SINGAPORE — Former GIC investment chief Ng Kok Song, 75, announced his presidential bid at the Elections Department on Wednesday (July 19). He was accompanied by his 45-year-old fiancee Sybil Lau, his two daughters, his son and their spouses.

His children, aged 33 to 50, are from his first marriage. His first wife died from cancer in 2005. 

In addressing the media, Mr Ng outlined three reasons for wanting to stand as a presidential candidate.

The first, he said, is that he wants to give Singaporeans the opportunity to choose their president, rather than face the possibility of a walkover.

The second is that he has been building up Singapore's reserves for 45 years at sovereign wealth fund GIC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He said the President has the "critical role of safeguarding our reserves".

And third, he said that that he has never been affiliated with any political party.

After making his pitch, Mr Ng introduced his family members including Ms Lau and invited her to speak.

She said in both English and Mandarin: “Kok Song is standing for President to serve the people of Singapore. Our family and I fully support him.” 

As of Wednesday evening, the video of Mr Ng introducing his family and fiancee had garnered more than 510,000 views across TODAY’s various social media platforms along with over 1,110 comments since it was posted on Wednesday morning.

Many netizens were curious about Ms Lau's background. 

Following Mr Ng’s announcement, search phrases such as “Ng Kok Song fiancee” and "Sybil Lau" trended on Google search engine.

MS LAU’S RELATIONSHIP WITH MR NG

Mr Ng and Ms Lau have known each other for about four or five years, according to Chinese evening daily Shin Min Daily News.

The couple reportedly decided to postpone their wedding for three years due to the death of Ms Lau’s mother in 2021. The decision was made to observe a mourning period and pay respect to her late mother.

TODAY takes a closer look at Ms Lau. Here are seven things to know about her.

1. Ms Lau is a Singapore citizen who was born in Canada. According to Shin Min Daily News, her father Liu Zhaohang was a diplomat, who served as Canada's High Commissioner to Brunei and was also the first Chinese-Canadian diplomat to be appointed to a G7 country. Her maternal grandfather Zhang Yuliang, reportedly a prominent Hong Kong businessman, had interests in real estate and finance

2. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada in December 2000.  Her profile on professional networking site LinkedIn does not state what type of degree it is

3. Ms Lau worked as a financial analyst at financial giant Goldman Sachs for two years from 2005 to 2007 and has been managing her family’s wealth since 2009

4. Since 2020, she has been a board member of a family office set up in Singapore by United States billionaire Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world's largest hedge funds, a type of private investment outfit that tends to take risks to achieve hefty returns. A family office is a private firm that handles a family's wealth 

5. Ms Lau has been an independent director of the major Canadian healthcare company, Well Health Technologies, since August 2022 

6. Since January 2023, Ms Lau has been a board member of SG Enable, a focal agency set up by the Ministry of Social and Family Development to assist persons with disabilities

7. Ms Lau reportedly met Mr Ng through a shared interest in investing. According to Shin Min Daily News, in 2018 Ms Lau saw Mr Ng on a YouTube video discussing long-term investments and was "impressed by his insights". She shared the video with some friends, one of whom happened to be a friend of Mr Ng's. They later met and despite Mr Ng's misgivings about their age difference, a romance blossomed, the outlet reported