SINGAPORE: President Halimah Yacob, whose six-year term ends this year, has stressed that introducing the controversial reserved election in 2017 was important to Singapore’s history and a necessary step to safeguard multiculturalism.
The eligibility criteria for prospective candidates were also amended that year. Previously, candidates from the private sector should be a senior executive managing a company with at least S$100 million in paid-up capital. That criteria was changed to require private sector candidates to show at least S$500 million in shareholders’ equity.
The changes led to allegations that the Government was using the Presidential office’s imperative of preserving racial peace to block Tan Cheng Bock’s candidacy, who lost the 2011 presidential election by a thin margin of 0.35 per cent to establishment pick Tony Tan Keng Yam. The Government has denied this charge.
Despite interest from two hopefuls from the private sector, Madam Halimah was declared to be the only eligible presidential candidate in September 2017 and became President of Singapore, uncontested.
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