On Aug 24 presidential candidate Ng Kok Song accompanied his fiancé Sybil Lau's on a visit to the Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital, where he gave a brief doorstop interview.

Invitation to visit

The Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital (KWSH) had invited Lau to visit the hospital in light of her "keen interest in philanthropic work", according to Michelle Lew, director of Ambulatory Services.

There she, Ng, and her father Paul Lau, visited the TCM Centre, as well as the Senior Care Centre.

While there, Ng gave a doorstop interview to members of the press, first complimenting his fiancé's longstanding interesting in caring for the elderly and dying.

Ng quoted an interview which Lau had done with Mothership, where she described her philanthropic efforts.

Independent vs establishment

He also addressed several points about his campaign, such as the difference between an 'independent' and 'establishment' candidate, as well as his approach to campaigning in a social media age.

Ng was asked about his political affiliations in light of his past association with GIC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Ng responded by saying this was the result of a mix-up between the words 'establishment' and 'independence'.

The constitution, he said, states that those standing for the role of president should not belong to any political party.

However, due to the difficulty in getting enough people without any political connection to come forward, that it was technically enough if one resigned their political office "two or three months " before nomination.

"So I think that is a technical way of complying, but I think it misses the spirit of it", he said.

In Ng's opinion, the spirit of the constitution was for what "a non-partisan president", a president who was not associated with any party.

In his view, he was the only one who could claim to be the only non-partisan candidate.

Of his fellow candidates, Tharman Shanmugaratnam had been a member and leader of the People's Action Party (PAP) until July, and Tan Kin Lian was a PAP member decades before, and was endorsed by two members of opposition parties.

Teochew and cats

He was also asked about his approach to campaigning and whether his recent social media video was a way to reach out to older voters.

In a recent social media video, he tried to coax his cat in Teochew.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ng Kok Song (@ngkoksong.official)

Ng said that brushing up on his Teochew and mandarin was a priority for him, and that Lau had been encouraging him to speak more Teochew.

Because of this, he had decided to call out to his cat in his native dialect.

Social media campaign

Ng was asked about why he had decided on a social media focused campaign, as opposed to a more traditional one focused on posters and banners like the other candidates.

Ng said that posters and banners were indeed useful, but that it would ultimately prove wasteful, as they would be disposed of after a few days, adding that he did not find it ecologically friendly.

To a related question, he said that he was attempting to keep his campaign cost below the $800,000 threshold, and that he was also refusing to take any political donations.

Saying that well wishers had been generous in offering financial donations or offering services such as hotel facilities, he respectfully declined, not wanting to be beholden to anyone who had helped during his campaign.

As for his social media campaign, he estimated that it had thus far taken up less than 40% of his campaign budget, saying that it was "fantastic value for money".

Ng also said that the social media campaign, as well as his efforts in meeting people during walkabouts was  bearing fruit, and that the approach simply needed more time.

But he also said that the nine-day campaign was neither too short nor too long, with all candidates facing the same time constraints, and all endeavouring to do their best within that time.

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Top image via Mothership