SINGAPORE, Aug 18 — Presidential hopeful Tan Kin Lian said yesterday that he will withdraw his bid for Singapore’s highest office if George Goh qualifies as a candidate.
Speaking in a phone interview with TODAY, Tan said that this is because he does not want to split the votes of Singaporeans who prefer an “independent” candidate.
“He’s younger, he has more resources, and he would be able to campaign as an independent president more effectively than me.”
Tan is the former chief executive of insurer NTUC Income and he had run unsuccessfully in the 2011 Presidential Election.
His comment came after both men made back-and-forth statements over the past week regarding the possibility of one of them stepping aside should both men qualify to run.
Tan’s intention to step aside was first reported by national daily The Straits Times on Thursday, where he also mentioned that Goh, a businessman, was “more enthusiastic” and had “a large organisation and large support”.
Tan told TODAY that he had thrown his name into the hat because he had believed that only two men would qualify: Former Cabinet minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Ng Kok Song, former chief investment officer of state sovereign fund GIC.
Nomination Day for the upcoming poll is next Tuesday.
The Presidential Elections Committee, which has the final say on whether a candidate qualifies based on the criteria set out in the Constitution, is expected to announce a few days before that who among the current four men will qualify.
Tan said that he will not submit his nomination forms if the committee declares that all four of them are eligible, adding that this was his intention all along.
“I intended to announce this much earlier, but my campaign team said that it will be harmful to my campaign,” he told TODAY.
“It means people will perceive me to be weak and (have a) lack of confidence... The team asked me not to mention this so that I do not demoralise the people who wanted me.”
Tan added that he felt it was a good time to make clear his plan to step aside since the decision of the President Elections Committee would be made known soon, and that he has received questions from the public on how they should decide between him and Goh.
Tan previously said that should he and Goh qualify as candidates, he would speak to Goh to decide who would step down and support the other “non-establishment” candidate.
While Goh said on Monday that they did not have an agreement, Tan told TODAY that he “never said there was a prior agreement”.
On a walkabout in Jurong on Tuesday, Tan said that he hoped Goh would change his mind and it would be “a good idea” to “discuss who should step down because it’s not good to have a split vote among those who want to have an independent president”.
Responding to this the following day, Goh said that Tan should focus on his campaign and not “lose the deposit”.
Tan told reporters before this that he had “no doubt” he would be able to keep his election deposit of S$40,500 (RM138,400), after losing his deposit of S$48,000 in 2011 for getting 4.91 per cent of the 2,274,773 votes.
This was below the threshold of one-eighth of the total number of votes polled in the election for the deposit to be refunded.
On Thursday, Tan told TODAY that his election deposit of S$40,500 would be refunded to him if he decides not to submit his nomination papers. — TODAY
