TR EMERITUS

By Eugene Yeo, Senior writer

Mr Tan Kin Lian’s open declaration of his intention to run for the elected presidency during an interview with The Sunday Times last week was described by some as a bold, if not audacious move to announce his entry into the political arena.

While his supporters welcome and applaud his move, there are others who doubt his chances of becoming Singapore’s third elected President after Mr Ong Teng Cheong and the incumbent Mr S R Nathan.

The elected presidency was first mooted by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew way back in 1982 to safeguard Singapore’s reserves from being frittered away by a “profligate” government should the PAP lose power one day.

The President is supposedly vested with special powers to look into the accounts of the government and to ensure that the nation’s balance sheet is in good order.

In 1991, amendments were made in the Constitution to give the President certain reserve powers over government expenditure of financial reserves and appointments to key public office.

Mr Ong Teng Cheong won the historic election in 1993 to become the first and only popularly Elected President in Singapore.

However, soon after his election to the presidency, he became embroiled in a dispute with the government over the access of information regarding Singapore’s financial reserves. The government said it would take 56 man years to produce a dollar-and-cents value of the immovable assets.

Ong discussed this with the accountant general and the auditor general and came to a compromise that the government needed to give him only a listing of all the properties that the government owns. It took the government a few months to produce the list. But even then the list was not complete. In all, it took the government three years to come up with the information about the reserves that Ong requested

Ong’s conflicts with the PAP government led by Goh Chok Tong soon made him fall out of favor from the establishment. Though he indicated in 1998 that he is ready to serve another term, the government refused to support him on the grounds of health concerns (Ong was diagnosed to have lymphoma in 1993).

Whether it is due to external pressure by the PAP or personal reasons, Ong decided not to run for the presidency in 1999. He passed away soon after and became the first former President who did not get a state funeral.

S R Nathan, Singapore’s 2nd President, assumed the position in 1999 by default because there is nobody qualified to run against him. In 2005, however, a little-known PAP cadre Mr Andrew Kwan declared his intention to challenge Nathan.

Kwan came up with a blog in which he outlined his plans for Singapore as a future President should he win the election. Prime Minister Lee expressed his “surprise” at Kwan’s announcement. Two days later, the state media reported Kwan being embroiled in a legal tussle with a fellow condominium management committee member over the management of funds.

The press next went on a smear campaign against him by casting doubts on his moral character and integrity. It was an overkill since the Presidential Election Committee (PEC) disqualify him as a candidate being that Mr Nathan “won” again by default. Coincidentally, Kwan disappeared almost immediately from the mainstream media’s radar after Nathan was declared the undisputed ”winner”.

As we can see from the above example, the Presidential Elections is far from being free and fair. Not only must candidates possess qualifications which only a few have, including spending no less than three years being the chairman of the board of directors or chief executive officer of a company incorporated or registered under the Companies Act with a payup capital of at least S$100 million dollars.

The PEC, which is appointed at the discretion of the PAP government, has the right to disqualify any candidate deemed unacceptable by the establishment so as to weed out “unfriendly” and “undesirable” candidates though he or she may possess all the necessary qualifications.

Who is the ultimate kingmaker of Singapore’s Elected President ? Is it the PAP or the people of Singapore ? The answer is pretty obvious.

Mr Nathan is already 84 years old this year and it is likely that he may not run for the presidency again in 2011 by when he will be 87 years old.

Knowing how “efficient” the PAP has been to always plan ahead for the future, they may already have a candidate in mind to replace the aging Nathan.

Is the candidate Tan Kin Lian who after all, is a loyal PAP member for the last 30 years with intimate connections to leaders of the establishment including Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong ?

Not very likely because the PAP only loves “leaders” who are obedient and easy to control. By defying the wishes of the establishment to advocate for the rights of the minibond investors, Tan has already burned his bridges. Furthermore, he would not dare to come out in the open to criticize the PAP had he been their anointed candidate.

With the presidency still 2 years away, the PAP can always afford to wait for Tan’s campaign to fizzle out if he did not garner the 100,000 signatures he set for himself. In the meantime, they may already have chosen another candidate to take over Nathan, and that is Mr Gerald Ee, the present NKF Chairman. Watch this man closely, his national profile and visibility will be gradually raised by the state media in the months to come.

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