Second Chance Properties CEO announces intention to run for Singapore president

SINGAPORE (June 1): Applications for the 2017 Presidential Election certificates are opening today, and it has been reported that the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Second Chance Properties, Mohamed Salleh Marican, intends to be in the running for the position as Singapore’s next president.  

In an article by The Straits Times yesterday, Marican confirms that he will be collecting the forms required to contest in the upcoming September elections, and claims to be able to “fulfil the call of most Singaporeans who desire a truly independent elected president, one who is untainted by party politics".

Marican, who is said to be the first Malay/Muslim owner of a company to be listed on the SGX, will be participating in Singapore’s first-ever reserved election.

The upcoming election will be reserved solely for candidates of the Malay race based on the hiatus-triggered model, which means that the election for the presidential office is reserved for a certain racial group, if no person belonging to the community has held the office of president for any of the five most recent terms.

Based on the latest Singapore Constitution terms, presidential candidate applicants under the private sector must have been the chief executive of a company with at least S$500 million (RM1.55 billion) in shareholder equity in the recent three years.

However, Second Chance’s shareholder equity stood between S$254.3 million and S$263.25 million over the last three financial years, which is significantly lower than this requirement.

Shares of Second Chance closed flat at 26 Singapore cents on Wednesday. — theedgemarkets.com.sg

For more stories, download TheEdgeProperty.com pullout here for free.