SINGAPORE, Aug 24 — This morning, chairman of marine services provider Bourbon Offshore Asia Pacific, Farid Khan Kaim Khan, became the second presidential hopeful to submit his application forms to contest the upcoming presidential election.

He arrived at the Elections Department at 10.30am with four members of his campaign team carrying five thick files. 

Speaking to reporters after submitting his forms, Farid said that he is ready for any contest, but should there not be one, he will be “disappointed”.

“I think alot of people will be disappointed. But I’m quite confident there will be a contest,” he said. “I’m doing this for my country. No regrets.”

Fellow potential contender Mohamed Salleh Marican, chief executive of Second Chance Properties, was the first to submit his papers at the ELD yesterday.

Meanwhile, former Speaker of Parliament Madam Halimah Yacob had told TODAY, that she will submit hers “in due course”, without specifying when.

In July, Farid had announced his intention to serve the nation and contest the upcoming elections, which is reserved for the Malay community. Among the issues he would champion include helping the needy and troubled youth.

However, under the amended Elected Presidency scheme passed into law last November, a prospective candidate from the private sector must have served as chief executive of a company with at least S$500 million in shareholder equity for at least three years, among other requirements, a criterion which the 62-year-old does not automatically meet.

Farid’s Singapore-based firm, which he helped to start, had shareholder equity of about S$350 million (RM1.1 billion).

Still, the Presidential Elections Committee has the discretion to certify that a candidate who does not meet such a criterion can stand for election.

Another issue he has to overcome is whether he is “Malay enough”, as the “Malayness” of all three current presidential hopefuls have come under the spotlight in recent months.

Farid’s race is stated as Pakistani on his identity card, while Halimah’s father is an Indian-Muslim. Marican, who is of Indian descent, has also been criticised by some members of the public for his lack of fluency in Malay.

To qualify for the reserved election, prospective candidates will also have to submit a community declaration to the Community Committee to certify their ethnic group.

A fact-finding process will be conducted by a sub-committee to decide if the candidate belongs to the community.

Once the writ of election for the presidency is issued, prospective candidates have up to five days from that date to submit their application forms. The writ will state the nomination date and the nomination place.

Both successful and unsuccessful applicants will be informed of the outcome of their applications before nomination day. — TODAY