Welcome to elections night coverage.
We have been on the edge for the last ten days looking at how the presidential contest has unfolded between the three contestants. It has been a nail-biting contest, and we have seen how Mr Tan Kin Lian managed to hang on to his presidential aspirations by getting key opposition figures to back him up. At one point, it seemed like he was not just able to get back into the game but to win it. A Goliath Slayer, as our opinion writer Mr Tan Bah Bah has put it.
Notwithstanding the political undercurrents and the push for a more nativist Singapore, the crowd favourite seems to be Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and with his measured and mellow tone, he went about campaigning in a manner that would bring honour to the highest position of this country. A very slick and well-run campaign, though, at times, he came across as being a little scripted.
Most reasonable, pragmatic and rational people I have spoken to have cast their lot for Tharman.
A win for Tharman, the first presidential contestant from a minority group, is really an Obama moment for Singapore. He has gone on to assure the liberal modern Singaporeans that we are really a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural modern state. Professor Tommy Koh has said in his endorsement for Tharman that Mr Shanmugaratnam has indeed transcended race and has captured and won the hearts of Singaporeans. Depending on how things unfold tonight, it’ll be good if we can be assured that the majority still believe in a meritocratic Singapore.
Tharman’s path to the Istana is not an easy one, for he received a lot of flak for being an establishment candidate. But the reality is that every candidate, even Tan Kin Lian, had some links to the establishment in the past. So, Ng Kok Song’s diatribe about him being the only independent candidate felt a little contrived.
A lot of commentators have also said that the presidential elections are designed to keep the PAP’s stranglehold on power, yet President Ong Teng Cheong has shown that you can be from the PAP and still have a mind of your own. To put it in perspective, Dr Tan Cheng Bock was also from the PAP, and there are so many cadres in PSP who are ex-PAP.
Now, Dr Tan Cheng Bock is hanging around in the neck of the woods with other opposition figures. A sign that there is a change in our political topography, and as time goes on, we’ll see more ex-PAP ministers and party members being independent, a move that we should encourage and cultivate actively.
A week in politics is a long time, they say, and Tharman started off with his campaign well, but towards the end, he had to deal with some news about his sons working in the MOF. There were also other unsubstantiated reports about his other sons; most of them were not true, I’m told.
Tharman fought tenaciously, dodging the stray and direct bullets that came his way.
At the end of the day, if Singapore can vote for a President from a minority group, then we can safely say that it will accept a non-Chinese PM, and maybe we can do away with the hiatus-triggered Reserved Elections for ethnic minorities. It’ll indeed be the dawn of a new era.
Well, we’ll find out in a couple of hours. Stay tuned!
Kumaran Pillai is the owner and publisher of The Independent Singapore.