SINGAPORE, Aug 28 — If Singapore does not vote in a non-partisan President this year, it risks turning future Presidential elections into “proxy General Elections”, which is what the current election has become, candidate Ng Kok Song warned on Monday (Aug 28).
He was commenting on the fact that fellow candidate Tan Kin Lian had announced on Sunday his endorsement by opposition party leader Tan Cheng Bock, a move that he called “an act of dishonour, disrespect, contempt for the office of the presidency” by politicising it.
“So the time has come to take it as a matter of great urgency that from this Presidential Election onwards, we should have a non-partisan President,” Mr Ng said, noting that he is the only candidate who has never had ties to a political party, nor is backed by any.
“If we don’t do that at this Presidential Election, we are going to be trapped into this quagmire, into this quicksand, where every time there’s a Presidential Election, it becomes a proxy General Election.”
Mr Ng was speaking to reporters at a walkabout at Ayer Rajah Food Centre.
His comments expanded on earlier statements he had made on Sunday, after a press conference by Mr Tan Kin Lian, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, who is the founder and leader of Progress Singapore Party and Mr Tan Jee Say, who is a member of the Singapore Democratic Party.
All three had also run as rivals in the 2011 Presidential Election.
Though Dr Tan said that he was supporting Mr Tan Kin Lian in his personal capacity, Mr Ng had asserted that this was not possible, given his political ties.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Mr Tan Kin Lian also said that Mr Tan Jee Say and Dr Tan could be “good contenders” for his Council of Presidential Advisors, should he be elected. This council serves to advise the President in the exercise of his custodial powers, and out of eight members, three are appointed at the discretion of the president.
Mr Ng said on Monday that if Mr Tan Jee Say and Dr Tan were appointed to the council, it would be tantamount to a form of “corruption”.
“There’s a danger that he’s going to be manipulated by the leaders of the opposition parties,” he said, adding that the council has to be neutral as they are advising the President on his custodial powers.
In a statement after Mr Ng’s walkabout, his media team clarified that Mr Ng was not “ascribing any criminal intent to the act” of nominating opposition figures into the council.
“Instead, he was suggesting that such an act could be seen as a moral perversion of the Council of Presidential Advisors,” the statement said.
Revealing size of reserves a ‘dangerous position’
Mr Ng was also asked by TODAY what his take was on Mr Tan Kin Lian’s preference to reveal the size of the National Reserves should he be elected.
Mr Tan had said during an event organised by the National University of Singapore Society on Saturday that he would “prefer” for the exact figure in Singapore’s reserves to be revealed to the public, as he believes the chances over a foreign attack on the Singapore dollar are “quite small”.
Mr Ng said on Monday that this is a “very dangerous position to take”.
“The reserves of Singapore are our financial defence in times of war. It is no small matter. It is also a defence against any speculative attack on the Singapore dollar,” said Mr Ng, who was the former chief investment officer of sovereign wealth fund GIC.
He added that potential enemies to Singapore could “attack” the Singapore dollar more effectively with the knowledge of the size of the reserves.
“When we have potential enemies, either in times of war or in terms of speculating against our currency, why make it easy for them to know how much resources we have to defend our country?” he said.
“By forcing the government to disclose the total size of our reserves is to help our enemies...I don’t think the President of Singapore should be helping our enemies.” — TODAY
