Less than three weeks away from election day, presidential hopeful Ng Kok Song visited Seah Im Food Centre and gave a short doorstop interview to the media on Aug. 13.

Turned down by some organisations

As part of his efforts to introduce himself to the people, Ng has been reaching out to business organisations and civic organisations on top of visits to hawker centres and markets.

However, he shared that this has been a "difficult process" for him.

Describing this as an "uphill struggle", Ng revealed that he was turned down by some of the organisations he approached, while others that accepted his offer have "tried to be politically neutral".

According to him, these challenges are not universal among the candidates.

"But, you know, there is a difference between a government-endorsed candidate -- you know who I am referring to -- and a candidate like myself, independent."

He also named George Goh and Tan Kin Lian as "independent" candidates like himself.

"Non-government endorsed candidates are at a disadvantage"

He added that the "government-endorsed candidate" receives "VIP treatment", while a "non-government-endorsed candidate" receives "NIP treatment".

"What is NIP? Not important [Person]." he explained.

"Is that fair? But that is the reality. That's the reality because business organisations, even civic organisations, they do not want to offend the government. So they tend to give preferential treatment to the government-endorsed candidate."

However, during his visits to hawker centres and wet markets — which he called a "level playing field" — Ng said he felt welcomed by the ordinary people on the ground.

In his opinion, business organisations and civic organisations have "different motivations".

As a result, he and other "non-government-endorsed candidates" are "at a disadvantage".

When asked to elaborate on the preferential treatment he is referring to, Ng encouraged people to look closely at the newspapers.

"Look at the photographs and contrast the photographs of me and the government-endorsed candidate. You tell me, is there a difference?"

An establishment candidate?

Ng was also asked for his thoughts about fellow presidential hopeful Tan Kin Lian's insinuation that he was an "establishment candidate".

Ng — who was in the public service for 45 years, including a stint as GIC's chief investment officer — explained that having been in public service does not make one affiliated with a political party.

"There are 150,000 people in the public service, in the ministries, and in the statutory boards," he estimated, before adding that the "vast majority of them" do not belong to a political party.

"So you cannot just say, just because we've been in public service, therefore you are so-called establishment, you are part of the political party.

[...]

It is not right to say every person who serves in the public service, you know, is affiliated with the ruling party. That is not correct."

President must be above politics

In addition, Ng responded to a recent comment Tharman Shanmugaratnam, another presidential hopeful, made about how the election should not be politicised.

He agreed that the president must be above politics, so they can unify the people of Singapore regardless of their political beliefs.

He emphasised that this is why he is standing for president as an "independent" candidate, "as someone who is not affiliated with any political party".

Additionally, Ng shared that he is considering conducting an online rally instead of a physical rally for his campaign, since the Elections Department (ELD) has discouraged rallies for the presidential elections.

Top images by Kow Zi Shan.