Here Are What The 4 Eligible Presidential Candidates in 2011 Are Doing Now

Last Updated on 2023-08-12 , 7:34 am

Do you remember the four eligible presidential candidates in 2011?

If you don’t recall, our presidential candidates were Tan Kin Lian, Tan Jee Say, Tan Cheng Bock and Tony Tan.

Dr Tony Tan won the 2011 presidential elections and became the seventh president of Singapore.

When people run for president, we often don’t hear much about life after the political spotlight.

It makes you wonder: What are they doing now?

What Tan Kin Lian is Doing Now

Before Mr Tan Kin Lian ran for president, he was the chief executive officer of NTUC Income for thirty years.

He left his position in 2007.

The 2011 presidential election saw him garnering the lowest number of votes among the four candidates, with only 4.9% of the vote.

So, what has he been up to since then?

Nowadays, he’s a pretty active user of Facebook.

Besides posting snippets of his personal life, he also shares his opinions on news articles.

He appears to post once every few hours whenever he has a thought and wants to share it.

Since leaving NTUC Income, he began providing free financial advice and opinions on current affairs through his blog, Tan Kin Lian & Associates.

You would think nobody could maintain a blog for so many years, yet Mr Tan’s blog is still up and running today.

The website has a pretty dated look, but it gets the job done.

He has other interesting articles, like logging a day trip to Johor Bahru and talking about a blockchain alternative.

If you’re interested in seeing his website, click here.

Tan Kin Lian is the only person who’s running for president in 2023. You can read more about his theme here.

What Tan See Jay is Doing Now

Mr Tan See Jay has been in politics for a long time.

He spent six years in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) from 1979 to 1985.

He even served as the principal private secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong from 1985 to 1990.

Before running for president, he worked in the finance industry for over a decade.

He joined the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in 2011 and ran for president the same year, garnering 25.04% of votes.

Instead of fading into political obscurity, Mr Tan has continued to participate in Singapore’s political scene actively.

He rejoined the SDP and stayed until 2014.

He left to establish a new political party, Singaporeans First, which pledged to put “Singaporeans at the heart of the nation”.

In 2018, Singaporeans First was among seven other opposition parties involved in a meeting on the possibility of forming a coalition for the next election.

However, Singaporeans First did not last very long.

It dissolved on 25 June 2020.

Mr Tan asked to rejoin SDP that same year.

He updated the public in a Facebook post and wrote, “Singapore needs a strong opposition to check the government and provide an alternative voice for the people.”

He added that he had expressed his desire to rejoin the party.

He said, “Firstly, the values of SDP reflect the values and beliefs I champion for Singaporeans.

“Secondly, SDP is a great party with dynamic leadership. Over the years, I have seen the SDP grow from strength to strength. Its alternative voice is what Singaporeans need. It will be my pleasure to work with them again for the people.”

Notably, the day he posted the Facebook post, 29 June 2020, was the eve of Nomination Day for the 2020 general election.

His appeal to rejoin the SDP was successful and he contested as an SDP candidate in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC. 

This marked the third time he joined the SDP.

As of today, Mr Tan is still in the SDP.

Compared to Mr Tan Kin Lian, his Facebook account is more political, depicting his opinions on politics and current affairs.

However, he has not posted anything recently.

What Tan Cheng Bock is Doing Now

Before entering the political scene, Dr Tan worked as a physician.

He went on to serve as a Member of Parliament with the People’s Action Party (PAP) for 26 years in the Ayer Rajah constituency.

He resigned from the PAP in 2011 to run for president. 

He lost the election narrowly, garnering 34.85% of votes, just 0.35% below Tony Tan. 

Dr Tan continued to be active in the political scene and even declared his intention to run for president in the 2017 presidential election.

However, the 2017 presidential election’s eligibility criteria was revised to include the “reserved election”, meaning an election made exclusive for one race.

In this case, the election was made exclusive for Malay candidates, preventing Dr Tan from running for presidency.

In 2018, Dr Tan led a meeting with seven opposition parties to plan a possible coalition for the 2020 general election.

In 2019, he founded the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) and served as the Secretary-General from 2019 to March 2021.

In 2020, he contested at West Coast GRC with his PSP team.

The team narrowly lost to the PAP, obtaining 48.31% of the vote.

In 2021, Dr Tan entered a new role as PSP’s chairman.

At a press conference, he said his new role would focus on reaching out to more Singaporeans and concentrating on the party’s grassroots efforts.

In 2022, Dr Tan wrote a Facebook post saying that he had surgery done on his lung but was recovering well.

He said, “Recently after undergoing some medical examinations, doctors advised that I take the precautionary step of removing a small lesion on my right lung.

“The operation was successful, I am recovering well and I expect to be discharged in about a week.”

He added, “I’m looking forward to being up and about again and continuing my walkabouts and other activities!”

Despite his old age, Dr Tan has kept true to his words.

These days, his Facebook posts show him meeting and greeting various residents from different neighbourhoods.

He has also expressed interest in running for the next General Election.

What Ex-President Tony Tan is Doing Now

Before becoming president, he served as the Minister for Education from 1980 to 1981 and from 1985 to 1991.

He also served as the Minister for Trade and Industry from 1981 to 1986 and Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister from 1995 to 2005.

He stepped down from his government-linked positions at GIC and SPH in 2010 to run for president the following year. 

Dr Tony Tan won the 2011 presidential election with 35.20% of the votes.

He served as the seventh president of Singapore from 2011 to 2017 and was succeeded by President Halimah Yacob.

When he first stepped down as president, he sat down for an interview with Tatlerasia, where he noted the importance of being social media savvy during his presidential term.

When asked if he would continue using Facebook, he told Tatlerasia, “I’m not sure. I’m taking a social media break now. We’ll see.”

Since stepping down as president, Dr Tan has been inactive on Facebook with his last proper post dating back to 31 August 2017.

The post detailed his farewell reception and ceremony. 

Since then, he’s been living a relatively private life.

He returned to the spotlight in 2022, where he was awarded an honorary degree for his role in setting up Singapore Management University (SMU).

In the opening ceremony of SMU’s commencement, Dr Tan gave a speech.

He said, “I first mooted the idea to establish a third university when I suggested in Parliament in 1997 that Singapore’s economy would need 17,000 university graduates by 2000, whereas NUS and NTU could only graduate up to 10,000 students every year.”

Thus, SMU focuses on business and management and adopts a different education model than Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS).