Halimah Yacob officially confirmed on Aug. 6, 2017, that she will be running for the presidential election.

This is one month shy of the presidential election's due date in September 2017.

Halimah deflected media queries

The 62-year-old Speaker of Parliament had been coy about stepping up to stand for election to take on the role, deflecting multiple media queries up till the coming out moment of announcing her decision.

However, at least two media reports more than a week before her confirmation had quoted inside sources with knowledge of Halimah's thinking and doing to report with confidence that she was going to quit party politics to run for the highest office of the land.

Yahoo Singapore breaks news

On July 27, quoting at least two difference sources, Yahoo Singapore reported that Halimah had met her peers and supporters to convey to them her decision to run.

Via Yahoo Singapore:

Halimah, who is also a Member of Parliament for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, has communicated her decision to run in the September election to grassroots leaders and People’s Action Party (PAP) activists, the source told Yahoo News Singapore on Thursday (27 July).

Yahoo Singapore quoted another source in the People's Action Party, who said Halimah had indicated to party members as far back as March that she was planning to run for the country’s top office.

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South China Morning Post quotes an insider too

On July 29, Hong Kong English newspaper South China Morning Post also quoted an unnamed source that was highly positive that Halimah was going to quit her political party and run for presidency.

Via SCMP:

She has yet to declare her candidacy, but a source with knowledge of her thinking told This Week in Asia that she would quit party politics to run for the position.

It cannot be deduced if the two media had spoken to the same source.

Non-local media reporting accurate

Interestingly, it was Yahoo Singapore and SCMP that got their inside scoop and reporting right.

Both entities are not regarded as part of the local mainstream media circle, despite Yahoo Singapore boasting a local presence with Singaporean reporters on the ground and the SCMP article was written by a Singaporean journalist.

In contrast, the mainstream media in Singapore has stayed away from such speculation.

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Top photo via Halimah Yacob Facebook