Tharman Shanmugaratnam is no stranger to campaigns, having participated in five General Elections since 2001.

While he said that his ongoing presidential campaign is "not fundamentally" different from what he's done in the past, some things stand out.

Or two, in particular — the heavy involvement of his wife, Jane Ittogi, and the recurring appearance of the pineapple.

"We are partners in life in every sense"

In an exclusive interview with Mothership, signalling the halfway mark of his presidential campaign, Tharman shared that he and his wife are "partners in life in every sense".

"She's always been with me in Jurong, and we are partners in life in every sense. We are intellectual partners, we're partners in our common interests— the arts, the music.

We are partners in just thinking through how we can help the people we are working with, which we often spend a lot of time on. We are partners in the NGO (non-governmental organisation) which she runs together with a group of really committed volunteers."

Ittogi has been by Tharman's side at nearly all of his walkabouts thus far, spending time to talk to residents and pose for photos with them.

She also attended events with Tharman, either off-stage or by his side onstage, such as the townhall meeting held at Pasir Panjang Power Station on Aug. 25.

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"Campaigns are about just meeting and interacting with people," Tharman shared.

And that is what he plans to continue in the second half of his campaign.

"Just carry on interacting with people as much as possible. Continue to show respect for the other candidates, whom I do respect.

And just hope that I get the support from as many Singaporeans as possible, because I'm not here because of myself. I'm here because of our future. And I feel very deeply about the future, and the role that I can play to help Singapore and Singaporeans."

Tharman added that he feels privileged for having had "decades of experience on the ground with people".

"Singaporeans are just very friendly people, I find," he said.

Indeed, Singaporeans have shown their friendlier side to Tharman at his various walkabouts.

A few went above and beyond to shower him with gifts, particularly pineapples.

"It's just an attractive fruit"

For the uninitiated, Tharman announced on Nomination Day that his election symbol is a pineapple.

He briefly explained why he chose the pineapple but elaborated further during the interview.

"To be honest, we considered many symbols," he told Mothership, adding that birds, other fruits, and flowers were among the choices he and his team considered.

In the end, Tharman said he came up with the pineapple idea.

"It's just an attractive fruit. Singaporeans love pineapples. Rojak is one of the dishes that all Singaporeans love and the pineapple is the key ingredient in rojak, pineapple tarts. I look forward to it at all our celebrations.

Of course, for the Chinese, it's got some additional symbolic value, particularly when you say 'Ong Lai' in Hokkien.

Well, there are many reasons. We didn't want to read deeply into it. In fact, we agreed within 10 seconds, amongst quite a large group of people of different ages, that this was it— let's go for the pineapple. Simple, easy to remember, attractive, likeable."

When asked what he does with the pineapples he receives from Singaporeans, Tharman replied: "We'll share it with the volunteers."

His volunteers aren't sick of pineapples yet, he clarified, explaining that one can do many things with pineapples, such as cook them.

Do pineapples belong on pizza? Tharman: I like it in rojak

Since we were still talking about pineapples, we also made sure to ask Tharman the age-old (but important) question: What does he think of pineapples on pizza?

Here's Tharman's response:

"Not my favourite because I find it a bit too sweet on pizza, so not my favourite.

I like pineapple in rojak, where it goes together with the sharpness of the rojak and it offsets it. The sweetness offsets the sharpness that you must have in rojak as well.

I never ordered pineapple on pizza."

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