Former Presidential Candidate Tan Kin Lian Says He May Run for President As Well

Remember the iconic Tan-Tan-Tan-Tan Presidential Election back in 2011?

Mr Tan Kin Lian was one of the candidates running in the election.

And while he had lost his deposit back then, it seems that Mr Tan may just run again in the 2023 Presidential Election.

Here’s what you need to know.

Former Presidential Candidate Tan Kin Lian Says He May Run for President As Well

On 30 July, Mr Tan Kin Lian revealed that he has already applied for a Certificate of Eligibility about three weeks ago on 11 July 2023.

He had submitted his application through a proxy.

He had also submitted his community declaration earlier.

Mr Tan said he did not collect the documents from the election department as he was able to download the forms online.

Will Decide if He Will Run After Seeing the Final Candidates

Currently, there are four prospective candidates looking to run in the Presidential Election 2023.

They are Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Mr George Goh, Mr Ng Kok Song and, of course, Mr Tan Kin Lian.

Mr Tan believes that out of the four candidates, only he and Mr Tharman are fully qualified to stand as candidates.

However, Mr Goh and Mr Ng may qualify as long as the Presidential Election Committee decides to give them a waiver on their shortfalls.

Mr Tan will only submit his nomination papers after seeing the final slate of candidates.

Who is Mr Tan Kin Lian?

Because it’s been 12 years since the 2011 elections, and we all have memories that doesn’t extend past the past 7 seconds, here’s a short recap on Mr Tan Kin Lian.

Mr Tan was one of the four “Tans” running for the post of the Singapore President.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t one of the main leads. Instead, he was a supporting actor, garnering 4.91% of the total votes.

4.91% doesn’t sound much until you translate that into real numbers (104,085).

Not bad, GF Blue Cat says.

While Mr Tan Kin Lian sounds like your friendly uncle on Facebook nowadays, he had an illustrious career.

Back in 1977, Mr Tan Kin Lian was appointed as the CEO of NTUC Income. He thrived within the organisation for 30 years before leaving in 2007.

During this time, he was also the PAP branch secretary for Marine Parade GRC.

During his tenure, he tested the pilot scheme for setting up block communities, which eventually evolved into the residents’ committee we know today.

He left PAP in 2008.

After leaving his job at NTUC Income, he set up a computer software business and regularly travels to Indonesia to offer insurance consultancy.

Remember the part about Mr Tan Kin Lian being a friendly uncle on Facebook?

He is exceptionally active on Facebook, sharing anecdotes about current affairs, his stock portfolio and weight loss.

Back on 21 July, Mr Tan asked his followers to take a poll.

Which of the three candidates – Mr George Goh, Mr Ng Kok Seng, or him – has a better chance of winning against Mr Tharman:

While he had won with an overwhelming 71%, he acknowledged that the poll was biased as it wasn’t a secret vote and they were his followers.

Mr Tharman would be hard to beat, he added.