SINGAPORE: If Singaporeans choose him to be the next President, the country can have “the best of three worlds”, said presidential hopeful Ng Kok Song on Saturday (Jul 29) as he gave some personal reflections on the elected presidency.
Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the Asia Cat Expo 2023, Mr Ng said that if he is elected President, former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam can return to the government to serve Singapore as he has done for the last 22 years.
Meanwhile, Mr George Goh – the third potential presidential candidate and founder of retailer Harvey Norman Ossia – can go back to “building his business to support the government’s efforts to grow our economy”, Mr Ng said.
“I think that would be a very good thing because as you know, our government is going through a difficult time. So we need very good and capable people to come back or to go back to serve our country,” he added.
“I will be so honoured to be able to serve the people of Singapore one more time.”
Mr Ng also laid out two other scenarios where either Mr Tharman, 66, or Mr Goh, 63, become Singapore’s President.
He noted that all three potential candidates have explained what they would do if they are elected president, but have not shared what they would do when the election is over.
If he does not get elected as President, Mr Ng, 75, said he will go back to his asset management company Avanda Investment Management, which he co-founded in mid-2015.
He started out as an investment analyst at the Ministry of Finance’s overseas investment department before moving on to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, before finally ending his 45 years in public service as the chief investment officer of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.
“I will go back and grow my company … so that Avanda can become a homegrown Singaporean investment management company that Singaporeans can be proud of and which will contribute to the further development of Singapore as a financial centre,” he told the media.
Mr Ng was at the Asia Cat Expo 2023 event with his fiancee Sybil Lau, where they interacted with stall owners and members of the public as well as some pet cats.
The couple own an 18-month-old British shorthair cat named Max and a Japanese Spitz dog named Cotton.