Presidential candidate Ng Kok Song said on Saturday (Aug. 26) morning during a visit to Chong Pang market that Singapore is "fortunate" to have people from other countries wanting to be Singapore citizens.

“I think if you look at the history of our leaders in Singapore, we should welcome people from other nationalities who want to come and live in Singapore to take up citizenship and contribute to the welfare of Singapore, either in political office, in presidential office or as citizens," CNA reported.

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

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

Meanwhile, the wife of presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam, has lived in Singapore since she was three years old.

In his comments, 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.

What exactly did Tan say?

Speaking to the media at Geylang Serai Market on Aug. 25, Tan introduced his wife, Vivian Tay Siew Hong, and said:

"I also want to introduce her so that the people of Singapore will also have a choice of the First Lady. There are three [possible] First Lady, so you can have a choice.

My wife like me, we are born in Singapore. We are blue-blooded Singaporeans. Of course, we respect other people from other countries who come to Singapore to become citizens. But I think deep down our locals will prefer at least for a chance to have the President and the First Lady to be true Singaporeans from birth."

Tan clarified that his use of the term "blue-blooded" could be read "metaphorically to describe individuals who exhibit a deep and unwavering patriotism for Singapore", according to CNA.

On Aug. 25, Tharman Shanmugaratnam was also asked about Tan's remarks.

Tharman said that he does not wish to reply to the "tactical statement" made by Tan.

Instead, he brought up former presidential hopeful George Goh as a good example.

"I had nothing against George Goh," he said. "He was born in Malaysia, worked very hard... and succeeded. I thought it was a good story."

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

"The third candidate"

Ng also said he feels he is "the best person to be President" given his status as "the third candidate" with no affiliation to any political party.

He pointed out Tharman's past involvement with the People's Action Party, as well as the fact that opposition parties are supporting Tan.

Ng then explained why a president cannot "serve the political agenda of any political party", saying that political parties may try to win votes by proposing policies which are "popular" but "not right" — such as a proposal to reduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to 0 per cent.

He pointed out that this was the very scenario envisioned by founding Prime Minster Lee Kuan Yew when he introduced the office of the elected president.

Ng also reiterated his intention to support charitable causes if elected as president.

Commenting on the example of former President S R Nathan, who started the President's Challenge, Ng said:

“I and Sybil would want to use the office of the President to do something similar, and hopefully we can do more."

Ng and Lau also stopped for photos with supporters in Chong Pang.

Top photo by Matthias Ang