Tan Cheng Bock has breakfast with Lee Hsien Yang at West Coast hawker centre

SINGAPORE - Former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock was spotted having breakfast with Mr Lee Hsien Yang at a hawker centre in West Coast on Sunday (Nov 4).

The duo were at the West Coast Market and Food Centre at Block 726 Clementi West, which is in Dr Tan's former Ayer Rajah constituency when he was an MP with the People's Action Party from 1980 to 2006.

When approached by The Straits Times, Mr Lee, the younger brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said: "We were just here to have breakfast."

He and Dr Tan then left the hawker centre.

Posting on Facebook later that morning, Dr Tan said: "We wanted to catch up with each other as we have not met for quite a while."

He said he suggested going to the hawker centre instead of "some fancy restaurant", and that Mr Lee was all for it as he missed local hawker fare in the heartlands.

"We had porridge and coffee with yu tiao. It was a good breakfast, not only the food, but the sharing we had on world affairs and the current state of politics in Singapore," Dr Tan wrote.

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He said many greeted them warmly, and some took photos with them.

"We were touched by their warmth and encouragement. I will be having more breakfasts and lunches with friends regularly in the heartlands," he added.

Dr Tan had contested in the 2011 Presidential Election, where he lost to former President Tony Tan Keng Yam by 7,382 votes.

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In July, he was invited by opposition parties here to lead a proposed opposition coalition.

Dr Tan subsequently said that at the age of 78, he has just a "small window of opportunity" to effect change in Singapore politics.

He also said he thought he must help but had not decided in what capacity.

Mr Lee Hsien Yang, who was formerly chief executive of Singtel, stepped down as chairman of the Civil and Aviation Authority of Singapore at the end of June this year.

In April, he and his sister Wei Ling had taken issue with a report by a ministerial committee looking into future options for founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's home at 38, Oxley Road.

The siblings said it did not accurately represent their late father's wishes.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.