Tan, independent & willing to serve?

My heart leapt up on reading President S R Nathan’s reaction to the fact that there are potentially four presidential candidates for the upcoming election for the next Singapore president.

Mr Nathan according to today’s Sunday Times actually declared: “The more the merrier”.

Well, why donch I join the fray, add one more Tan to the slate and a new dimension too: I will go down in Sg history as the first woman presidential aspirant, right!

Wrong!

First, I may be independent of the PAP in that I’ve never ever been a party member and never had the privilege of being even considered for membership.

But does that make me  free of bias, quirks, pre-conceptions, friendships with opposition members or opposition leaning folks? So why do we make a song and dance about independence of the PAP and not care about a candidate’s dependence on everything else?

Second, is a willingness to serve the be all and end all of a candidate’s suitability and sincerity? It reminds me of the second maid whom my family hired last year when mum’s picky Siti went on leave, to help in the interim and also to retain as an extra pair of hands when Picky returned.

The new maid turned out to be thoroughly inept (I should have known since in less than 9 months she’s had six employers be4 me) but oh so willing and eager to serve. She broke more glass n crockery in my home in the few days she was with us than Picky did in more than 2 years!

Worse was when she was most insistent in taking over the cooking, standing close to me and ready to snatch the spatula out of my hand, even as I tried to stir-fry some veggie.

So eagerness alone to serve without the ability or qualifications will not a maid or president make!

And frankly, I fail the willingness to serve test!

I may have some heart for underprivilged fellow citizens but the mantle to be their spokesperson, I think, is best left on those who enter Parliament as politicians, not the ceremonial head who opens Parliament!

Finally, while I may wholeheartedly endorse our Government tactics and strategies to fight crime because  I enjoy and want to continue enjoying a low-crime environment, I go all cowardly when it comes to putting my signature on the form that orders a convicted criminal — who has exhuasted all avenues of appeal — be taken to a place to be hanged till he/she is dead.

I’ve not the guts or the conscience to execute such a duty, never mind if it is for the common good and the condemned deserve their fate because their culpability has been proven in open court 9 times over! 😦

And all these doesn’t take into consideration the fact that I’ve never been in charge of a corporate with $100 million in capital. Sure, I may try and persuade the vetting committee to buy into the fact that years ago I helped my boss in a takeover battle that was then billed the biggest ever in Australia at AUD 1 billion!

That’s clearly is stretching it as is this soliloquy on the possibility of helping to lengthen the list of Tan-hopefuls in the August presidential race!

I’m not serious and I’ve serious reservation that all the Tans who have shown their hands seriously believe that  all of them will even get past the eligibility stage 😆