SINGAPORE, Aug 12 — Tan Kin Lian is throwing his hat into the ring again for the upcoming presidential election, because he believes that another potential candidate, George Goh, may not qualify.

Tan, 75, said yesterday he wants to ensure that there is a "non-establishment” candidate, and in the event that they both meet the cut, he might step aside.

The former chief of insurance cooperative NTUC Income was speaking to the media at a press conference launching his election campaign.

He introduced his proposer, backer and one of his assenters. The team spent around half an hour delivering speeches, before fielding questions from the media.

On Goh, founder of furniture retailer Harvey Norman Ossia, Tan said that he had "high respect” for him and that he was "quite prepared to stand aside” when Goh announced his intention to stand in this year’s election, because he believed that Goh would be "independent”.

He later changed his mind when Ng Kok Song came forward and there were "comments that (Goh) doesn’t qualify”, suggesting that the contest would only be between former Cabinet minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Ng, who used to be the investment head at sovereign wealth fund GIC.

In the event that Goh does qualify, or if the four potential candidates now are joined by a new non-establishment candidate who qualifies, he may then re-consider his decision to run.

"I will certainly want to make sure that there is only one non-establishment candidate, (so) that we will not split the votes,” Tan said.

On his bid for presidency

Yesterday's press conference was Tan’s first public appearance since submitting his application for a certificate of eligibility on July 11.

Should he qualify and proceed with his bid for the presidency, this would not be his first rodeo. He last stood as a candidate in the 2011 election, where he came in last of four candidates, getting 4.91 per cent of the 2,274,773 votes.

Yesterday, Tan also introduced his proposer, seconder, principal election agent and one of his assenters. They are: