Entrepreneur George Goh - the second person to announce an intention to run for the Singapore presidency - has highlighted his lack of political party affiliations or political baggage.
. This is the first step in order to enter the presidential race. Prospective candidates must also submit a community declaration.
Mr Tharman, an economics graduate, spent most of his earlier professional career at the Monetary Authority of Singapore before he was first elected Member of Parliament in 2001 in Jurong GRC. Dr Woo Jun Jie, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies , added that as a potential private sector candidate, Mr Goh “may appeal to voters who prefer a candidate who is not linked to the establishment and who has more experience in business and industry”.
“That said, voters may not just cast a ballot for someone who is not from the government as that person must prove he is worthy of their vote based on his credentials - the fact that the criteria is stringent for those from the private sector means that if the person is eligible, he is a man of calibre,” he added.
According to Mr Goh’s personal website, his childhood was marked by poverty. At 16, he dropped out of school and came to Singapore to work in a shoe factory. He then set up his first business in shoemaking at the age of 22.But some political observers cautioned against assuming there would even be a contest, given the stringent qualifying criteria.
“I suppose he’s going to try to make the case that all the companies that he leads amount to S$3 billion in capitalisation, so that would be as good as or even better than running a company with S$500 million in shareholders’ equity.”
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