Presidential hopeful Tan Jee Say: I'm not a 'yes man' Can a non-PAP man become president in Singapore? By Elaine Ee 16 August, 2011
Tan Jee Say: A man with a presidential plan. Singaporeans take to the polls August 27 to vote for their president for the next six years. Like the recent watershed General Elections, which saw all but one constituency contested for the first time since 1965, this presidential election will also see an unprecedented battle. A fresh face emerges Another first is the emergence of Tan Jee Say, a unique candidate because he has no links or ties to the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). The current president, the very experienced and illustrious former civil servant S.R. Nathan, and previous elected president, former member of parliament (MP), cabinet minister and deputy prime minister Ong Teng Cheong, were both endorsed by the PAP. Nathan never faced an opponent and Ong’s sole competitor was a former accountant general who didn’t seem very keen on winning. Ong’s outspokenness during his tenure as president, however was a move that immediately put him at odds with the PAP. All this has led to the criticism that the president’s role to check and balance the government is compromised. Tan Jee Say, a former civil servant who worked in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and served as principal private secretary to then deputy prime minister Goh Chok Tong. He then joined the finance industry where he was CEO of Govett Asset Management’s Asia-Pacific operations. This position led him through the door of the PEC and into the presidential campaign. He was also part of the opposition’s Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in the last General Elections. The party captivated voters with their fiery rhetoric and ideas for a better, more equitable Singapore. Who’s in the running? Of the other three candidates (all also Tans, coincidentally), current frontrunner Tony Tan is an old party guard, a senior member of the People’s Action Party until June this year, and who has held various ministerial posts including that of deputy prime minister from 1995 to 2005. While the two remaining candidates are also, like Jee Say, keen to assert their independence from the ruling party, neither of them have the disconnection that Jee Say does. Dr Tan Cheng Bok was an MP for many years, from 1980 to 2006; and Tan Kin Lian was CEO of NTUC Income for almost three decades, the insurance arm of the largely government-friendly National Trade Union Congress. Can he bring change? In a one-party dominated nation state, Jee Say’s candidacy for the presidency is a significant breakthrough. “I’m the only non-PAP candidate,” says Jee Say. “I have no emotional ties to the PAP. And that is good for the mission of the PAP.” “The president, who is the chief of the government, is there to check and balance the government and I can play that role.” The role itself is a subject of hot debate right now. Opinions differ on how much freedom the constitution bestows on the president to speak independently and the degree to which it obliges him to take the advice of cabinet. By being willing to take a stand, Jee Say has made his interpretation of the role clear. “I am going to speak up,” he says. “The president will not be doing his duty if he doesn’t speak whenever the government crosses the line.” “It is not the role of the president to make life easy or cozy for the government, but to be a check and balance for them.” Calling for a new presidency Jee Say has already spoken up on many issues: Singapore’s mandatory death penalty, over-dependence on foreign workers, and the controversial Intergrated Resorts. He has also discussed extensively how he feels the country’s economy needs to be reshaped. “I think it is wrong to say that the president cannot raise issues,” says Jee Say. “To unite the nation, he must know what is fundamentally causing our current divisions in society, and in my view it is the government’s economic strategy.” “We depend on foreign workers that are depressing the salaries and earnings of people and take away their jobs. How can the president unite the country if he doesn’t address these issues? By just kissing babies and shaking hands? No way.” But will this fire in his belly help him or harm him? Will the people view him, especially in the light of his recent membership of the SDP, as too much of an opposing force to be head of state? “I will articulate views for the people,” says Jee Say. “And we should not look at things as only PAP against opposition. The people have elected a PAP government and now they should focus their minds on the role of the president, which is to check on that government. Who can better perform this role than a non-PAP person? The government doesn’t expect me to a yes man and I don’t intend to be one.” “A recent comment (by Singapore’s Law Minister) said that the president must have the respect of the prime minister,” says Jee Say. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t the prime minister respect the choice of the people who elected the president?” Will Jee Say be the people’s choice? In a few weeks, we will find out. | |
