Ouch.

As I caught sight of the front page of today's Sunday Times I felt 2 distinct waves of feeling, one emotional, one physical: 

horror

and

nausea.

If Tan Kin Lian gets on the ballot for elected President, sticks and stones may break my bones but I'll crawl to any voting station to vote against him. (Unless President Nathan somehow ends his term early, I'll be voting age come 2011.) And if Tan Kin Lian gets voted in I will surely pack my bags and leave in disgust.

This man is a painful orator in both English and Chinese; he's a populist of the worst kind, and a disingenuous and deluded egomaniac. This is what our beloved national paper of record's beloved sister Sunday paper says: "Get me 100,000 signatures" and he'll run for office - so politics is just a sheer popularity contest to him; "I don't need this kind of trouble" - so elected office is troublesome to him; his political ambitions "are for Singapore" - so he would be the panacea to our ills, would he indeed! 

Our former presidents were all distinguished, respected and responsible members of society. This man... Words fail to describe the extent to which I find this man unsuitable to hold any position of responsibility. The only office he should get to is a psychiatrist's.