of the Reform Party (RP), also joined the by-election contest, making it a four-way fight.

During the nine days of campaigning for the by-election, Koh promised Punggol East residents that he would set up new childcare centres in Punggol East at convenient locations, introduce integrated eldercare facilities, do comprehensive health screening for the elderly, increase barrier-free access and sheltered linkways throughout Punggol East, set up a job placement centre and increase the food distribution programme for the lower-income, set up study areas in all RCs, explore options for new kopitiams and wet markets and set up a new community club if he was elected to Parliament.

However, the campaign became centred around a gaffe he made early in the campaign. Speaking to a media query about his family owning two cars, he remarked: "everybody has a car, we have two... We are professionals, we need to travel". He was subsequently perceived as out of touch with the average worker against Worker's Party candidate Lee Li Lian, who campaigned as a working mother.

On polling day on 26 January 2013, Koh was defeated by Lee Li Lian. He garnered 12,856 votes (43.71%) compared to Lee's 16,038 votes (54.52%). Kenneth Jeyaretnam took 353 votes (1.20%), with Desmond Lim taking 168 votes (0.57%).

Member of Parliament (2015–present)

On 15 August 2015, the People's Action Party (PAP) announced that Koh would be part of a six-member PAP team contesting in Ang Mo Kio GRC led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the 2015 general election. Following the results of the election, Koh was elected into Parliament when the six-member PAP team won and clinched 78.64% of the electorate's valid votes in the constituency.

Personal life

Koh is married to a doctor. They have two daughters.