Tharman calls for rivals to rise above the fray and avoid ‘sweeping statements’

Calling on his rivals to rise above the tactical fray, presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam said it is a “rather weak argument” to make that a president is not independent just because he was previously linked to the Government.

He also said he had been misquoted by fellow candidate Mr Ng Kok Song, 75, on the matter of the latter’s perceived independence. Mr Ng was formerly GIC’s chief investment officer, and is also Avanda Investment Management’s co-founder and chairman.

Speaking to the media before a walkabout at Kopitiam Square in Sengkang on Tuesday evening, Mr Tharman said: “(Mr Ng) seems to have thought that I said that because he ran a fund management company that depended on government monies, therefore he’s not independent.”

“I said the opposite actually,” said the 66-year-old former senior minister.

The comment in question was made during a live broadcast forum on Monday night.

All candidates were asked how they could convince voters that they were not politicising the election, and that they would exercise their powers without fear or favour. Former NTUC Income chief Tan Kin Lian, 75, is the third candidate who is in the running.

In his reply at the forum, Mr Tharman had said: “Let’s say you have a private company, you have a construction company that depends on government contracts. Or you have a fund management company that depends on government monies. Does that make you not independent? Not necessarily. It depends on your character, your track record.”

In a statement released on Tuesday, Mr Ng said Mr Tharman’s remark about the fund management company is clearly about him.

He added that by comparing those with past political affiliations to anyone who is dependent on the government in some way, Mr Tharman was “taking the point too far”.

Responding to Mr Ng’s statement, Mr Tharman said: “What I said (at the forum) is that it doesn’t mean that you cannot be independent. In other words, let’s not apply simple labels to virtually everyone who qualifies.”

Mr Tharman stressed that the running for the presidency is a matter of character, not whom the candidate was affiliated to previously.

He said: “We are appointing someone for a high leadership position - (the) head of state.

“Look at the person’s individual character, their contributions, their track record, their emotional commitment, and their rapport with people. Those are the issues we have to look at and I’ve been saying that repeatedly,” added Mr Tharman.

He said he was also worried about the “increasingly sweeping statements” being made, which he said was very unfortunate.

One which he highlighted came from Mr Ng’s statement. In it, Mr Ng had said: “As Mr Tharman himself pointed out, the PAP has had its say on all our past elected presidents.”

Another part of the statement read: “If the elected presidency derives its mandate from, or in opposition to, this same set of political parties, then we might as well abolish the institution of the elected presidency."

Mr Tharman called it “absurd” and questioned if Mr Ng was insinuating that all the presidents so far including Mr Ong Teng Cheong, who had been members of political parties, served the agenda of the party they used to belong to.

“We should... position ourselves based on what we can contribute to Singapore, rather than politicise this debate endlessly. Let’s rise above the tactical fray,” he said.

He also disagreed with Mr Ng who said on Tuesday that it becomes “dangerous” when a former finance minister, who established the rules of how the country’s reserves can be used, aspires to be president.

Mr Tharman is the only candidate who was previously a finance minister. He served in that role from 2007 to 2015.

Mr Tharman said his experience with being involved in shaping the rules for the new system of drawing income from reserves, or the Net Investment Returns Contribution, was a “real advantage”.

“No one can fool me. I not only know the system inside, I know the rationale of how we arrived at these rules,” said Mr Tharman, adding that it does not mean that these rules will never change.

“Is it an advantage or disadvantage to have knowledge and experience? The answer is commonsensical. It’s clearly an advantage to have knowledge and experience.”

He said that he did not want to be getting into a tit-for-tat with the other candidates, and urged them to focus on what they are offering instead.

He was joined by his wife Jane Ittogi for the walkabout, as they met diners at the kopitiam.

People queued for pictures, and a group of Mr Tharman’s fans gave him a shirt that they had printed with his campaign slogan “Respect for All”.