George Yeo Reveals That He Was Approached to Run for President in 2011

You may be familiar with former Cabinet minister George Yeo.

But did you know he was nearly part of the legendary Presidential race in 2011?

George Yeo Reveals That He Was Approached to Run for President in 2011

George Yeo’s newest book, titled George Yeo: Musings, is set to launch on 31 August 2023, and it reportedly features a rather interesting tidbit:

His near involvement in the 2011 Presidential race.

Lest you’ve forgotten (or yet to be born), the 2011 Presidential race was famous in the sense that it featured four Tans: former deputy prime minister Tony Tan, Progress Singapore Party founder Tan Cheng Bock, opposition politician Tan Jee Say and former chief executive officer of NTUC Income Tan Kin Lian.

But it could very nearly have been George Yeo instead of our former President, Tony Tan.

In his new book, it’s revealed that he had been approached by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2011, in regards to the then-upcoming Presidential election.

In his own words, he was “among the few whom PM Lee thought could beat Tan Cheng Bock.”

Apparently, the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had also backed Mr Yeo for the position.

The former Cabinet minister, however, expressed that he was “temperamentally unsuited to be president”.

He then asked to be used as a “spare tyre”: someone to be included only in emergency situations.

If there were someone else, he said, he would not contest.

That someone else would later turn out to be Dr Tony Tan, who reportedly volunteered. As history would have it, Dr Tony Tan would go on to emerge victorious in the election, winning second-placed Tan Cheng Bock by a close 7,382 votes (0.35%).

Dr Tony Tan then served as the seventh President of Singapore between the years 2011 and 2017.

Mr Yeo has also revealed that he had been nudged by friends and acquaintances to participate this time around, but he has decided not to, later explaining that he was only able to convey his thoughts in his book because of his position.

“I’m a free man so I can express my views freely,” he said.

And though he’s not taking anyone’s side between former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song, he has agreed to be a character reference for the latter.

“I can be Tharman’s character reference too but he doesn’t need me,” said Mr Yeo.

George Yeo

Mr Yeo announced his retirement from politics back in 2011, after being part of the team that lost the Aljunied Group Representative Constituency (GRC) to the Workers’ Party team led by Low Thia Khiang.

Prior to that, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bedok Reservoir–Punggol ward in Aljunied GRC.

Since then, he has participated in various forums and talks, and has also accepted interviews from both local and international media outlets. He was also the chairman and executive director of Kerry Logistics Network from 2012 to 2019, and joined the Pope’s commission in 2013.

Back in August 2022, he had already dismissed the notion of him contesting in the upcoming Presidential election, expressing his wishes to enjoy his “partially-retired” life.

A pity; we could have had the battle of the Georges.

But, well, the other George may not be able to participate in the upcoming election anyway.

You can view the following video to understand why: