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Tag: elected presidency

  • Dr Tan Cheng Bock: Constitutional Commission Must Create System Enabling Election Of Independent And Effective President

    Dr Tan Cheng Bock: Constitutional Commission Must Create System Enabling Election Of Independent And Effective President

    Reviewing the last Presidential Election 2011.

    In the last Presidential election I lost narrowly to the current President Tony Tan by a mere 0.34%.
    .
    Last month the government appointed a Constitutional Commission to study and make recommendation on specific aspects of the Elected Presidency relating to the qualifying process for presidential candidates.

    I strongly encourage Singaporeans to make submissions to the Commission to ensure that we have a Elected Presidency system that will enable us to elect a Truly Independent and Effective President. The Elected Presidency is created to provide some check on the use of our reserves and appointments of certain top civil servants.

    Make your views known now on why the need to change..It is important for the future of Singapore.
    .
    There are three aspects the commission has been tasked to review.
    1. whether the eligibility criteria for such candidates should be updated , and if so how?
    2. It will also study the framework governing the exercise of the President’s custodial powers, including whether the views of the council of Presidential Advisors can be given more weight and if so how.
    3. Ensuring that Minorities have the chance to be periodically elected to the Office of the President.

    The 9 members are as follows: Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Tay Yong Kwang, Mr Eddie Teo, Chairman PSC, Abdullah Tarmugi, Member,Presidential Council on minority rights ,Prof Chan Heng Chee , Mr Chua Tian Poh of Ho Bee Land, Mr Philip Ng of Far East organisation, Mr Peter Seah of DBS, and Mr Wong Ngit Liong of Venture Corporation.

    The Commission is now inviting written submissions by Singaporeans. The deadline is 21 March 2016 and the submissions may be sent to the Constitutional Commission Secretariat via the following 2 methods: Email: [email protected] Post: 1 Supreme Court Lane, Singapore 178879.

     

    Source: Dr Tan Cheng Bock

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

    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

  • PPP: More Extensive Reform Of Elected Presidency Required

    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