‘I thought I had a fair chance of winning’: Tan Kin Lian explains why he ran for Presidential Election

Tan Kin Lian says he got much fewer votes than he expected in the election

Two-time presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian has explained why he ran for election in 2011 and 2023.

This was shared in an interview with YouTube channel Inconvenient Questions, when he sat down with former Nominated Member of Parliament (MP) Viswa Sadasivan for a “candid, no-holds-barred conversation”.

Tan Kin Lian asked if he thought he had a chance of winning election

While they also talked about topical issues such as the Income-Allianz proposal during the 2 Oct interview, Mr Viswa said “quite a few people” had wanted him to ask the former Income CEO:

Why did you actually contest (the election)?

He noted that Mr Tan ran in 2011 and got less than 5% of the vote, while he received a “significantly higher” close to 14% in 2023.

However, this was still not enough to win, especially since the eventual winner in 2023, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, got more than 70% of the vote.

Hence, Mr Viswa wondered whether Mr Tan seriously thought he had a chance of winning.

He pointed out that some people had thought he was “delusional”.

He wanted to be the voice of the people

Explaining his reasons for contesting, Mr Tan said that in 2011 he wanted to be the voice of the people.

Specifically, he wanted to use the office of the President to “articulate what the ordinary people feel”.

In 2023, he wanted to highlight bread-and-butter issues such as:

• the cost of living
• the security of jobs

Tan Kin Lian thought he had a fair chance of winning election

Mr Tan then revealed that he indeed regarded himself as a serious contender, saying:

I thought I had a fair chance of winning.

To that, Mr Viswa responded with an incredulous: “Really?”

Mr Tan conceded, however, that maybe he was “not as wise” as “those other people”, omitting to elaborate on who they were.

Now, he knows why he got “much lower votes” than he expected, but “this will be the subject of another discussion”, he noted.

He makes decisions based on what is good for others

Mr Tan went on to expound that his decisions are always based on “what is good for others”, never for his own self-interest, unlike most people.

Thus, it “doesn’t matter” that he lost an election or lost a small sum of money.

What matters, he said, is that he can speak for the issues that concern a segment of the people.

He sees the world differently from those who think he’s angry

Mr Viswa then told Mr Tan that he comes across as a person who’s angry and unhappy at how he perceives people treated him when he was in Income, the People’s Action Party or during the election.

To that, he retorted that these people’s observations are just a reflection of themselves, saying:

This is how they see the world. I see it very differently.

All the “smearing” he gets doesn’t matter to him, he added, as he’s just doing what he can to voice the issues he thinks are important.

After that, he will “very happily go and lead (his) own life”.

He says he’s a positive person

Mr Viswa then asked him whether he considers himself a “bottle-half-full” or “bottle-half-empty” person.

Without hesitation, Mr Tan replied “half-full”, saying:

One of the values I have is to be positive on any issue.

However, he noted that the “prevailing culture” of many people in Singapore is to look at the negative side.

Being positive is one of his “core values”, he said, and he hoped more Singaporeans would embrace that value.

His other values are being honest, looking at public service, and having courage and fairness, i.e. treating people fairly, which he hopes to see more of in Singapore.

To find out what he said about other issues, including the Income-Allianz deal, check out the rest of his interview here.

Also read: Tan Kin Lian Spent S$71K On PE2023 Campaign, Majority Went To Physical Ads

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Featured image adapted from Inconvenient Questions on YouTube.