People who come forward to support him are "people of courage" because they have supported the underdog publicly, said presidential hopeful Ng Kok Song during a doorstop interview on the morning of Jul. 27, 2023, after his morning visit to the Geylang Serai Market.

Ng was responding to queries from the media with regard to the status of his list of proposer, seconder, and assenters.

The former GIC chief investment officer shared that he is currently still working on his list and has been making "a lot of progress".

While his list would not be as "impressive in terms of brain power" as former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's, Ng said his list would be equally high-powered in terms of "heart power".

This is because the people who decided to come forward and help him by being his assentors would be from different walks of life, explained Ng.

'Not easy' to assemble the list: Ng

Nevertheless, Ng admitted that it has not been easy for him to assemble the group of individuals as some of the people he approached shared they were stuck in a dilemma between him and Tharman:

"It has not been easy for me to assemble this group of people because some people that I approached said, 'We like you, Kok Song, but we also like Tharman. So, in other words, they are in a dilemma because signing up for me has no upside. There are some downsides."

As such, Ng said he considered those willing to come forward to join his list to be "people of courage" as they had supported "the underdog".

Ng also added that he would announce the names of his proposer, seconder, and assenters on Nomination Day after he was certified eligible to stand for the presidency.

Background

On Jul. 26, Tharman held a press conference to launch his bid for the presidency, during which he also introduced his proposer, seconder, and assentors.

Several significant political, business, and arts figures were on the list, including Lim Siong Guan, the former group president of GIC.

In response to a question from Mothership, Lim said that he had nothing to do with speaking against Ng, whom he had worked together with for a very long time in GIC.

Nevertheless, he decided to become Tharman's assentor as he, like every other voter, would have to make the choice "according to what [they] consider best" for their futures.

Top image via Ng Kok Song media team