Second Chance CEO Salleh Marican collects presidential election forms

Second Chance Properties founder and CEO Mohd Salleh Marican underscored his intention to run for president of Singapore when he turned up at the Elections Department (ELD) to collect his application forms on Monday (5 June) morning.

Arriving in a white BMW sports utility vehicle, the 67-year-old presidential hopeful was accompanied by his wife, Sapiyah Abu Bakar, 65 and his younger brother Hasan Marican, 63. Salleh spoke to reporters in English and Malay after collecting his forms.

Salleh said that his extensive experience as an entrepreneur would help him perform his duties as the head of state.

“The 42 years (of running Second Chance) is full of ups and downs and from that, I am able to garner a lot of useful experience. I learn that to be a good leader, one needs to have two good characteristics.

“Firstly, one needs to be able to make good judgment and secondly, a leader must have a good sense of EQ (emotional intelligence),” Salleh told reporters in Malay.

The biggest challenge that Salleh faces is getting the approval from the Presidential Elections Committee to run in the September election, which is reserved for Malay candidates.

Application opened on Thursday (1 June) for prospective candidates to collect the election forms and will close five days after the writ of election is issued in late August.

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Singapore, Salleh praised Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob, who is widely expected to run for the election.

When asked by reporters about his comment, Salleh said, “Some people asked me, why did you praise your opponent (in the interview)? But I told them that this is the way of a gentleman.”