Former 2011 Presidential candidate Tan Cheng Block Bock has finally spoken.

His Facebook comments on the subject comes four days after the Constitutional Commission submitted their recommendations to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for consideration.

In a letter addressed to the Chairman, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, PM Lee said that the “Government accepts in principle” the main recommendations.

Why did Tan take so long to respond?

This is because Tan said that he has "been kept busy assuring" many, many, many Singaporeans that they should not "jump into conclusion that the whole exercise was to prevent me from running".

The group of Singaporeans who needed assurance did not include The Straits Times reporters, who visited Tan's home on Tuesday night, as he declined to comment then.

Tan is implying that the government folks are "men of virtue and integrity and would not resort" to preventing him from running.

After all, PM Lee disagreed with the Commission that the EP should revert back into a President being appointed by Parliament instead because of the lack of "an electoral mandate".

Since it is likely that EP is still open to electoral contests, Tan can continue to hope.

Interestingly, retrieved from the Hansard during the Parliamentary debate on constitutional amendments to safeguard financial assets and integrity of public services, this was what Tan said in 1988:

"The initial reaction of some Singaporeans on the issue is clouded by personalities. They see Mr Lee Kuan Yew as the next President and Mr Goh Chok Tong as the next Prime Minister and ask, is not everything the same except in name?"

“They fail to see beyond these personalities. If this combination will sustain forever, then indeed we have nothing to fear. But what if in future things change? We need to separate the issues at hand from the personalities involved."

“We need a system that will accommodate changes, players in the political scene will change and in years to come Singaporeans may find themselves embroiled in a constitutional crisis, the Prime Minister and the President disagreeing on the issue of various assets and on so many appointments.”

Top photo by Lim Weixiang

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.