SINGAPORE: Former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song on Wednesday (Jul 19) announced his intention to run for the Singapore presidency.
The 75-year-old, who was speaking to the media after collecting eligibility forms from the Elections Department (ELD), said his bid was prompted by “recent concerns about the integrity of our national institutions”.
Mr Ng is the third presidential hopeful to throw his hat into the ring. Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was the first to do so on Jun 8, followed by businessman George Goh on Jun 12.
President Halimah Yacob’s six-year term expires on Sep 13 and she has said she will not stand for re-election.
The ELD has said that the Presidential Election may be held at any time from Jun 13, and if it has not been held by the expiration of the term of the incumbent President, it should be held shortly after.
Here’s what we know about Mr Ng:
PERSONAL LIFE
Mr Ng was born to a Teochew family and grew up in a mud-floored attap house in Kangkar, a fishing village located where Sengkang is today.
In an interview with the Straits Times in 2012, he recounted how life was not easy for the big family with 11 children who depended on his father’s income as a fish auctioneer.
“One of the things which made me sad was my mother having to borrow money from neighbours when things got desperate,” he said.
Being the second eldest child, Mr Ng felt the weight of responsibility from young and would help his father out at the fish market and look after his younger siblings.
Kangkar was “infested with gangsters” then and Mr Ng, who was baptised a Catholic when he was seven years old, credited the Catholic church and his school Montfort for keeping him focused on his studies.
Mr Ng received a Public Service Commission scholarship to study physics at the then-University of Singapore. He later obtained a Sloan Master’s degree in management from Stanford University.
He married his schoolmate from Montfort, Patricia, in 1972 and had three children, aged 50, 47 and 33. Mrs Ng died in 2005 from stomach cancer.
He is engaged to Ms Sybil Lau, a Canada-born Singaporean who is 45. She started her career as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs and has been managing her family’s wealth since 2009.
Her profile on networking site LinkedIn states that she sits on the boards of American billionaire Ray Dalio’s family office in Singapore and SG Enable, the government-established agency which helps people with disabilities. She is also an independent director of WELL Health Technologies, a Canadian operator of clinics, and a partner at venture builder The Delta.
Chinese language daily Shin Min reported last Saturday that the couple have known each other for four years and that Mr Ng’s children are supportive of their relationship.