SINGAPORE – Businessman George Goh said on Friday that he cannot accept the decision by the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) not to grant him a certificate of eligibility, thereby ending his run for the presidency.

The PEC had rejected his argument that his experience running five companies that together met the shareholders’ equity and profitability criteria was equivalent to that of a CEO running a single company, he said.

This was a “very narrow interpretation of the requirements without explaining the rationale behind its decision”, and has deprived Singaporeans of a wider choice to select the next president, he added in a statement.

At a press conference at his Holland Road home on Friday afternoon, the mood among his family and campaign team was sombre.

Asked if the PEC had provided any specific reason as to why he was not eligible, Mr Goh would only say that the PEC did its own review.

“I cannot accept the decision given by them. I personally think it is not a fair decision,” he said.

Mr Goh said he had been fairly confident he would make the cut because he had assembled a broad team of experts to assess his eligibility. They included a former attorney-general, a constitutional law professor, a former judge and a senior counsel, among others.

“This group of people are the top, top people in Singapore. Are you saying they are all wrong?” he asked. “Cannot be – they are all from the system.”

Asked whether he would consolidate his companies or build a $500 million company in order to qualify for future elections, Mr Goh reiterated that he already met the shareholder equity criterion for private sector candidates.

“It is not ‘tomorrow I have to try and work harder’ – it is already there,” he said. “If I continue what I am doing now as an independent candidate, (it is) whether the system allows me to go in or not. We should ask this question.”

He added: “I have $507 million (in shareholder equity). I don’t know what they want. We should ask them.”

Mr Goh was also asked if he would now reveal the names of the five companies he submitted to the PEC, but he declined to do so. He had declined to name them on Aug 4, when he held a press conference after submitting his application for a certificate of eligibility.

“We do have shareholders, so I also don’t want, because I stand for the election, then the few thousand shareholders suffer,” he said.

On whether he would now stand behind one of the remaining three candidates, Mr Goh said it was difficult for him to say as he did not know them well.

Responding to presidential hopeful Tan Kin Lian’s remark that he is the only remaining independent candidate left in the race, Mr Goh reiterated that he was the sole independent candidate without any past ties to a political party or the Government.

“You must prove yourself, that you are really independent,” he said. “If you are not independent and you say you are independent, it is very sad.” He added: “Because I am so truly independent, you know what the result (is) – they know if I go into (the) Istana, I will work for (the people and) look at (things) differently.”

At his home, Mr Goh showed some campaign collaterals he had already prepared, including T-shirts, badges and flags. He had also ordered some 1.4 million mailers and a container full of tissue packets.

He declined to say how much he had spent on them, but said he would sell the items and donate the proceeds to charity.

Quoting his campaign slogan, Mr Goh said Aug 18 was supposed to be a day of change, but had turned out to be a very sad day.

While he did not qualify, he said that private sector candidates will not be discouraged from stepping forward to contest future presidential elections.

“This country needs an independent president; we cannot continue (with) the same system (where) after 30 years, we are still rejected by the establishment,” he said. “I hope this day will come... An independent president must walk into the Istana tall, (to) represent the people of Singapore.”