(From left) Ng Kok Song, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Tan Kin Lian in their final presidential candidate broadcasts before Cooling-off Day. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): On the final day of hustings on Wednesday, all three presidential candidates and their teams were out and about, trying to get their messages across to as many voters as possible.
Ng Kok Song, 75, was at a food centre in Lorong Ah Soo and at Foo Hai Ch’an Monastery, while Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 66, was at Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre after a dialogue with local sports talent such as badminton star Loh Kean Yew.
Tan Kin Lian, 75, was out at Hougang MRT station in the morning, where he distributed fliers together with his volunteers, after having cancelled an online rally scheduled for the day.
The trio’s activities cap off nine busy days of campaigning for the 2023 Presidential Election, which will see more than 2.7 million Singaporeans head to the polls on Friday to elect Singapore’s ninth president.
The candidates are not allowed to campaign on Thursday, which is designated as Cooling-off Day.
It is meant to be a day for voters to reflect rationally on the issues raised during the hustings.
No one – candidates and voters – is allowed to publish, repost or share election advertising or canvass for votes, visit homes or conduct walkabouts. Existing ads can remain up. Voters also cannot wear badges or symbols linked to the candidates.
These regulations remain in place for Polling Day till the polls close at 8pm.
Apart from catching the candidates on their public walkabouts on Wednesday, voters also tuned in to the second presidential candidate broadcasts, which were aired in the evening across 19 television channels and radio stations.
The second broadcast was aired in reverse order of the candidates’ names on the electoral roll, starting with Tan, followed by Tharman and Ng.
Tan, who is the former chief of NTUC Income, said in his speech that a leader must not be afraid to exercise independent thinking and to stand alone for what is right.
He cited a past incident where he stood up for investors who had lost their savings after investing in bad financial instruments.
He also apologised to those who had found any of what he had said in the past “upsetting or inappropriate”.
Earlier in the campaign, he had drawn flak over past Facebook posts about “pretty girls”, which he said was the effort of a “smear campaign”, adding that nobody had expressed discomfort in the 10 years that he had been putting up such posts.
On Wednesday, he said: “As an active and outgoing person, I like to share about my daily activities and observations of everyday life. I have never meant any disrespect to the people I encounter... I will be more mindful of what I say in the future.”
Tharman, who is former senior minister, said his motive, throughout his time in politics over the last two decades, “has never been political partisan, as everyone familiar with me and the work I have done, both within and outside government, has known”.
He had wanted to serve actively on the ground and have a direct hand in shaping policies for a fairer and more inclusive society.
“If I am a partisan, it is that I am a partisan for better chances and better support for Singaporeans who have less,” said Tharman.
Tan and Ng had claimed on various occasions that they are the only independent or non-partisan candidates.
Tharman added that if elected president, he would mobilise support for ground-up initiatives to uplift every group with a disadvantage, those facing challenges in mental well-being, and those who need a second or third chance.
He would also encourage deeper interactions between the different faiths and cultures, he said.
Ng, who is former investment chief of GIC, reiterated the importance of having a non-partisan president and that he was the only non-partisan candidate.
He added that with local politics becoming highly contestable, having the wrong team in charge in the near future is no longer a remote possibility.
“We cannot afford to have a president who may be beholden to political parties who endorsed their nominations and help get them elected,” he said.
In the future, there will be more reasons to draw heavily on Singapore’s reserves, he added.
“Is it appropriate for an ex-finance minister who set fiscal policies to then move across the table and become the president, and check on the very policies that he had put in place?”
Among the three candidates, the only one who had been a finance minister is Tharman, who served in that role from 2007 to 2015.
“We cannot rely on an ‘ownself check ownself’ mechanism to safeguard our reserves or the integrity of the public service,” said Ng.
