'Maybe he had asked for permission to take the pictures': Ho Ching weighs in on Tan Kin Lian's 'pretty girls' Facebook posts

Tan Kin Lian's presidential campaign has been rocked this week by his past activities on social media.

After a video compilation of the presidential candidate's Facebook posts about seeing "pretty girls" in public went viral, Aware Singapore slammed his "history of objectifying women".

The women's rights group also labelled the Presidential Elections Committee's (PEC) decision to grant him a certificate of eligibility as "systemic endorsement".

"It signifies that these views and behaviours are not just acceptable, but perhaps even agreeable enough for a potential presidency," said Aware.

But Ho Ching, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday (Aug 23) that the PEC should not be expected to be the "arbiter of moral standards".

Giving her take on Tan's "pretty girls" Facebook posts, she wrote: "At the end of the day, morals do shift, and so does political correctness.

"Hence, some decisions are best left to voters, and interested voters can campaign for one way or another."

Aware said in their statement that the assessment process for presidential candidates should also consider the "wider societal impact to ensure our leadership truly upholds the values of respect, equality, and dignity for all Singaporeans".

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In response, the PEC said it was "not aware" of Tan's social media posts before the certificate of eligibility was issued.

"Hence, the issuing of the certificate could not have amounted to an endorsement of Mr Tan's social media posts by the PEC," it said.

Weighing in on the issue, Ho questioned whether it is harmful or harmless to ogle at pretty girls.

"That is up to the individuals to decide for themselves," she said, adding that "what may seem alright for one generation may not be acceptable for another generation".

"So by all means, go at it, to raise the issue and sensitise the population about respect for others, especially those weaker and more vulnerable.

"But don't load it on the PEC to be our morality police."

On Tuesday, Tan called the criticism over his "pretty girls" Facebook posts a "concerted effort" by his competitors to smear him.

He said: "In this election, suddenly somebody... says 'I feel uncomfortable'. But there are more than 100,000 people who watched the posts over 10 years. Why do you feel uncomfortable now?"

By Wednesday, however, he took down smear campaign allegations and declined to discuss the issue.

There could be two sides or multiple sides to a coin to Tan's antics on social media, Ho suggested.

"Maybe TKL had asked for permission to take the pictures or to post," she said.

chingshijie@asiaone.com