SINGAPORE - Presidential hopeful George Goh has reiterated his stance that an independent president is necessary to give a fresh perspective on issues, and honed in on the Government’s reserves policy.

In a statement to the press that he shared on social media on Thursday, the 63-year-old entrepreneur wrote: “If everyone involved in shaping our reserves policy is from a small circle of those in power, there is a real danger of groupthink.

“This is already a concern among many people about the political leadership, that they all think alike. If even the president was from this circle, it is doubly dangerous.”

Mr Goh was responding to a CNA documentary, Singapore Reserves Revealed, that aired on Wednesday. After watching it, he is now “even more convinced of the importance of having an independent president with no past association with the Government”, he said.

Interviewed in the documentary, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore’s reserves cannot be built up again once they are gone.

This is because Singapore is no longer in a period of strong growth and yearly budget surpluses like it was in the 1970s and early 1980s, when the Government had the possibility of putting aside some of the prosperity for a future rainy day.

PM Lee said that the Government had come to recognise the need to have a “second key” to the nation’s large reserves.

Now, the Government can tap past reserves only with the president’s approval. 

Mr Goh said it would have been better to hear about the workings of the presidency and some matters concerning the reserves from a president, besides PM Lee.

“There are two keys in our system,” Mr Goh said. “The PM holds one key. The president holds the second key. It is a different key, not a duplicate key.”

It is also his view that it is important to get more people from outside the small circle of those in power, who have different perspectives and views, as there are areas in the reserves policy that need to be discussed and refined.

For example, he said, there is the issue of how land sales should be computed as past reserves, what investment policies Singapore’s investment company Temasek and sovereign wealth fund GIC should pursue to better protect the reserves, and how transparent they should be so that they are accountable to the people.

The role former president Ong Teng Cheong had played in changing how the income from the reserves was used is “especially interesting”, Mr Goh said.

In the interview, PM Lee said Mr Ong had asked why all the income was being spent, and suggested that government spending be capped at half of the returns, with the rest set aside for the future.

The Government accepted the suggestion and amended the Constitution.

Mr Goh said that while Mr Ong had been deputy prime minister, he was never “immersed” in financial policymaking, be it with the Ministry of Finance, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Temasek or GIC.

Also, as a former private-sector architect, Mr Ong brought “fresh perspective into his new role” as president, added Mr Goh.

Mr Goh had previously spoken about Mr Ong, pointing out that the late president had experience in both the public and private sector.

Mr Goh said: “The most important quality you need to exercise real independence is not knowledge about the matter or experience, even though they are important.

“It’s ultimately about political courage to challenge the executive (branch of the state), whenever necessary, in the interest of the country. President Ong had this quality.”