August 25, 2023, 08:44 AM
The son of presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian has come forward to defend his father after a photo of the older man posing with a small girl made the rounds on social media.
Tan Boon Keng shared in an Aug. 25 Facebook post that the girl in the "maliciously angled" photo was his daughter, and the elder Tan's granddaughter.
The photo being circulated showed Tan interacting with a young girl at the nomination centre, surrounded by his supporters which included Tan Jee Say, Lim Tean and Goh Meng Seng.
Photo from TMSG / FB
A Facebook post sharing the photo had a caption which included the words: "...Keep your hands to yourself".
In his post, Tan Boon Keng also shared screenshots of TikTok users' "nasty and disgusting comments". The commenters were expressing their shock or joking about the act.
Photo from Tan Boon Keng / FB
A "loving moment"
He explained that his daughter was there to support her grandfather.
"She ran over in excitement calling out ‘Yeh Yeh’ (paternal grandfather in Mandarin).”
Tan Kin Lian then "reached out to hug his grand daughter over the railing".
Tan Boon Keng described this as a "loving moment" between the presidential candidate and his granddaughter, but which ended up being "maliciously angled and captioned".
He then condemned those who had reacted aversely to the incident.
"For those of you haters who took such a loving moment and smeared him, shame on you.
Look at yourself in the mirror and hope one day someone does not judge you for holding your own daughter or grand daughter."
Tan Boon Keng also shared a photo of his father and mother posing with his two kids.
Controversial social media posts
Tan has previously been called out for his controversial social media posts featuring "pretty girls".
The presidential hopeful defended the posts by saying they are "light" and "enjoyable", and described negative comments as "malicious" and with the intention of making him look bad.
Since then, the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) has raised concerns about a candidate having a "history of objectifying women".
Tan subsequently rejected AWARE's "allegations and insinuations", and his daughter, Tan Su Ling, stepped in to defend him.
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Top photo from TMSG / FB and Tan Boon Keng / FB
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