My comments on PM’s proposed changes to the Elected President, GRC and NCMP schemes, are as follows:
1. Elected President-
a) Existing eligibility criteria are sufficiently tight and yet flexible to permit candidates from a broad background to come forth and contest, so no need to change criteria;
b) CPA (Council of Presidential Advisers) is not elected by the people and has no mandate or moral authority to have more powers vis-a-vis an elected President, it should remain an advisory body and not empowered to dilute the authority of an elected President;
c) the Government cannot force a minorities President on the people as it is the people who decide; a President imposed on the people rather than truly elected by the people has no moral authority to check the Government; there are many minorities who satisfy criteria to be candidates and Singaporeans will elect them if they are adjudged to be better than others.
2. GRC’s –
a) GRC’s should be scrapped and Parliament reverts to SMC’s for all seats;
b) minority representation, the purported objective of the GRC scheme, can be secured through a modified NCMP scheme for a minimum number of minorities MPs.
3. NCMP’s –
a) no impact with only minimum 12 opposition MPs including NCMP’s,
b) will only make a difference if number of NCMP’s is increased to ensure minimum of over one-third opposition MPs that can effectively check government with a veto.
Source: Tan Jee Say
