Ng Kok Song has pointed out the possible 'danger' of electing a former finance minister as president, alluding to former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's candidacy.
"It is very difficult for someone to be president when the people that he has mentored come to him to make a sudden request. I think it is very difficult for an individual to challenge the work that he did, shortly before he entered the presidential race," said Ng, without dropping names. When asked by AsiaOne to elaborate on how his experience at the GIC allows him to be "vigilant" in carrying out his presidential duties if elected, Ng said: "In order to do a good job of being vigilant, you need to know enough of the system... to ask difficult questions relating to the reserves."
The former senior minister used an example of a fund management company that depends on the Government's money, remarking that being part of such a company would not make them "not independent". "We wanted to establish a local Singapore indigenous fund management company so that we can help to raise the stature of our financial industry. And I had to compete for the government's business against very well-established foreign firms. I don't just get the business automatically."