With the Presidential Election due in August, there are now 3 serious candidates for the election. Former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Tony Tan, former Member of Parliament (MP) Tan Cheng Bock and former NTUC Income chief executive Tan Kin Lian, have all said they will run in the election.
Of the 3, Mr. Tan Kin Lian’s candidacy is the one which has intrigued Singaporeans the most. He is the only candidate who is not a (former) MP of the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the closest thing we have to an opposition candidate in this election. However I was never fully convinced of his candidacy and unfortunately recent events have proved that my doubts are right.
Mr. Tan is famous in Singapore for his fight on the behalf of small investors who lost money in the Lehman Brothers collapse a few years ago. In fact, you could argue that without him, the small investors might not had gotten any money back at all. Mr. Tan was the one who gathered the investors together and made it a political and social issue for Singaporeans.
Despite his great work in the Lehman Brothers affair, I had thought the Presidential Election was not for him. Mr. Tan is not a politician. In fact, I do not believe he had ever held a political post outside NTUC. (Yes, I know NTUC is a labor union not a political party but anyone who thinks there is no politics in NTUC don’t know Singapore politics very well.)
Simply put; I wonder about how Mr. Tan is going to handle the rough and tumble of the political world. The answer; he’s not handling it very well.
Recently, Mr. Tan has come out to rebut accusations made against him on the internet. Mr. Tan said that some have posted lies about him online and even said that he is “considering legal action”.
And the Presidential Election has even officially started yet!
The thing is this; the moment he threw his hat into the ring, Mr. Tan should have expected this. Every candidate will be bad-mouthed by someone; that is just a fact. Mr. Tan need to accept this and handle it with grace. I mean Tin Pei Ling had a much worse time than he had so far and I didn’t hear her threatening to sue anyone.
Personally I think Mr. Tan would make a good President. He is positive and courageous but that doesn’t change the fact he will be the underdog in the polls. He is already the underdog, there’s no need to make his position worse by threatening to sue people. Basically, Mr. Tan need to go above that and handle the situation with more grace. If he managed to do that, he might have a chance.
13 comments:
Mr Tan Kin Lian is a good gentleman, honest, straight forward and has a heart for the lower class citizens. He is patriotic and loyal to his customers and above all has a feel and love for this country. I support for his candidacy for President of Singapore. He will be a good President for People!
But he is not going to win if he can't keep his cool. That's the important thing when the election starts. He need to be able to do that and so far, he has not.
Whatever give you the idea that he is not cool? If anything I think he is a very contemplative person. He thinks quite deeply. The most commendable part is his sincerity.
Why should anyone allow himself to be defame? To keep silent would be taken by others as an admission of guilt. Being a people's president DOES NOT mean one must take such abuse from malicious people.
Saying that he would sue sends the strongest message to that recalcitrant offender that he better stop or face the consequence of his attempt at character assassination of a potential EP!
Gary, if he is really sincere, he would have stood for the GE to be an MP in parliament. Who is more effective in pushing thru solutions for the people's dire problems, the MP or the president?
The president is just an 'ey-kau' (hokkien for mute) following instruction from the govt of the day in the form of the constitution. Other than that, he is like an urn in the altar waiting for people to place their jossstick. His is not to question why, his is but to do and wry.
I am sure you would prefer him to be your MP. If that is to be the case, this voice of yours will be ferocious and efficacious as compared to the mute president.
We don't have to look further than our beloved Mr Ong Teng Cheong. He was a great man, the people's man. But he cannot do much as a president. We need many more opposition MPs to band together to make changes to the constitution governing the presidency.
Till then, the Elected President is just a farce created by the ruling party to make us believe that our national reserves (though non of us knows how much Singapore has) are protected by the invisible 2nd key.
If only TKL stand as MP in the last GE. That was not to be so. He is too afraid to lose.
Anon 4.00PM,
But he is not standing as MP now, but as an elected President.
Certainly among the three he is the best that could represent a truly independent and caring President? (Who would have spent useful time helping investors and tackling the Govt during the Lehman fiasco?)
a man who cannot keep his cool is a loose canon.
a man who is too cool is like a frozen fish. He cannot do anything.
so a balance is needed between coolness and hotness.
"He is the only candidate who is not a (former) member of the People’s Action Party (PAP)”
Tan Kin Lian was actually part of the PAP for many years, only resigning in 2008. Perhaps you may wish to amend that to “only candidate who is not a (former) PAP MP”.
Why must EP be independent of government? On the contrary, EP should be pro-government by default. The only issue that he needs to think independently and taken into consideration the advice of the presidential council, is the issue of incumbent government wanting to use the reserve. EP is supposed to be the representative of Singaporeans. Since majority of Singaporeans elected the government, whether he likes it or not, he needs to be pro-government to fulfil his role as the representative of Singaporeans. In fact in opening the parliament he is not to express his own opinion but simply to READ out the speech prepared by the government. EP has much much more ceremony role than executive role. So don't think you can go to the EP with your problems and key them bring to the government. It is not his role though TKL and TCB may have indicated they will do that. If you have a problem go to your MP. If any of the EP candidates wants to be critical of the government, withdraw from the EP race and go and join the opposition and be elected as an opposition MP. Then you can go to the parliament and say all you want to oppose the government. TKL's aligning with opposition parties by speaking at their rallies indicated strongly he is not independent. He may thinks by doing so he can conveniently collects the opposition votes for his EP race. He openly admitted that he lacks certain skill to be an effective EP but he will learn on the job. Do Singaporeans want to pay such high salary for someone to learn the job? I think TKL is more effective to be an opposition MP than EP.
But EP pay is more than 20 times higher than MP
I would support Tony Tan as I think he meets the requirements and he deserves it. He is highly qualified and very experienced fir the job. He clearly doesn't offer himself for money as he is making much more in his current jobs and can continue to do so just line Lim Kim San.
I'd changed it the post to "a (former) MP of the People’s Action Party (PAP)”. Sorry about that.
Post a Comment