Presidential candidate Ng Kok Song has been speaking of himself as the "non-partisan candidate" in the election.

He elaborated on this further on Saturday (Aug. 26) while on a visit to Ang Mo Kio Central Market.

Politics in Singapore now "highly contestable"

Ng said politics in Singapore have evolved since the elected presidency was introduced in the 1990s and that "the time has come" for Singaporeans to choose "a president who is above politics, who does not belong to any political party".

"Politics in Singapore has become highly contestable," he explained, adding that this was "not a bad thing for an evolving democracy."

Ng said that this evolution means that "even the ruling, the governing party, is under tremendous pressure to win the support of the people."

"And so we now run a very high risk that the governing party, in order to hold on to power, might resort to populist policies.

By populist policies, I mean free spending policies. Spend more, cut taxes, reduce taxes in order to defend its share of the popular vote.

So even a government which has been quite good for a long time might have to play defensive."

This would erode the "hard-earned reserves" accumulated over the years.

This applied even more to the opposition parties, Ng said, who would "go all out to promise the people of Singapore all kinds of things".

Ng said this "risk scenario" was why founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew proposed the office of the elected president to safeguard the reserves. He added:

"So that is why I feel that the time has come at this presidential election for the people of Singapore to say we want a president who is above politics, who does not belong to any political party."

Only a "non-partisan president" would have "the strength and the stamina and the steel in the spine" to veto populist policies, Ng said.

Ng said a candidate who is endorsed by the governing party would be beholden to them.

"Beholden because he's endorsed by them, and because they'll say, 'We put you in power to become the president.'"

"So the people of Singapore must wake up that in 2023, we must move to a presidency that is non-partisan," he said.

"My party is the people of Singapore"

He then referred to his two fellow candidates, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Tan Kin Lian.

He said Tharman was a leader of the People's Action Party (PAP) for 22 years, while Tan is an ex-PAP member who is now being supported by "several opposition parties".

"What about Mr. Ng Kok Song? No party, no party. My party is the people of Singapore," he said.

Earlier on Aug. 26, Tharman said he is not endorsed by any party.

Tharman also said requiring candidates to not have been involved with political parties would mean that people like former president Ong Teng Cheong and former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock would have to be ruled out.

"We can't look in an artificial way at past affiliations," Tharman added.

Responding to Tharman's comments, Ng said that "30 years have passed" since Ong Teng Cheong was elected in 1993.

"At that time, the system of our presidential election was untested," he said.

"To get it going, the government endorsed Mr Ong Teng Cheong. And in order to have a semblance of an election, Mr Chua Kim Yeow was persuaded to stand, and he went around asking the voters to vote for Mr Ong Teng Cheong."

Ng described such a situation as one where a "shortage of capable people coming forward" meant that there was a need to "compromise the spirit of the constitution for the elected presidency", which requires that the elected president should not belong to any political party.

"Now we are in 2023. And this is the time where we should now honour the spirit of the Constitution that the president of Singapore should be above politics."

"Good and capable people" feel they have no chance without party endorsement

Ng also made a separate point about the importance of having a non-partisan candidate.

"Why is it that it's so difficult to get good and capable people who do not belong to any political party to come forward and contest in the presidential election?" he asked.

"It is because good and capable people perceive that unless they are supported or endorsed by the governing party or by the opposition party, they have no chance," Ng said.

He then said he came forward without having support from the governing party as the "underdog" in the contest.

"I'm coming forward without any support or endorsement from any political party. And if in this election we can establish this principle, I believe that more good and capable people will come forward."

Singapore "fortunate" to have people from other countries wanting to be citizens

Ng also elaborated further on his comments made earlier on Aug. 26, where he said Singapore was "fortunate" that those from other countries want to be citizens here.

"We should ensure that Singapore has got very stringent criteria for citizenship," Ng said.

"All of us in Singapore — including me — we have sweated. We have laboured hard to build Singapore to what it is today," he said. The fruits of that should not be shared "too easily" with those wanting to be citizens.

"But once these people have become citizens, we should not discriminate between Singaporeans who are born here or not born here," he said.

Ng's comments came in response to fellow presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian, who said on Aug. 25 that he believes voters will want to "have a chance" to have their President and First Lady be "true Singaporeans from birth".

Ng's fiancée, Sybil Lau, is a Singapore citizen who was born in Canada.

Ng remarked:

"To say that the first lady should be born and bred in Singapore, I think that is not wise. Because if you carry it further, you may as well say the Prime Minister's wife, the wives of ministers, they all should be born and bred in Singapore. Does it make sense? It doesn't make sense."

In his response, Ng also highlighted that Singapore has had leaders who were not born in Singapore, such as former Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee and former Finance Minister Hon Sui Sen.

On Aug. 25, Tharman Shanmugaratnam was also asked about Tan's remarks, but said he does not wish to reply to the "tactical statement" made by Tan.

"I let people judge by themselves," Tharman added before reiterating that he would rather not comment on statements made by other candidates as that is not his style.

Top photo by Audrey Lee