<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>King of petitions needs 99,400 signatures to stand for polls
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jamie Ee Wen Wei
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->The king of petitions, Mr Tan Kin Lian, now has a petition going for himself.
Since he opened up on his willingness to stand as Singapore's next elected president or contest in the general election - in an interview with The Sunday Times last week - about 600 people have pledged their support for the former chief executive officer of NTUC Income in an online petition.
In the interview, Mr Tan, 60, had said he wanted to see at least 100,000 signatures and names of Singaporeans willing to support him. The petition should also be put together by those keen to see him become a leader, and not by himself.
Unknown to most, a petition to garner support for Mr Tan had been put up online two weeks before the interview by businessman Goh Meng Seng, 38, who has helped Mr Tan translate his speeches into Mandarin at the Speakers' Corner over the past few weeks.
Mr Goh, who is a member of the National Solidarity Party, said he had first encouraged Mr Tan to stand for election in May this year, when Mr Tan mounted an online protest over NTUC Income's move to cut annual bonus payouts for life policies sold after 1993.
Two months ago, when Mr Tan rallied investors in funds linked to the collapsed Lehman Brothers at the Speakers' Corner, the two men agreed that a petition by members of the public to support him was necessary if he were to stand as Singapore's next elected president or contest the next general election.
'From my interactions with him, I also found him to be a righteous man who believes strongly in justice and fairness,' Mr Goh said.
Yesterday, he urged the 200 investors who turned up at the Speakers' Corner to support Mr Tan. Hardcopies of the petition were also handed out.
Mr Tan said that the response to the petition was 'very slow' but more signatures could be expected after yesterday. 'It's going to take a long time. Many people are worried about signing such a petition. They still have to overcome their fears,' he said.
http://www.petitiononline.com/TKL/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/TKLFPO1/petition.html
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jamie Ee Wen Wei
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->The king of petitions, Mr Tan Kin Lian, now has a petition going for himself.
Since he opened up on his willingness to stand as Singapore's next elected president or contest in the general election - in an interview with The Sunday Times last week - about 600 people have pledged their support for the former chief executive officer of NTUC Income in an online petition.
In the interview, Mr Tan, 60, had said he wanted to see at least 100,000 signatures and names of Singaporeans willing to support him. The petition should also be put together by those keen to see him become a leader, and not by himself.
Unknown to most, a petition to garner support for Mr Tan had been put up online two weeks before the interview by businessman Goh Meng Seng, 38, who has helped Mr Tan translate his speeches into Mandarin at the Speakers' Corner over the past few weeks.
Mr Goh, who is a member of the National Solidarity Party, said he had first encouraged Mr Tan to stand for election in May this year, when Mr Tan mounted an online protest over NTUC Income's move to cut annual bonus payouts for life policies sold after 1993.
Two months ago, when Mr Tan rallied investors in funds linked to the collapsed Lehman Brothers at the Speakers' Corner, the two men agreed that a petition by members of the public to support him was necessary if he were to stand as Singapore's next elected president or contest the next general election.
'From my interactions with him, I also found him to be a righteous man who believes strongly in justice and fairness,' Mr Goh said.
Yesterday, he urged the 200 investors who turned up at the Speakers' Corner to support Mr Tan. Hardcopies of the petition were also handed out.
Mr Tan said that the response to the petition was 'very slow' but more signatures could be expected after yesterday. 'It's going to take a long time. Many people are worried about signing such a petition. They still have to overcome their fears,' he said.
http://www.petitiononline.com/TKL/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/TKLFPO1/petition.html