Category: Politik

Suitable Eligible Candidates Should Step Forward, Proper Contest Of Presidency Beneficial To Singapore

By Lin Weijie

The ruling party in Singapore, the People’s Action Party (PAP), has governed our country for more than 50 years. PAP has dominated the Parliament since independence. The judiciary has been highly supportive of the government. It can be beneficial for our country, government and even ruling party to have an independent, non-partisan and qualified President who is caring, capable, committed, credible and constructive (5Cs?). An additional bonus is if he or she has charisma. The eighth President of Singapore who assumes office in September 2017 should be able to successfully work with our government to lead, unite and care for our people while exercising his constitutional, ceremonial and community responsibilities as our Head of State. Who are the potential candidates?

Currently, the two interested candidates from the private sector, Salleh Marican and Farid Khan do not meet the stated financial criteria as their companies to do not have shareholder equity of at least $500 million. Salleh Marican is an Indian-Muslim chief executive officer (CEO) who seems not very fluent in Malay language. Farid Khan, who grew up in Geylang Serai, is a CEO of Pakistani descent. The third potential candidate is Halimah Yacob, our Indian-Muslim Speaker of Parliament who expressed interest.

The Singapore electorate can benefit from having suitable Malay-Muslim candidates taking part in this election. As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in Parliament, the 2017 Presidential Election will be reserved for Malay candidates.

Presently, there are a few potentially eligible Malay CEOs who may qualify as possible private sector candidates. One of them is Alternate Member of the Council of Presidential Advisers and Bank of Singapore CEO Bahren Shaari, who has not ruled out running for the Presidential Election. He was appointed CEO in February 2015. Though he has not met the minimum three years criteria as CEO, the Presidential Election Committee (PEC) may approve of his application and allow him to run for this election, if he decides to take part.

The other potentially eligible private sector candidate is Shafie Shamsuddin who has served as CEO of Carrefour in Singapore and Malaysia. He is currently, the president and chief executive of PT Trans Retail (Carrefour Indonesia). Shafie Shamsuddin was named the Outstanding Chief/Senior Executive (Overseas) of the Year at the 2016 Singapore Business Awards. In 2016, Singapore’s Government Investment Corporation (GIC) invested 5.2 trillion rupiah (SGD$387 million) for a 17% stake in PT Trans Retail.

According to the Presidential Election 2017 Candidate Handbook, one of the financial requirements is that “the company must have, on average, at least $500 million shareholders’ equity, during the interested candidate’s most recent 3 years of service as chief executive”. It has yet to be ascertained if PT Trans Retail meets this requirement. The companies led by Salleh Marican and Farid Khan do not meet this requirement.

From the public sector, other potentially eligible candidates include Minister Yaacob Ibrahim and Abdullah Tarmugi who served as Speaker of Parliament from 2002 to 2011. Minister Yaacob Ibrahim has publicly declared that he was not interested. Abdullah Tarmugi may be persuaded to step out of retirement from politics to contest for this election.

Another possible candidate is Singapore’s non-resident Ambassador to Kuwait and Foreign Minister’s Special Envoy to Middle East, Zainul Abidin, who is the Indian-Muslim CEO of Mendaki from 1990 to 1993. He served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in 2004 and Senior Minister of State from 2006 till 2011, when he lost his parliamentary seat as part of the PAP team that contested in the General Elections for the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency.

Though former Senior Minister of State Zainul Abidin may not meet the requirement 1.1.1a of holding the office of Minister for 3 of more years, the PEC may qualify him under requirement 1.1.1c, which specifies that he has “served for 3 or more years in an office in the public sector for which the PEC must be satisfied, having regard to the nature of the office and the person’s performance, that he has experience and ability comparable to a person who satisfies paragraph 1.1.1 (a)… The PEC must also be satisfied that he has the experience and ability to effectively carry out the functions and duties of the office of President.” There is also a similar clause for private sector candidates who might not meet the exact requirements. There should not be a walkover for this Presidential Election.

Indeed, it can be beneficial for our country if we have highly suitable (5Cs?) and eligible candidates from both public and private sectors taking part in this reserved Presidential Election so that our citizens will not be denied the opportunity to take part in this democratic process and vote for our eighth President of Singapore.

Lin Weijie is a director in the private sector. He has served more than 15 years in the public service, before providing consultancy services to overseas governments and organizations such as the World Bank.

Source: www.theindependent.sg

July 28, 2017
Gilbert Goh: Send Strong Signal To Government, Spoil Your Vote

Once again, we reiterate our call for Singaporeans who are against this racist Presidential Election to spoil their votes.

We believe in a meritocratic election whereby the best most-suitable candidate stands for election and let the people decide who is going to be their next President than letting race gets in the way.

Singaporeans are fed up with our government who tried to lie to the people about taking care of the needs of the minority race by introducing a Reserved PE when in fact the main goal is to deter a unpreferred candidate from standing for the election.

Its a known fact that Dr Tan Cheng Bock will lose in the forthcoming court appeal and Halimah – a Indian-Muslim will be the PAP’s preferred choice candidate.

During last PE, 1.76% of the electorate spoilt their votes amounting to 37,000 voters. A spoilt vote is a legitimate vote of protest and it is not against the law.

The Presidential Election is unlike that of a general election whereby much is at stake. The President has only custodial power and can’t intervene in the governance of the country. His main aim is to safeguard the billions of reserves we have in the country’s coffers.

Its also a known fact that Halimah will win heavily due to her long-standing popularity with decades of strong grassroot experience having helmed the labour movement as the second in command.

Even if all the opposition voters vote otherwise, she will still win heavily as most PAP supporters will root for her.

Why not take this opportunity to unite together and spoil your vote to send a strong signal to the government that we are against this racist PE?

We would rather that the government appoint our future President and do away with any PE as its wasting everybody’s time and the country’s resources.

A strong spoil-vote PE will definitely send the right signal to the government not to meddle anymore with our constitution and stop abusing their power!

#spoilvotecampaign

Source: Gilbert Goh

July 28, 2017
Commentary: MPs Running TCs Is A Terrible Idea. Skill Set Of Good TC Manager Entirely Different From That Of MP

MPs running town councils is a terrible idea that largely only serves to effectively stifle opposition politics in Singapore by raising near impossible barriers to entry.

The skill set of a good town council manager is entirely different from that of an MP. The council manager is a real estate manager of a massive public cum private housing estate and infrastructure. This requires specialist skills and experience and is rightfully the work of a well resourced public stat board like the HDB who used to manage all estates before MPs ran town councils or mayoralties.

Singapore HDB and housing residents deserve the expertise and economies of scale possessed by HDB and public agencies in running their precincts rather than have such management and investment in needed infrastructure improvements be held hostage to shorter term political manoevering or lack of experience or resources over electioneering cycles.

An MPs job on the other hand is to primarily question policies and legislation in parliament on behalf of the electorate. This requires a total different skill set and the substantial time and resources needed to do this effectively.

He or she also to see that the needs of his constituents are met efficiently and adequately by relevant agencies not to be bogged down by the Augean task of managing huge hosing estates him or herself. Especially if they have to duplicate management systems that previous incumbents refuse to share.
Not to mention the duplication of administrative resources by different electoral precincts.

Finally and equally importantly, the provision of estate management services and allocation infrastructure is a public good and should never be used as a political tool.

The bulk of most citizens net worth or life savings is in their home. To have its value held hostage to voting in a powerful incumbent government that controls the agencies responsible for such activities is both a breach of citizens rights as well as a recipe for authoritarian rule.

And to make relatively inexperienced opposition MPs financially liable for any mismanagement in spite of best intentions is to effectively raise the bar for an opposition politician that would otherwise be effective in questioning policies way too high to be of any real benefit to citizens.

The public is thus short changed both ways in terms of optimal public housing management as well as political representation.

Please note that all this cuts institutionally both ways. If the PAP ever found itself in minority opposition again , it may never be able to return from the political wilderness beyond the impregnable walls of their own creation.

Source: Lam Keong Yeoh

July 27, 2017
Pritam Singh: Football Association Of Singapore Needs Industry Transportation Roadmap, Plan To Help Players For Career After Football

A shorter night of house visits this evening meeting many friendly residents. Ran into two S-League footballers after house visits who were shooting the breeze at the void deck of Blk 619 with whom I had a wonderful conversation about post-S-League careers.

Jalil still plays for Tampines Rovers Football Club while Basit had four years with Hougang United Football Club (HGFC) and now works for Singapore Airlines.

It is well known that every well-meaning soccer fan in Singapore has an opinion about the game and the S-League.

The new team or any team in future at the Football Association of Singapore, who I wish all the success in the world, needs to consider post-playing careers for our professionals and create a system which rewards dedicated and disciplined players. In fact, like certain economic sectors, the Football Association of Singapore could do with an Industry Transformation Roadmap or ITM too! Ok, that’s my two cents about local football for today!

Source: Pritam Singh

July 27, 2017
Gilbert Goh: PAP’s Main Motive For Suing WP’s Three MPs Probably To Stop Them From Standing For Next General Election

Let’s support the Workers’ Party as the PAP seeks to destroy and bring down the opposition party here. They can’t unfortunately ownself clear ownself like our PM did three weeks ago in Parliament.

The PM’s own ward Ang Mo Kio Town Council also faced similar alleged corruption but the case was easily settled out of the public scrutiny when the town council general manager was relieved of his duties last year and dismissed without implicating the MPs.

Its also a important distraction tactic as the government faces a host of its own problems involving the PM’s own abuse of power allegation by his two siblings which he has cleared himself in Parliament and the Malay-only Presidential Election.

The PE which will take place in September has hurt the feelings of alot of our Singaporean Malays and put the government on a back-foot for the past few weeks as it struggles to properly address the racial legality of their preferred Indian-Muslim candidate Halimah.

As for the lawsuit against the three WP main figures, if it involves corruption, the goverment should bring in the CPIB to investigate WP but it has instead threw the legal law book at the opposition party which will give the issue wider smear publicity.

By appointing Philip Jeyeretnam son of WP’s founder father JB Jeyeretnam to preside over the case, it has also stir up much sentiments against the former founder’s son who now works for the government.

Its vintage PAP’s distraction technique at its best to sue the WP now when the government has also faced many Accounting-General Office’s official complaints for the past 3 years into financial irregularities for many of its own statutory boards and civil services.

Nothing is believed to have being done to properly investigate and clear the irregularities as the same financial problem is being re-flagged the next year. Should we not also sue the government for improper handling of our millions of taxpayer money?

If the WP’s three MPs are found guilty by our court system, they are likely to be heavily fined and may not be able to stand for the next general election – probably the PAP’s main motive for suing them now.

Let us support WP for the sake of our opposition cause!

Source: Gilbert Goh

July 26, 2017