Yet another Tan wants to be the President. Now we have 4 Tan's who want to vie for just one President post. Certainly making things very interesting for this coming Presidential election. Once thought to be useless and time-wasting, now the President position is going to become a symbol of the opposition making dramatic in-road into PAP's financial stronghold?
Tan Kin Lian on Tan Jee Say's Presidential bid
I like to wish Tan Jee Say all the best in getting the Certificate of Eligibility and in contesting the Presidential Election. With more candidates entering the contest, the voters of Singapore will have a wider choice of selecting the next President of Singapore. A larger pool of candidates should help to make more citizens aware of the importance of this position and educate more people on the need to make a wise choice.
I will not change my campaign, as set out in my campaign website: www.tkl2011.com.
I offer to the voters to serve the country in the following areas:
-Be a voice of the people to carry their views, concerns and aspirations to the Government.
-Be independent of the PAP government but to work with the government to find solutions that are best for the people.
-Apply my knowledge and expertise to safeguard their CPF savings and the reserves of Singapore.
I also pledge to donate at least half of the President's salary towards charity and other causes.
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TiTANic Presidential Elections ahead?
SINGAPORE: Another candidate has stepped forward ahead of the Presidential Election, which is due by August 31.
Tan Jee Say, who was last in the public eye during this year's General Election for the opposition SDP, picked up the Certificate of Eligibility forms at the Elections Department on Friday morning.
He said on his blog that he wants to be "the conscience of the nation".
"I am applying for a Certificate of Eligibility to contest the election of the
President of Singapore under the special clause that allows a person to do so," he said in a statement released before appearing at the Elections Department.
"The specific position I held that satisfies the condition (special clause), is that of chief executive officer with the title of regional managing director of John Govett (Asia) Private Limited and its successor company AIB Govett (Asia) Private Limited," the statment went on to add.
As for Dr Tan Cheng Bock who was one of the first to signal his intention to run for the post of elected president, he said in a Friday entry on Facebook, "I will be submitting my COE application next week with friends and supporters."
Netizens are now buzzing over the four Presidential hopefuls who share the surname Tan.
In addition to Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Mr Tan Jee Say, there's also former deputy prime minister Dr Tony Tan and former CEO of NTUC Income Mr Tan Kin Lian, both of whom submitted their applications for a Certificate of Eligibility on July 7.
Apart from the four, former JTC Corporation group chief financial officer Andrew Kuan who was disqualified in 2005 from running for the presidency, told MediaCorp recently that he is keen to throw his hat into the ring again.
70-year-old Mr Ooi Boon Ewe, who failed in his bid to contest the recent General Election as an independent candidate, has also collected forms for the Presidential Election.
In early June, 50-year-old Mohamed Raffi Bashir Ahmed also turned up at the Elections Department to collect forms to contest the Presidential Election.
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“I have not been asked by any party to come out and contest” – Presidential hopeful Tan Jee Say
Posted by theonlinecitizen
Joshua Chiang
Mr Tan showed up at the Elections Department at 10.15am with his wife Patricia
Even though Mr Tan Jee Say has contested Holland-Bukit Timah GRC under the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) banner in the recent General Elections, he is confident that the public will not see him as partisan if he were elected President as he had only been with the SDP for 3 months.
On the other hand, the three other presidential hopefuls – Dr Tony Tan, Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Tan Kin Lian had been with the People’s Action Party for 10 to 20 years.
“The PAP DNA is still very strong in them,” the former principal private secretary to then DPM Goh Chok Tong told the press outside the Elections Department when he went to collect the forms for the presidential eligibility certificate on Friday morning.
In his press release, Mr Tan wrote that many Singaporeans want a non-PAP President whose independence of the PAP is clear, obvious and cannot be in doubt: “Only such a person can have the moral authority to fulfill the mission of Elected President which is to provide checks and balances on the PAP Government.”
Mr Tan formally resigned from the SDP this morning. He told the press that Sec Gen Dr Chee Soon Juan was ‘supportive’ of his decision but clarified that he had not been asked by any party to come out and contest the Presidential Elections.
“I just made the decision in the quietness of my bedroom in my house, and with my wife of course, “ he said. Mr Tan further revealed that he only arrived at the decision on Thursday night.
Among the handful of supporters who turned up, two – Ms Michelle Lee and Mr Fazlur Yusof were members of SDP. Another, Mr Bentley Tan was the Master of Ceremony for the SDP rallies during the General Elections.
President the ‘moral conscience of the nation’
On what he would do as President if elected, Mr Tan said that he would want to know how much there are in the reserves and if they had been put to good use, and if more money is needed to invest in the people, to use the second key to open up the reserves.
“I have a national regeneration plan that required 60 billion dollars – 12 billion every year for five years – so if they (the government) wants to invest in it, why not?”
He also stressed that he won’t make the Presidency is not another centre of power, instead, it will be the ‘moral conscience of the nation’. If elected, he will work with the government because he has to honor the wishes of the people who elected the government, but at the same time, the government cannot be right all the time. Mr Tan mentioned the building of the two casinos as an example where the government got it wrong.
“Why do you compromise your morals just to create jobs and then cry over it?” he asked rhetorically.
As such, even though it is up to the government to decide on which policies to implement at the end of the day, the President can nonetheless speak up on those issues.
“They will be moral pressure,” he emphasized.
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President must act independently: Dr Tony Tan
Singapore's president has to be above politics, needs to work with all government parties and must also act independently, said presidential hopeful Dr Tony Tan.
Dr Tan, 71, was addressing questions on his affiliation with the People's Action Party (PAP) and whether it would help or hurt his chances in the upcoming Presidential Election, which will be held before August 31.
Earlier today, former civil servant and opposition politician Tan Jee Say showed his interest in running for President and said in a press statement that he believed many Singaporeans wanted "a non-PAP President whose independence of the PAP is clear, obvious and cannot be in doubt".
Dr Tan, who was a member of PAP since 1979 before retiring from politics in 2006, reiterated that "whoever he is, (the President) has a distinct role as set out in the Constitution".
"I think we have to be quite clear about this. He is not a separate power centre in Singapore; there can only be one - the government," said Dr Tan to reporters while speaking at the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series held at Ritz Carlton Hotel today.
He continued to explain that the President has very limited executive authority, but has an important role in representing Singapore overseas, as "people judge the country by the calibre of the President".
"You need somebody in the Presidency who is steady, experienced, who knows the issues and limits of what the President can do and most importantly, he has to be fair and neutral.
"He has to be above politics and needs to work with all government parties, civic and social organisations, and he cannot take a partisan view," reiterated the former chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, or GIC.
Dr Tan concluded that the President must act independently, make up his own mind and exercise authority accordingly.
Recent GE a 'win-win-win result'
Dr Tan also gave his personal opinion on the recent General Election that was held in May, and described it as giving rise to a 'win-win-win result'.
He gave three reasons as to why he called it a triple win situation.
First, it was a strong mandate for the PAP to frame policies and continue Singapore's progress and improve the life of Singaporeans.
Second, the oppposition now has a base to build on, further their credibility and possibly gain more votes in the next election, and finally, it demonstrated another stage of the country's political development.
Dr Tan explained: "The situation where you have one overwhelming party which has almost all the seats, with little effective opposition - and I stress this is my personal view - is a matter of the past.
"There could be a new normal in Singapore politics now, which is a strong party in government that frames policies and implements them, and is matched by an effective opposition in Parliament, which will debate these policies, with different perspectives and views, and suggest alternatives.
"Through the process of debate, discussion and challege, we will end up with better results and progress for Singapore," said Dr Tan.
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