Presidential hopeful Tan Kin Lian has described his fellow aspirant Tharman Shanmugaratnam as his "biggest opponent" and an individual whom he has "high respect" for.
Tan was speaking prior to a walkabout at the Kampung Admiralty hawker centre.
As for the other presidential hopeful Ng Kok Song, Tan said he also has respect for Ng and added, "He's not that strong an opponent at the moment but he might be stronger later on, we don't know."
Tan also said, "Maybe Mr Ng Kok Song can catch up later on."
Why should Singaporeans vote for Tan over Tharman?
In the case of Tharman, Tan noted that the former senior minister and deputy prime minister has had an "illustrious career" for more than 20 years.
Making his case for why Singaporeans should vote for him over Tharman as President, Tan referred to some statements Tharman had made during the past week, before presenting his own take on the issues Tharman addressed.
President should not interfere in foreign policy
The first statement was about how the President has to play a role to articulate Singapore's position on the international stage and represent the country, Tan said.
Tan did not state that his views on the matter differed from Tharman's.
Tan said he agreed with Tharman on the president's role in representing Singapore, and highlighted that "the conduct" of Singapore's foreign policy is the duty of the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister.
"It is not for the President to interfere in the foreign policy," he said.
Tan added that he agreed however, that the President has an "important role" in articulating the same policy as the government.
Should he become President, Tan said he will promote the key principles of Singapore's foreign policy without interfering with the government's conduct of foreign policy.
In an interview with The Straits Times, Tharman said that being President involves making judgements about the challenges facing Singapore in a way that allows the President to maintain trust with the government.
Should this trust break down, the role of the presidency in representing Singapore internationally will be "severely weakened" as other countries will not take seriously a President who is seen to be at loggerheads with the government, he said.
Tan: I also have some experience on the international stage
Tan also pointed out that he had a few years of experience on the international stage, although not to the extent of Tharman's.
Here, Tan said from 1992 to 1997, he was chairman of an international federation comprised of insurance companies around the world.
The top executives of these companies, which he said were 10 to 20 times the size of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), had elected him to be chairman of the federation for five years, he added.
In addition, he was involved with this federation for more than 15 years.
"So I think my international exposure is also quite adequate, maybe not as good as Mr Tharman, but I think it's enough."
Do we have enough reserves or too much of it?
Tan then talked about Tharman's background as an economist in relation to dealing with the reserves.
Tan said while he respected Tharman as an economist, he wanted to point out that being a President is above that of an economist as it involves leadership.
Such leadership involves asking whether Singapore has enough reserves to meet the country's future needs, or too much of it, he said.
Tan explained, "Because the reserves that you accumulate take away from the current generation. Do we have too much?"
He suggested that if there were indeed "too much" in the reserves, there was no need to impose higher taxes.
The President's role is to therefore tell the government on the behalf of the people, that the public will suffer if GST is increased, he said.
"Can part of the reserves be used right now to lower the cost of living for the people?" he asked.
Tan acknowledged that the government will ultimately make the final decision on financial affairs, but shared his opinion that these matters should also be discussed with the President.
"There is no need to keep on giving me more reserves, I don't need it. Let the money be used to help the people, that will be the goal of the President."
In his interview with The Straits Times, Tharman said considering a withdrawal of the reserves is never a "black-and-white matter", when asked how his past experience as the finance minister and a senior minister will inform his role as President.
Tharman added that it is not just a matter of deciding to turn the "second key", but also understanding the issues well, and how the reserves can be preserved for future crises.
It also helps to have a background in both economic and social policies, he pointed out.
Sent a message to George Goh wishing him all the best
When asked by Mothership if he had spoken to George Goh following the Elections Department's announcement of who had qualified to run, and if Goh had said he would support Tan, Tan replied that he had not spoken to Goh but had sent him a private message.
Tan's message was that he was "rather sorry" Goh had "missed the chance" to run, and wished him all the best.
"I think we must respect Mr George Goh's current situation. He's disappointed. So we shouldn't be pushing him on things that he's not ready."
Tan said he would wait to see if Goh wants to talk to him once he has "overcome his current emotional difficulty".
Gave out pieces of paper featuring his photo and name
During his walkabout, Tan handed out small pieces of paper with his photo and his name in English and Chinese.
Photo by Matthias Ang
Photo by Matthias Ang
Photo by Matthias Ang
Black and white copies were given to members of the public, while coloured copies printed on photo paper were given to stallholders.
Tan could be heard asking members of the public if they knew his name and what the upcoming election is about.
Source: Photo by Matthias Ang
Tan could also be heard asking the stallholders to display the copies on the front of their stalls.
Photo by Matthias Ang
Photo by Matthias Ang
Photo by Matthias Ang
Lim Tean, Han Hui Hui and Iris Koh seen at walkabout
Certain prominent figures were also spotted at Tan's walkabout, such as opposition politician and lawyer Lim Tean, blogger-activist Han Hui Hui, and the founder of Healing the Divide, Iris Koh.
Photo by Matthias Ang
Photo by Matthias Ang
Photo by Matthias Ang
Koh was also seen helping to hand out copies of Tan's printout to the public.
Photo by Matthias Ang
When asked by Mothership if she was a volunteer with Tan's team, she said she was just helping where she could.
Both Han and Koh also said they were giving their support to Tan in his bid for the Presidency.
@mothershipsg Han Hui Hui extending her support to Tan Kin Lian #tiktoksg #sgnews #sgpresidentialelection2023 ♬ original sound - Mothership
Top photo by Matthias Ang