Presidential runner-up Tan Cheng Bock has finally spoken up to share his views on the decision to count Wee Kim Wee as Singapore's first Elected President, and thus to make our next presidential election reserved for Malay candidates.

He had been silent on the topic ever since Wednesday, where (he was ahem vicariously living through) the announcement of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday prompted a screenshot and a one-liner declaring him to have won:

That he would encounter the media was an eventuality, though — sure enough, Pearl Lee of The Straits Times successfully accosted him at a community event to ask him what everyone was wondering since Tuesday, when the announcement was made — what did he think/feel?

Although to be fair, we reckon he wouldn't be too surprised by this latest hit — the biggest blow was already slapped on him in September was his automatic disqualification from the recommendations made by the Constitutional Commission.

Here's the minute-long interview:

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And because it was recorded on potato cam, we struggled through it and have the transcription of what he said, as accurately as we could hear it:

"Well you can't say i'm not disappointed. I'm disappointed. But there are many options. In life, we never quit.

There are so many things we can do — like attend these type of functions; I do a lot of charity work, I give talks, and I get invited to many, many people's homes also, that's a surprise — I think most important is keeping yourself occupied.

I still run my practice, I still probably run around homes, because there are many old people now, and they are in... well I would say, some of them, quite, not-so-good state, so I take care of them. And anyone who asks me for service in homes I will go. Because sometimes, they need doctors and I'm free, I'll just go.

So it's quite... Keep yourself occupied, there are so many things, in fact every day I'm out, I'm always on the move."

The gist: I'm disappointed, of course. But I move on.

Not much else we can expect him to do, we suppose, but we can officially unofficially call him Tan Cheng Blocked, unless he would like to give it another go in, say 2023.

In case you'd like to read more about the Elected Presidency:

Everything you need to know from PM Lee’s 24-page speech on Elected Presidency in 60 seconds

Yaacob Ibrahim had difficult task of balancing national interests & Malay community’s for Elected Presidency

S’pore intellectual Cherian George on Elected Presidency: Halimah would win “hands down” if she ran against Tan Cheng Bock

Top photo: File

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