SINGAPORE: A potential presidential candidate should not be someone who is a senior executive in a government-linked company or is an employee of an organisation that receives investments from a sovereign wealth fund, said presidential hopeful George Goh.
Mr Goh was responding to questions from the media during his visit to Geylang Serai Market and Food Centre on Sunday (Jul 16), a day after alternative news website Wake Up Singapore reported that Mr Ng Kok Song, the former chief investment officer of sovereign wealth fund GIC, may contest the elected presidency.
The Straits Times subsequently reported that Mr Ng, currently the executive chairman of investment firm Avanda Investment Management, was “deliberating” adding his name to the list of potential candidates to run in the coming presidential election.
Mr Ng retired from GIC in 2013 before co-founding Avanda with two former GIC colleagues in 2015. Bloomberg reported last year that government-linked firms Singapore Labour Foundation, Temasek and GIC contributed around US$4 billion (S$5.3 billion) in assets to help launch Avanda.
On Sunday, Mr Goh said that whoever is entering the presidential race should not be involved in any political party or grassroots activity, and has not held appointments in a “government-linked corporation or company, or sovereign fund”.