Presidential hopeful Ng Kok Song gave a thank you speech on the afternoon of Aug. 22 at the People's Association HQ.

He was delivering the speech after all three presidential hopefuls— Ng, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Tan Kin Lian were officially declared as nominees to run in the upcoming Presidential Election.

In a speech on Aug. 22, Ng Kok Song said that he is standing for President to protect the three national treasures of Singapore.

"On National Day, we celebrated the three national treasures that define our country Singapore as exceptional," Ng said in his speech.

He said that he is running for President to protect three "treasures":

The reserves

The 75-year-old said that he spent his "entire career" at the GIC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and therefore can "protect the reserves".

Good public administration

In his speech, he said that he has worked 45 years in public administration.

"I have what it takes to uphold the integrity of public service appointments."

Social stability

According to Ng, the third treasure is social stability where Singaporeans have lived in peace and harmony regardless of race, religion or political affiliation.

"I do not belong to any political party. And so I'm well placed to unite the peace of Singapore to face an uncertain future," he asserted.

"For these three reasons, I humbly ask you, my fellow Singaporeans to choose me as your president," Ng said as he ended his speech.

He then introduced himself as a presidential candidate in the other official languages of Singapore— Chinese, Malay, and Tamil.

Background

On Jul. 19, Ng picked up his Presidential Election Candidate form at the Elections Department (ELD) and emerged as the third presidential hopeful after indicating his interest to run for president.

He announced that he will be an "independent president[ial]" candidate as he was never affiliated with any political party or served as a political figure.

On Aug. 18, it was announced that Ng, along with other presidential hopefuls Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Tan Kin Lian qualified for Presidential Election 2023.

He announced his list of public supporters on Monday (Aug. 21) which includes one proposer, one seconder, and eight assenters.

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Top image via Mothership and CNA