SINGAPORE — After former Cabinet minister George Yeo and his team lost Aljunied Group Representation Constituency in the General Election (GE) in May 2011, Mr Yeo was called to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's office to talk about the Presidential Election which was to be held a few months later.

“I was among a few whom PM Lee thought could beat Tan Cheng Bock,” he recalled.

He told PM Lee he was “temperamentally unsuited to be president”, and would only do it out of duty and not out of ambition. 

“I then said he could treat me as a spare tyre to be used only in an emergency,” he said. 

The events are recounted in Mr Yeo’s new book — the third volume in his series titled George Yeo: Musings, which will be launched on Aug 31. The three books have been put together and edited by veteran media specialist Woon Tai Ho.

In his latest book, Mr Yeo revealed that the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew also encouraged him to stand in the 2011 Presidential Election.

In the end, Mr Yeo reiterated to PM Lee that he "was not going to stand if he had another candidate in mind".

As it turned out, Dr Tony Tan offered himself as a candidate and Mr Yeo was “happy to move on”. Dr Tony Tan went on to win the election, edging out Dr Tan Cheng Bock in a four-horse race, and served as Singapore's seventh President between 2011 and 2017. 

“In my mind, I was sure that Lee Kuan Yew preferred Dr Tony Tan to me for that role. I also thought that Dr (Tony) Tan would be more suitable,” he said.

Twelve years on, with Singapore set to elect its next President in the coming weeks, Mr Yeo, 68, told CNA and TODAY in a joint interview on Monday (Aug 14) that he was "right to make that decision early" — even as he was still being nudged by his "friends, even people from the coffee shop" to throw his hat into the ring at that time. 

“It’s a tough job. You have to work within prescribed boundaries, and then where it’s prescribed to you, then you have to exercise discretion, and they can be very difficult issues. But otherwise, you're supposed to work within prescribed boundaries,” said Mr Yeo.

He also made it clear that he had not been approached by any party comrades from the ruling People's Action Party to run for President this time. 

Among the President's roles and responsibilities are important custodial functions: To safeguard the nation’s reserves, veto key public appointments and approve a corruption investigation if the Prime Minister refuses to authorise it.

'I HAVE A CHOICE'

Mr Yeo does not hold any public office, though he sits on various boards and is a visiting scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Given this, he is now free to decide which engagements he should take up, he said.

“If I feel that I can add value to a person or to an organisation or country, I try to do so, but I have a choice,” he said.

“It’s for me to decide and that’s nice — maybe a bit selfish, some may say. I tend to maintain a balance between what I do to make a living and what I do to help others.”

The former foreign affairs minister served for 23 years in the Singapore Government. He also headed the ministries for Information and the Arts, Health, as well as Trade and Industry.

In the 2011 GE, he lost his parliamentary seat in Aljunied GRC to a Workers' Party team headed by Mr Low Thia Khiang.

Mr Yeo then joined Kerry Logistics Network and was its chairman and executive director from 2012 to 2019.

'GUILT REACTION' BEHIND POPULARITY 

In his book, he attributes his popularity after his departure from politics to a "guilt reaction" following his electoral loss.

“I consider it a great blessing because there’s a lot of kindness in the request,” said Mr Yeo. "I feel that it's nice to be surrounded by positive energy... a part of me says that if I had not lost (the 2011 election) I would not have inherited this positive energy.”

While not putting his hand up for the Presidential Election, he has agreed to be a character reference for one of the presidential hopefuls — former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song.

Mr Yeo posted on Facebook on Aug 2 that he was hosted to dinner by Mr Ng — whom he described as an "old friend and colleague", and his fiancee Sybil Lau.

“I told him earlier that I would not be involved in campaigning for the coming Presidential Election but would be honoured to be one of his character references,” he wrote in the Facebook post.

Mr Yeo told CNA and TODAY that he knew Mr Ng from his time in public life and also met him socially. He had recommended Mr Ng to the Vatican to help them on financial matters, specifically the management of funds, describing him as an “authority on the subject”.

On how Mr Ng sought his support to run for President, Mr Yeo said that a few weeks ago, Mr Ng asked to meet him and drove to his house in a “beat-up Lexus” which had dents on it. 

Mr Yeo’s son was going out and mistook Mr Ng’s car for his private-hire ride. His son opened the back door of Mr Ng’s car and asked “GrabTaxi?” and Mr Ng told him “anywhere in Singapore for S$10”, Mr Yeo recounted with a smile.

'DON'T WANT TO TAKE SIDES'

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, it turned out that Mr Ng had come to ask for Mr Yeo’s support in the Presidential Election. But Mr Yeo did not want to take sides.

Mr Yeo pointed out that former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam – also a presidential hopeful — is an old colleague and at one point worked with him in the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Mr Yeo entered politics in 1988 while Mr Tharman was first elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 2001. The two men were in the Cabinet together, from around 2003 to 2011.

“I said I don’t want to take sides on this, but I’d be happy to be a character reference,” said Mr Yeo. “I can be Tharman’s character reference too but he doesn’t need me.”

On Mr Ng, he said that the 75-year-old will make a good President, adding “he has all the qualities”.

When asked if he is concerned that he is seen to be supporting Mr Ng, Mr Yeo said: “It's good to have a contest.

"If it’s a walkover for Tharman, I think he will be a weak President but if he has to fight to become President, and he has the mandate of the entire people, then he is better able to be a custodial President.

“So a fight is good — whether it’s Tharman or Kok Song, I think it will be a President I will be proud of.”

Answering a question on the elected presidency, which was introduced in 1991 with the aim of safeguarding Singapore’s reserves, Mr Yeo said that he thinks it’s a “bit clunky” because the system comprises the President and the Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA), and under certain circumstances, the President “can be overridden”.

While the President may veto a draw on past reserves and key appointments to public offices, he or she must consult the CPA when exercising veto powers. 

If the President exercises a veto contrary to the recommendation of the council, parliament can vote to overrule the president. A motion to overrule the President must be supported by at least two-thirds of the total number of MPs, excluding Nominated MPs.

“Very few Singaporeans understand how it works. My concern has always been that if a public institution is not easily understood by ordinary people... it would not function that well,” Mr Yeo said.

“On reflection, I think a simple senate will be easy to understand and may be efficient," he added.

He explained that this senate can have veto powers for certain things and can have delaying powers for Bills, and it should represent all races and religions. In essence, this senate can perform the same custodial function as the elected President.

But he added: “The elected presidency went through many rounds of White Papers and there were review committees. I’m not qualified to really critique it, I’m just giving my personal view, my musing.”

Mr Yeo said that if he was President, he would not have been able to say some of the things in his book.

“So I will feel conscribed whereas now, I’m a free man so I can express my views much more freely.”

His defeat at the 2011 GE also opened up new horizons for him, he said.

One example is that he would not have joined the Pope’s commission otherwise. In 2013, Mr Yeo was tapped to be on an eight-member commission set up by Pope Francis to review the structure of the Vatican following a series of crises in the Catholic Church.

“So it's strange... where the spirit takes you — I'm a Christian — the spirit works with a gentle breeze. You could be still and sense it, then move with it.” CNA