“I HAVE A CHOICE”
Without holding any public office, Mr Yeo, who sits on various boards and is a visiting scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said that he is now free to decide which engagements he should take up.
“If I feel that I can add value to a person or to an organisation or country, I try to do so, but I have a choice,” he said.
“It’s for me to decide and that’s nice – maybe a bit selfish, some may say. I tend to maintain a balance between what I do to make a living and what I do to help others.”
The former Foreign Affairs Minister served for 23 years in the Singapore government. He also headed the ministries for Information and the Arts, Health, as well as Trade and Industry.
In the 2011 GE, he lost his parliamentary seat in Aljunied GRC to a Workers’ Party team headed by Mr Low Thia Khiang.
Mr Yeo then joined Kerry Logistics Network and was its chairman and executive director from 2012 to 2019.
‘GUILT REACTION’ BEHIND POPULARITY
In his book, he attributes his popularity as a politician to a “guilt reaction” following his electoral loss.
“I consider it a great blessing because there’s a lot of kindness in the request,” said Mr Yeo. “I feel that it’s nice to be surrounded by positive energy … a part of me says that if I had not lost (the 2011 election) I would not have inherited this positive energy.”
While not putting his hand up for the Presidential Election, he has agreed to be a character reference for one of the presidential hopefuls – former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song.
Mr Yeo posted on Facebook on Aug 2 that he was hosted to dinner by Mr Ng – who he described as an “old friend and colleague”, and his fiancee Sybil Lau.
“I told him earlier that I would not be involved in campaigning for the coming Presidential Election but would be honoured to be one of his character references,” he wrote in the Facebook post.
Mr Yeo told CNA and TODAY that he knew Mr Ng from his time in public life and also met him socially. He had recommended Mr Ng to the Vatican to help them on financial matters, specifically the management of funds, describing him as an “authority on the subject”.
On how Mr Ng sought his support to run for President, Mr Yeo said that a few weeks ago, Mr Ng asked to meet him and drove to his house in a “beat-up Lexus” which had dents on it.
Mr Yeo’s son was going out and mistook Mr Ng’s car for his private-hire ride. His son opened the back door of Mr Ng’s car and asked “GrabTaxi?” and Mr Ng told him “anywhere in Singapore for $10”, Mr Yeo recounted with a smile.
“DON’T WANT TO TAKE SIDES”
After the misunderstanding was cleared up, it turned out that Mr Ng had come to ask for Mr Yeo’s support in the Presidential Election. But Mr Yeo did not want to take sides.
Mr Yeo pointed out that former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam – also a presidential hopeful – is an old colleague and at one point worked with him in the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Mr Yeo entered politics in 1988 while Mr Tharman was first elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 2001. The two men were in the Cabinet together, from around 2003 to 2011.
“I said I don’t want to take sides on this, but I’d be happy to be a character reference,” said Mr Yeo. “I can be Tharman’s character reference too but he doesn’t need me.”
On Mr Ng, he said that the 75-year-old will make a good President, adding “he has all the qualities”.
When asked if he is concerned that he is seen to be supporting Mr Ng, Mr Yeo said: “It’s good to have a contest.
“If it’s a walkover for Tharman, I think he will be a weak President but if he has to fight to become President, and he has the mandate of the entire people, then he is better able to be a custodial President.
“So a fight is good – whether it’s Tharman or Kok Song, I think it will be a President I will be proud of.”
Answering a question on the elected presidency, which was introduced in 1991 with the aim of safeguarding Singapore’s reserves, Mr Yeo said that he thinks it’s a “bit clunky” because the system comprises the President and the Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA), and under certain circumstances, the President “can be overridden”.