PE2011: Best Economic Credentials?
Posted: August 12, 2011 Filed under: Candidates, Tan Cheng Bock, Tan Jee Say, Tan Kin Lian, Tony Tan Keng Yam 3 Comments »
The 4 Tans and 4 Mrs Tans
The Certificates of Eligibility are out. It will be a contest of 4 Tans.
But amidst global economic crisis, is there any Presidential candidate with AAA+ economic credentials, who can safeguard the reserves?
WE COMPARE THE CANDIDATES
Tony Tan. Whether or not you like PAP, it is hard to dispute Tony Tan’s economic credentials. Trained in mathematics, he worked with OCBC bank before Lee Kuan Yew persuaded him to join politics. Goh Keng Swee was one of Tony Tan’s mentors, and would undoubtedly have been an influence. Halfway through his political career, Tony Tan left the Cabinet and rejoined the private sector as Chairman and CEO of OCBC, although he was later persuaded to come back.
Tony Tan
The exact size of GIC’s portfolio has not been revealed, but it is widely believed that Tony Tan would have led a team managing assets valued in the hundreds of billions of Singapore dollars.
Tony Tan is respected internationally for his financial expertise. However it is still not clear if he will carry enough of the Singaporean electorate to win the presidential election. Some voters will hold Tony Tan’s past history as Deputy Prime Minister in a PAP government against him.
Tan Kin Lian was formerly CEO at NTUC Income. He assumed leadership of Income in 1977 at the age of 29, back when the top job was entitled General Manager.
Tan Kin Lian
At the time of Tan Kin Lian’s 2007 departure from NTUC Income, it managed S$17 billion in assets and had over 1 million policyholders. This is no small amount, and should not be underestimated.
Unfortunately Tan Kin Lian may find himself squeezed by the presence of Tan Jee Say in the campaign. Prior to Jee Say’s entry, Kin Lian was the candidate least associated with the PAP establishment.
Tan Jee Say as former Regional Managing Director of AIB Govett Asia, would have managed total assets in excess of S$100 million. His role would have been comparable to CEO in status and complexity.
Tan Jee Say
Admittedly the company’s paid-up capital was less than $100 million, but managing the portfolio would have been no walk in the park.
Jee Say also has prior experience as Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to Goh Chok Tong. This would have given him exposure to whole-government decisions and inter-governmental co-operation.
One of Jee Say’s strongest appeals to alternative party supporters, is his independence of the PAP. Jee Say has also been endorsed by Nicole Seah of NSP.
An open question is how Jee Say’s former mentor Tan Cheng Bock will handle his presence in the presidential campaign. After all, Tan Cheng Bock coached Jee Say when the latter was running for the SDP slate in the 2011 General Election. It must feel strange to be up against your own disciple.
Tan Cheng Bock
Tan Cheng Bock has the weakest economic credentials of the 4 Tans. He has been non-executive independent Chairman of Chuan Hup Holdings. However in his non-executive role, he would have much less direct experience with the day-to-day complexities and nitty-gritty of managing a multi-million dollar portfolio.
Cheng Bock also lacks the government experience of Tan Jee Say and Tony Tan. While Tan Jee Say never held political office, he served in the civil service and worked as a PPS, which would have provided him some high-level insight into the workings of government.
. . .
So how do the 4 candidates stack up?
Ranked on economic credentials alone:
1st place – Tony Tan
2nd place – Tan Kin Lian and Tan Jee Say (joint 2nd place – Kin Lian has managed a larger portfolio than Jee Say, but lacks the civil service and PPS exposure)
4th place – Tan Cheng Bock
Do you agree? Feel free to share your opinion and how you’d rank the 4 Tans!
[...] Presidential Election. – Yawning Bread on WordPress: Four men, no certain winner – pe2011facts: PE2011: Best Economic Credentials? – Singapore Sojourn: The Presidential Check List – Where Bears Roam Free: Why ask PE candidates [...]
The economic credentials of the aspirant should not figure at all after they have been issued their COEs.
The hot question is how would they perform in the face of a situation where the govt put party interest before Singaporeans’ interest.
Past affiliation is very definitely a crucial factor.
In this respect Tony Tan gets a very definite F9. I don’t expect him to say or do anything that may amount to ‘self-criticism’ of his own decisions and actions when he was with the GIC. I fully expect him to be sympathetic towards protecting the party when something it does adversely impact Singapore and Singaporeans.
Tan Chen Bock – same as TT. Even now he would not apologize or admit that the govt has committed a grave wrong against innocent young Singaporeans at that time by falsely accusing them of being involved in a ‘Marxist Plot’ and imprisoned them for months and years. His refusal to repent in the light of the truth is indicative of a personality and character that is morally deficient and compromised. It is indicative of a self first and others a distant second makes him totally unfit for the EP.
Tan Kin Kian – he is the only one who have so far positively criticized the govt and got himself directly involved to help others – in the recent financial crisis, when the govt, unlike other govts, eg. Hong Kong’s, basically stood by and worse appeared to be protecting its own self interest (in the shape of DBS) at the expense of citizens some of whom have their life savings and pensions caught in the crisis. TKL is the only one who has been very upfront and direct on what he wants to achieve as EP. You will note that NONE of the rest has done or said anything even remotely similar.
Tan Jee Say – to my mind his entry is mostly opportunistic. Basic to his objective is to raise and flesh out his own public image for whatever ambitions he has. You would note that his stand of ‘being the conscience of the people’ is pretty convenient and relieve him of the need to give more details as to what is he really on about. But I would give him the benefit that in the post COE announcement days he would flesh out what he wants to do, otherwise it’s a pretty hollow slogan as it stands.
I would go for Tan Kin Lian because he has the track record of performance as CEO of NTUC and his actions post-NTUC. He appears also to be quite clear in his mind what he wants to do as the EP. That is why I believe the PAP govt takes him as the most ‘dangerous’ challenger among the three against Tony Tan who is no doubt cast in the same mould as the incumbent SR Nathan.
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[...] A multi-cornered fight finally. PAP’s Tony Tan against SDP’s Tan Jee Say against a Tan Kin Lian who seems inclined towards NSP. Tan Cheng Bock is the enigma. Formerly PAP and harping on his Old Guard roots, he made a very bold claim that he is not backed by any party and that if he or any president was, then it defeated the purpose of a president whose purpose is Singapore-first rather than party-first. A polemic but a strong persuasion nonetheless. At the moment, I’m backing Tan Cheng Bock until he slips. They all do. [...]