SINGAPORE - A mystery contender - described as a Malay/Muslim man in his 60s and the chairman of a multinational company - is planning to vie for the position of president.

Four of his friends turned up on Friday (June 16) at the Elections Department to collect application forms for the coming presidential election on his behalf.

One of them, Future Energy Solutions director of administrative and business development Borhan Saini, said: "We believe that our candidate is eligible to stand."

To repeated questions on the new contender's identity, Mr Saini would only offer sparse details: He is in early 60s, a chairman of a multinational company, and is currently based in Singapore.

Mr Saini added that he believed the potential candidate could win the support of "all races in Singapore".

But he declined to give more information when pressed and would only say: "We are confident of that."

He added that a press conference will be called after Hari Raya, in the first week of July.

Mr Borhan and his companions - who gave their names as Jimmie Wee, Rahman Kamin and Sukumaran, but declined to reveal more about themselves - had on Thursday sent an email to the media through an anonymous account. It stated that a "group of multiracial representatives" would be collecting documents for the upcoming presidential election.

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Mr Borhan said on Friday: "We are from a multiracial group to support our candidate because the president is not just for Malays, but for (people from) all walks of life in Singapore".

The group, he added, is not linked to any political party.

When asked why the candidate had not collected the forms himself, Mr Borhan would only say: "He's not free today... he has some urgent matters."

The upcoming presidential election in September is reserved for candidates from the Malay community, following changes to the elected presidency scheme approved by Parliament last year to ensure minority representation.