Former presidential hopeful Tan Cheng Bock, who failed to contest in the Presidential Election (PE) held in September this year, is now looking to mentor future generations of politicians in Singapore.

The 77-year-old told an audience of more than 100 at a forum organised by Future of Singapore (FOSG) yesterday (Dec. 16) that his wish to groom candidates for politics was open to all regardless of their political affiliations, including those from the ruling PAP.

“I’m prepared to mentor any political group, even PAP chaps can come to me, I’ll still mentor them. Because the objective must be very clear: you want to train people who will be good MPs. MPs who will think of Singapore first.”

Tan, who is himself a former PAP politician and one-time presidential candidate in PE2011, also said that he would be meeting "quite a few" individuals who had approached him soon.

In reference to his past comments that the political system here created people who are “very obedient, insecure and many a time, fearful of authority”, Tan said that:

"If you come under my fold, I’ll tell them not to think like that. So if they do enter into the political arena, even into the PAP, I think they will carry some of my views."

Reserved election to affect votes at next GE

Revisiting the issue of the reserved presidential election and the walkover by Halimah Yacob in PE2017, Tan predicted that votes at the next General Elections are likely to be affected due to voters' lingering resentment over their inability to choose a president at the ballot box.

This is not the first time Tan has made such comments on the issue, however, as he has been very vocal on the issue and made similar remarks after PE2017 in September.

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No plans to become an opposition leader

Despite being a vocal critic of the government, Tan stopped short of saying whether he would become an opposition figurehead when asked by an audience member, saying that.

“To be a unifying person, I think first you must have acceptance. I cannot just say well, I want to be a unifying figure…let me think more…options will not be closed off just yet.”

He also said that he did not intend to set up his own party just yet because it would just add to the many political parties already in existence.

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