Former presidential candidates in 2011, Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Mr Tan Jee Say, are officially lending their support to Tan Kin Lian.
They both showed up at a walkabout Tan Kin Lian held at People’s Park Hawker Centre in Chinatown today (27 Aug).
The three Tans had a combined 64.8% of votes in 2011, but Dr Tony Tan eventually won the presidential election with 36% of the vote.
On Sunday (27 Aug), Tan Kin Lian, Tan Jee Say, and Tan Cheng Bock were joined by Michelle Lee, formerly of Red Dot United, at People’s Park Hawker Centre.
The group had coffee before proceeding on a walkabout around the Chinatown area.
Tan Kin Lian’s wife was present, along with around 50 supporters of the presidential candidate.
Dr Tan had previously made a cryptic Instagram post on Nomination Day (22 Aug), when Tan Kin Lian was officially accepted as a candidate.
He captioned the post, “We still have one chance for change”, which alludes to what George Goh also said before the PEC rejected his candidacy application.
Source: Facebook
One of the books shown in the image was “Inspiring Rafflesians”, a big hint about who Dr Tan would support.
Both Dr Tan and Tan Kin Lian attended Raffles Institution.
However, Dr Tan had remained silent on social media until today, the only Sunday during the campaign period.
In a press conference held after the Chinatown walkabout, Dr Tan said he and Tan Jee Say were there in their personal capacities as former candidates and not as politicians.
“Today we are here as comrades who share a common vision, that is, to have an independent president,” Dr Tan said.
He quipped that a vote for Tan Kin Lian was a vote for “three wise men”. Combined, they obtained 64.9% of the vote in 2011.
All of them were previously eligible to run as President, meaning they have the know-how to safeguard reserves, they claimed.
Dr Tan also mentioned that he would have endorsed George Goh as a candidate if he was eligible.
Lamenting the fact that the bar set for private-sector candidates is much higher, Dr Tan noted that it is “not a healthy trend for Singapore” to have only presidents from the establishment.
“The public sector has got very, very good people who can also do the job very well.”
Tan Kin Lian also said he does not regret contesting as a candidate despite learning more about the President’s limited role.
He said that even though the President will not be able to effect policies, he can, as an independent, relay the people’s thoughts to the Government.
From there, the Government can take these into account in their policies.
Singapore will go to the polls on Friday (1 Sep). Tan Kin Lian’s opponents are former Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and former GIC Chief Investment Officer Ng Kok Song.
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Featured image by MS News.
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