Politics
Presidential hopeful Tan Kin Lian rejects insinuations that social media posts he made in past “objectify” women
Presidential candidate Mr Tan Kin Lian faces backlash over his past social media posts, with Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) condemning his online behaviour.
In response, Mr. Tan emphasizes the light-hearted intent behind his posts and receives support from his daughter, Ms Su Ling.
The controversy unfolds ahead of the nomination submissions for the Presidential Election.
SINGAPORE: The Presidential Election has found itself entwined with a fiery debate concerning the social media behaviour of Mr Tan Kin Lian, the former CEO of NTUC Income.
Facing scrutiny from the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) for his perceived objectification of women in social media posts, Mr Tan took to Facebook to defend his actions and reputation.
“I have been happily married to my loving wife for nearly 50 years… I made those social media posts openly and I invite the public to judge for themselves,” Mr Tan expressed in his detailed response.
Adding a layer of criticism for the media, he noted his disappointment in both mainstream and alternative outlets for turning a minor issue into a major point of contention.
“Calls were made for a clean and fair contest but it appears that the establishment are keen to win at all cost. I have faith that my fellow Singaporeans will not allow our electoral system to be debased by scurrilous attacks.”
The spark for this recent controversy was a TikTok video, which spotlighted Mr. Tan’s Facebook posts commenting on “pretty” girls.
Going viral with close to 300,000 views, the video inadvertently pushed Mr Tan into the limelight just as his presidential campaign was gaining momentum.
AWARE, responding to the widespread attention, made a statement on its Facebook page condemning Mr Tan’s consistent online behaviour. Their statement pointed out the dangers of objectifying women through casual posts and comments.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Tan, during a walkabout at Clementi West’s hawker centre, emphasized the light-hearted nature of his posts, suggesting that they serve as a way to engage with his followers.
He also mentioned that only a minority of people seem to take issue with his content, pointing out he receives criticisms even for benign posts about food.
Supporting her father, Ms Su Ling highlighted the importance of contextualizing comments, suggesting that a casual compliment shouldn’t automatically be equated to objectification.
“Women should have the confidence to reject the notion that a compliment on their looks ‘trivialises them’,” she commented on her Facebook page.
This heated debate emerges at a pivotal time. Last Friday, Mr. Tan, along with other notable figures like former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song, received their certificates of eligibility (COE) for the upcoming Presidential Election.
The formal submission of nomination papers by Mr Tan and the other two presidential hopefuls is anticipated to occur on Tuesday (22 Aug) at the People’s Association Headquarters.
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This is the same DOM (dirty old man) who in the 1990s~early 2000s spent time away from the MD’s desk strolling the floors of his workplace building (72 Bras Basah Road???) looking for PRETTY young things who donned “spaghetti strap” tops to work so that he could lay his DOM coarse hands (testicles… oops, sorry, tentacles) on nubile soft skin on the pretext that he was going to give them (the girls) a therapeutic good rub(bing) to relieve their stress and to soothe whatever tensions they might have from mundane office everyday at the establishment he was heading under patronage,… Read more »
Smear campaign by PAP IB units on full scale.
So obvious, scared to lose so play dirty tactics.
Wife never complaint. Why so kay poh? tsk tsk tsk
CB (cuckoo bird) ask me : Why those who are AWARE are keeping quiet when they heard of mini-star having in-appropriate relationships since 2020? What do you think?
Those who damaged TKL reputations or make false allegations, be prepared to receive POFMA once he became President. What do you think? LoL
CB (cuckoo bird) tells me: If pappies are the PM and President, then no need check and balance !!! Is that what Singaporeans want? What do you think?
Thank you CB !
DO NOT VOTE FOR THIS LAO CHI KO TAN KIN LIAN!!! HE WILL MOLEST YOUR DAUGHTERS IF GIVEN A CHANCE!!!
The PAP’s trade mark playing dirty in full display. The timing is impeccable. With the help of AWARE they are making harmless comments made lightheartedly by TKL into something so serious as to suggest a flaw in his character. Let us vote for TKL and show PAP that their dirty tricks don’t work anymore.
Just ignore those naysayers, IB’s. etc.
Lets move on. Continue to vote for TKL ! Cheers.
Establishment IBs all out to character assassinate TKL. AWARE, because it’s a women championing organisation, has to speak up lest the IBs turn their attention on them to highlight “AWARE doesn’t bother” if they keep silent. The IBs are vicious, they are the paid henchmen and assassins. Singaporeans believe the establishment is getting worried when their feelers on the ground tell them TKL is gaining more traction than they thought he would get, based on his 2011 performance. No matter what, TKL must be voted in to spoil the establishment plan for the sake of spoiling, if you have your… Read more »
The other 2 can also easily be accused anything but due to their background no one dares to try.
Our minds already made up : TKL is the People’s Choice as President !!! Cheers !!
No big opposition gunning for you, where are wp, psp, sdp? LT, TJS, GMS….some more the anti vaccine lady, aiyah…all the fringe and maverick, cmi. Rather don’t need their support, your weak link and maybe killer blow.
Anyway I will give you my sympathy vote, no worries.
I support TKL no matter what
TKL : No worries, we know you are a righteous person !! We are all behind you as President of Singapore.
Ignore those naysayers. They are just jealous of you or PLP’ers, Pappy trolls, etc etc
Why AWARE did not speak up on Mini star’s in appropriate affairs? why now then bring up unnecessary case on TKL? tsk tsk What do you think?
You know once you want to be a public figure people will dig your past, same happens to your competitors Tharman and NKS. If you think what you do is perfectly alright no need to defend, as it will make matters complicated and further revealed your cockiness. Act like your competitors, be a real man.
AWARE should know it will not be able to unqualified Tan as nothing really wrong was done. Pretty girls is not a dirty word. He is using a layman sgrean English. Tan is unfortunately too rigid to accept the need to appeal to the middle voters. Too confident of his thinking. Afterall he is a senior at 75 . Quite difficult to change. Good person but for lack of better word, lacking the Marketing Skills doing business with too much honesty or being too direct. He knows this but Insist. While he will not win, I will still vote TKL… Read more »