Category: Singapuraku

Tan Jee Say: Singaporeans Will Elect Minority Candidate As President Based On Merit

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

January 28, 2016
PPP: More Extensive Reform Of Elected Presidency Required

Response to PAP’s change of political rules

The Prime Minister has announced a few changes to our political system, basically centered around NCMP scheme, down sizing GRC, increasing number of SMCs and rules regarding the Elected Presidency.

People’s Power Party is founded on the principles of political reform based on Separation (and Independence) of Five Powers, namely Legislative, Executive, Judiciary, Selection/appointment and Impeachment Powers.

The Elected Presidency

One important advocacy of our founding beliefs is to entrench and enhance the Elected Presidency so much so that, certain powers or government institutions should fall under the charge of the Presidential Office. We are advocating the institutions of Impeachment powers, Selection/appointment powers to come under the purview of the Elected Presidency. Namely, the Elected President should take charge of the following institutions and functions:

1) CPIB
2) Election Department
3) Public Service Commission (PSC)
4) Appointment of judges
5) Ombudsman Commission
6) Equal Opportunity Commission
7) Appointment of key office holders in Temasek Holdings and GIC

On top of that, the President should have the veto powers to block any legislation which he deems detrimental to the nation’s interests. Such veto can only be overturned by subsequent two-third approval of parliamentary votes.

Thus, the reform for the Elected Presidency could be more extensive than what the Prime Minister has proposed.

Although we welcome the proposal of putting the racial balance into consideration for the Elected Presidency, but we object to the proposed increase of power given to the Presidential Advisory Council. The appointment of the members of this Council should not be decided by the ruling party or Cabinet. It should be the sole prerogative of the Elected President to appoint his own Council. Furthermore, the Elected President is elected and empowered by Singaporeans and he should have the full power to make decisions in the interests of the Nation He should be the one who will answer to the Singaporeans who voted him, not the Advisory Council. Thus, the Advisory Council cannot overshadow the powers of the Elected Presidency.

GRC, NCMP and Proportional Representation.

We welcome the announcement of downsizing the GRC. We feel that the correct size for the GRC system should be 3 to 4 seats per GRC.

However, we do not see the necessity of having any SMC nor NCMP if our proposal of Proportional Representation is implemented.

No matter how PAP tries to package it, NCMP has little legitimacy under the current setting. They will always be considered as second class members of parliament or just simply “backdoor MPs”.

The advantages of Proportional Representation system coupled with the full GRC system will truly give Singapore’s Parliament Plural Voices while prevent the loss of Ministerial caliber members of any political party which would become the ruling party or part of a ruling coalition.

Proportional Representation system guarantees intense contest and competition of ideas and ideals whereby multi-corner fights would not be frown upon or “avoided”. It will enhance political competition and consensus building based on plural voice and representation in parliament.

The current system has tremendous flaws. Beside discouraging healthy competition and contests, it also post a danger of instability. If the ruling party lost a GRC, it may risk losing one or two of its good Ministers altogether. This will not provide the kind of political stability and continuity which we need.

The Proportional Representation system also mitigates the problem of the Tyranny of Majority Rule. It would allow individuals or groups with specific focus to contest and chance of getting into parliament to contribute to the plurality of debates. Example, if a group of Nature lovers or Green activists were to be elected into parliament, they will provide a diversity in the debates in various development plans, providing the Green Views instead of subjecting our Nation and future generations to the ills of a monolithic discourse pushed by the ruling party.

Thus, we urge the ruling party to reconsider their plans to change the political landscape to take a serious long term view on the Nation’s political stability by adopting a more comprehensive and bold stance of political reform, which is beyond party politics, to ensure that our Nation adopts the best democratic system based on the fundamentals of Separation of 5 Powers.

Goh Meng Seng
Secretary General
People’s Power Party

Source: Goh Meng Seng

January 28, 2016
SDP: Government Should Focus On Enhancing Whole Democratic System, Not Cosmetic Touch-Ups To NCMP System

This is the SDP’s response to media queries about Mr Lee Hsien Loong’s proposal to increase the number of NCMPs:

The proposals by PM Lee serve only to distract the people from the real problems that plague elections in Singapore. A democratic election system requires a free media, freedom of speech and assembly, and a transparent electoral process. If the PAP is genuinely interested in a democratic system, it should take the following measures:

1. Amend the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act and the Broadcasting Act. The control of the media by the PAP is what has kept it in power all these decades.

2. Abolish the GRC system. The GRC system has enabled the PAP to draw constituency boundaries to its advantage.

3. Repeal the Public Order Act. The police stop the opposition from speaking and meeting freely with the people while PAP MPs have free access to the electorate.

4. Lengthen the campaign period. The election period should be lengthened to at least 3 weeks. The short campaign period makes it unnecessarily difficult for the opposition to mount a meaningful campaign.

5. Remove the Elections Department from the control of the PMO. A genuinely free and fair elections can come about only if there is an independent body to conduct and monitor elections

Source: Chee Soon Juan

January 28, 2016
Walid J. Abdullah: Singapore Must Foster A Culture Of Intolerance Towards Intolerance

Of the recent speeches by our politicians, two in particular stood out for me.

First was the one given by Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, in which he said Singaporeans must be tolerant, and the only thing we should be intolerant towards is intolerance.

This is most definitely a welcomed speech; the idea of accepting and tolerating different viewpoints is wonderful. (of course, intolerance needs to be defined properly first.)

In this spirit, i hope more politically diverse opinions will be tolerated. I hope the media will give more coverage to different viewpoints. I hope serious discussions will take place on important issues: for example, the discourse on terrorism has been heavily skewed towards religious ideologies. While religious ideology is undoubtedly a factor, almost every major and serious research on terrorism states that other factors (foreign policy, socio-political conditions, loss of trust in authority etc) matter in radicalization too. Therefore, we must be tolerant of different viewpoints and discuss these issues openly and honestly. I further hope those with different standpoints will be met with reasoned argumentation, rather than the full force of the law.

I truly hope, that we are indeed intolerant towards intolerance; whether it is religious or political.

The second was by WP’s Leon Perrera, where he argued for a culture of diversity of opinions. Again, this would be a fantastic thing to have in our society. I hope WP will put its money where its mouth is: in the last parliament, there were occasions in which WP refused to take a stand on some issues or just ignored discourses that were going on in society, perhaps to not offend anyone and reach out to the median voter. I fail to see how keeping silent in important moments contributes to creating this culture.

Hopefully, WP will truly exemplify the culture of diversity, not only by taking a stance on important matters, but by allowing its own members to take different positions on issues.

If one is familiar with parliamentary speeches throughout the world, one would notice that they are often filled with grandiose plans and bombastic words, but unfortunately, with little outcome. One can only hope, that is not the case with these two promising speeches.

Source: Walid J. Abdullah

January 28, 2016
Young Entrepreneur @teebyzeids Raises Funds For “From Singapore To Palestine”

Bro maybe you guys missed this on instagram

Recently these young entrepreneurs with huge ambitions and even bigger hearts from @teebyzeids raised funds for the people of “From Singapore to Palestine”. (FS2P)

For every purchase made, these guys donated $2 to the people of “From Singapore to Palestine” (FS2P).

Simple and effective way to raise donations for a worthy cause that is close to the hearts of us Muslims.

Check out their designs…they have some very cool stuff.

When the next round comes around, don’t hesitate to do your part because Muslim lives matter too!

#MuslimLivesMattersToo

Fikri

[Reader Contribution]

January 27, 2016