SINGAPORE: Presidential hopeful Mr Tan Kin Lian said a “small minority” of people are uncomfortable with his social media posts that talk about “pretty” girls.
Mr Tan was responding to CNA’s question on Monday (Aug 21) after a video on TikTok that compiled several posts got more than 190,000 views and over 5,000 likes.
Checks by CNA confirmed that the posts in the video were legitimate. One TikTok user commented: “He does this all the time. (I don’t know) why (Elections Department) can pass him haha.”
Mr Tan, a former NTUC Income chief executive, was one of three candidates who received a certificate of eligibility on Friday for the Presidential Election. He is due to submit his nomination papers on Tuesday.
Former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song also qualified to stand for the election.
The video on TikTok was posted on Sunday by an account called spillthetea.sg, and was still racking up views on Monday.
But Mr Tan said most people are not bothered by his posts.
“Most of the people say it is quite light, it’s quite enjoyable. That’s how I build my people to be interested,” he told reporters before his walkabout at a hawker centre in Clementi West.
“There will be a few people who feel uncomfortable, but that is a very small minority, that’s a very small minority. (The) majority actually find that to be quite okay, quite fun.”
Mr Tan added that he posts on Facebook about other things, including “simple posts” about his meals at hawker centres. Those also attract some “nasty comments”, questioning why he has to post about his bowl of fishball noodle soup on social media.
“I say, please leave it to me. If you don’t like what I post, please stay out. Don’t make very rude remarks,” he said.
“Some of the people actually do it because they are malicious. They just want to make me look bad. And I think that’s no good. Not necessary.
“I ignore malicious people who are out to create trouble for me, so long as the majority of people find that those are quite harmless. Some people will be malicious.”