A special commentary by The Straits Times after Tharman Shanmugaratnam won the presidential election with a landslide 70.4 per cent of the vote.
Presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam meets his supporters after early sample vote count results at the presidential election in Singapore September 1, 2023. - ReutersGoing by this year’s presidential election, the answer, as it was in 2011, is “with great difficulty”.
Presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian flanked by PSP chairman Tan Cheng Bock and SDP member Tan Jee Say during his walkabout in Chin Swee Road on Aug 27. - PHOTO: ST FILEAmong Mr Tan’s very visible backers were Progress Singapore Party chairman and founder Tan Cheng Bock, Singapore Democratic Party member Tan Jee Say, Peoples Voice chief Lim Tean, People’s Power Party chief Goh Meng Seng, and former PV candidate Leong Sze Hian.
Opposition parties such as the PSP distanced themselves from endorsing any candidate. Yet their leaders – not just ordinary party members – were openly stumping the campaign trail. Yet as a testament not just to his campaign messaging but also his personal popularity, he managed to sustain his track record of electoral wins – including an overwhelming 75 per cent victory in Jurong GRC in 2020 – and far exceeding the average national vote share of his former party.
Mr Ng was gracious in defeat, saying that giving people the opportunity to vote was “the ultimate objective” when he set out to stand for the presidency. It was a clear dig at Mr Ng’s fiancee and Mr Tharman’s spouse, who are foreign-born Singaporeans, while just stopping short of naming them. But could it also have raised eyebrows among a proportion of Singaporeans who have foreign-born family members?
The writer believes Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam made an emotionally inspired choice to run on the slogan Respect for All. - ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOOThree decades since the elected presidency came into existence, survey after survey has shown that Singaporeans’ understanding of the institution is limited, although it has improved over time.
Due consideration must also be given to the particularities of each election, including individual candidates’ popularity.The premise of the EP remains valid: mindful that a rogue government coming into power in a “freak election” could fritter away the nation’s hard-earned reserves, a “second key” was created, so that the president’s consent is needed before the government of the day can spend past reserves.
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