Difficult for someone who set up the system to question the system: Ng Kok Song

SINGAPORE - Presidential candidate Ng Kok Song said on Tuesday that it becomes “dangerous” when a former finance minister, who established the rules on how the country’s reserves can be used, aspires to be president.

Among the three candidates, the only one who had been a finance minister is Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who served in that role from 2007 to 2015.

Mr Ng, 75, who was speaking to the media after his walkabout in Marine Parade, said it is “unsatisfactory” to have a former finance minister running for office because it will become a “oneself check oneself system”.

“You need somebody who knows enough about the subject, but who is not biased. It’s very difficult for someone who set up the system to question the system,” said the former chief investment officer of GIC.

He added: “It is very difficult for someone to be president when the people that he has mentored come to him to make a certain request. I think it is very difficult for an individual to, in other words, challenge the work that he did shortly before he entered the presidency.”

Mr Ng has said that his 45-year career building up the reserves at sovereign wealth fund GIC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore – alongside his non-partisan status – stands him in good stead for the presidency.

Former senior minister Tharman, 66, had previously said

no one could fool him on any matter related to government finances.

At a live forum on Monday,

the three candidates were asked how they could convince voters that they were not politicising the election and that they would exercise their powers without fear or favour.

Mr Tharman said that he wanted to “avoid simple labels” and that candidates had to be assessed on their character and track record.

He added: “Let’s say you have a private company, you have a construction company that depends on government contracts, or you have a fund management company that depends on government money. Does that make you not independent? Not necessarily.”

In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Mr Ng said Mr Tharman was taking the point too far in arguing his case.

Mr Ng said: “He might as well say all Singaporeans are beholden to the Government because all of us are impacted by government policies in one way or another. There is a big difference between being a senior government leader and the rest of us.”

Adding that Mr Tharman’s remark about the fund management company was clearly about him, Mr Ng reiterated that he will fully divest his ownership of Avanda Investment Management should he be elected president.

He is executive chairman of the investment firm.

In his statement, he also noted that the prime minister and Cabinet ministers are selected from among MPs who are representatives of political parties that contest in elections.

“If the elected presidency derives its mandate from, or in opposition to, this same set of political parties, then we might as well abolish the institution of the elected presidency,” he said.

On Tuesday, the media asked Mr Ng how he felt about online chatter on people wanting to spoil their votes – or make their choices invalid – on Polling Day.

He noted that those who are considering casting spoilt votes may be doing it out of cynicism towards the current political scene.

“It is sad if this happens because every citizen has the right to vote. I think it is better to vote for than to vote against, or not to vote at all. You are wasting your right to vote,” he said.

“So I would say, don’t spoil your vote. It is precious to every Singaporean. And don’t just vote against the governing party or against the opposition party – vote for something positive, vote for a positive change in our society.”

At the live forum on Monday,

Mr Ng said that the younger generation is becoming more cynical and less trusting of the Government.

Expanding on this point on Tuesday, he said this distrust could have stemmed from the “recent negative developments in regard to the falling short of standards among political leaders”.

There have been recent scandals involving members of the People’s Action Party and Workers’ Party.

“(It) just makes young people feel that there’s a certain amount of hypocrisy in the system. At first, this was just cynicism. But now, it’s building up into distrust. So I sense that the people of Singapore would like to have a deeper examination of what has gone wrong in our system.”

He added that the growing distrust in the Government is very divisive, separating people into pro-government and anti-government camps.

In his statement, Mr Ng added: “It is precisely because the ruling party is perceived to be controlling all the national institutions and the key appointment holders that there is so much political cynicism among Singaporeans.”

On what an elected president can do to restore the trust, he said the president has the custodial power of ensuring that only competent and trustworthy people of good character are appointed to key senior positions.

On Tuesday morning, Mr Ng visited coffee shops in the Marine Terrace area and stopped by GoodLife! Makan, a community kitchen for seniors who live alone. The facility is run by social service organisation Montfort Care.

Some residents in the area asked to take pictures with him, and a few wished him good luck.

Mr Ng was joined by his fiancee Sybil Lau, younger brother Charles Ng – who has been distributing campaign fliers and leading the walkabouts – and Ms Lau’s father Liu Zhaohang, who is also known as Paul Lau.

On Tuesday evening, Mr Ng was at the area behind Clementi MRT station where people lined up to take pictures with him and get his autograph on his fliers.

Around 7pm, a young man on a bicycle approached Mr Ng’s team, shouting vulgarities and making threatening gestures. He also followed Mr Ng for a short distance.

Mr Ng was quickly escorted out of the area.

The cyclist eventually left while shouting the name of presidential hopeful Tan Kin Lian, 75. Mr Ng was not hurt during the incident, his media team said.

Police officers arrived at the scene later.

“We understand a member of the public has filed a police report,” added the team.