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Tag: Wee Kim Wee

  • Dr Tan Cheng Bock’s EP Appeal To Be Heard On 31 July

    Dr Tan Cheng Bock’s EP Appeal To Be Heard On 31 July

    Former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock’s appeal against the High Court’s decision to dismiss his legal challenge on the timing for the reserved presidential election will be heard on July 31.

    In a Facebook post on Sunday (July 23), Dr Tan wrote that the hearing in the Court of Appeal will also be open for members of the public to attend.

    “I look forward to a final judicial clarification on whether the Government had correctly picked President Wee (Kim Wee) as the first of five presidencies to trigger a Reserved Election for 2017,” he said.

    After his legal challenge was dismissed on July 7, Dr Tan said his lawyers have advised that “the judge may have misconstrued the relevant constitutional provisions”, and proceeded to file an appeal to the apex court.

    Dr Tan had earlier challenged the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ (AGC) findings that Dr Wee was Singapore’s first elected President, which formed the basis for the Government to trigger a reserved election for Malay candidates for the coming polls in September.

    After changes to the Elected Presidency scheme were passed, a reserved election will be triggered for a particular race that has not seen an elected representative for five consecutive terms.

    The Government, on the advice of AGC, started counting the five terms from Dr Wee’s presidency. The late Dr Wee was the first President to exercise powers under the EP scheme, after it was introduced in 1991 while he was in office.

    But Dr Tan said it was unconstitutional to start counting from Dr Wee’s term, and the Government should have started counting from the popularly-elected Mr Ong Teng Cheong instead, who succeeded Dr Wee. This would make it four terms since the Republic has had an elected Malay President.

    Earlier this month, Justice Quentin Loh dismissed the appeal. He ruled that after amendments to the EP scheme were passed, Parliament was “entitled… to specify President Wee’s last term in office as the first term” of office of the President to be counted under the relevant article for a reserved election.

    He found that “on a plain reading” of Article 164, Parliament is not limited to choosing a particular term of office of the President as the “first term”. There was also nothing in the text or textual context of Article 19B that limits Parliament’s power by requiring it to start the count from the term of office of a popularly-elected President, said the judge.

    Dr Tan said on his Facebook page on Sunday that the legal case has allowed him “to express a different legal view”, adding:  “The case will end on 31 July 2017. But it is good to let our conversation on these national issues continue.”

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Dr Tan Cheng Bock’s Constitutional Challenge On Reserved EP: High Court Reserves Judgement

    Dr Tan Cheng Bock’s Constitutional Challenge On Reserved EP: High Court Reserves Judgement

    The High Court reserved its judgement on Dr Tan Cheng Bock’s constitutional challenge against the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) over the timing for the reserved presidential election, after a 3.5 hour closed-door hearing on Thursday (June 29).

    Justice Quentin Loh is expected to deliver his decision in a week or so, Deputy Attorney-General Hri Kumar Nair, representing AGC, and Dr Tan’s lawyer Chelva Retnam Rajah told reporters after the court session.

    Last month, Dr Tan filed a legal challenge against the AGC’s findings that Dr Wee Kim Wee was Singapore’s first elected President, which formed the basis for the Government to trigger a reserved election for Malay candidates for the coming polls in September.

    Among the various changes to the Elected Presidency scheme – passed in November last year – was triggering a reserved election for a particular race that has not seen an elected representative for five consecutive terms.

    The Government, on the advice of AGC, started counting the five terms from Dr Wee’s presidency.

    The late Dr Wee was the first President to exercise powers under the EP scheme, after it was introduced in 1991 while Dr Wee was in office.

    But Dr Tan, who was contesting the constitutionality of reserving the upcoming presidential election for Malay candidates, argued that the Government should have started counting from the late Mr Ong Teng Cheong, who succeeded Dr Wee. This would make it four terms since the Republic has had an elected Malay President.

    The upcoming presidential polls should, therefore, be an open election, he said, in a press conference on the same issue in March.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • M Ravi Files Constitutional Challenge Against Changes To Elected Presidency

    M Ravi Files Constitutional Challenge Against Changes To Elected Presidency

    Human rights lawyer M. Ravi yesterday filed a constitutional challenge against changes to the elected presidency made last year.

    The changes, which Parliament approved last November, tighten the qualifying criteria for candidates, and include a provision to reserve a presidential election for candidates from a racial group that has not been represented in the office for five continuous terms.

    Mr Ravi argues that the changes are unconstitutional because they deprive citizens of their right to stand for public office and discriminate on the grounds of ethnicity.

    The High Court confirmed that Mr Ravi had filed an originating summons and supporting affidavit.

    A spokesman for the Attorney-General’s Chambers told The Straits Times that “it will study the papers” filed by Mr Ravi.

    Mr Ravi, currently a non-practising lawyer, said on Facebook that he filed the application in his capacity as a private citizen.

    His is the second legal challenge related to the elected presidency mounted this month.

    On May 5, former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock filed a challenge over whether the upcoming presidential election should be a reserved one.

     

    Unlike Dr Tan, Mr Ravi challenges the entire reserved election mechanism as unconstitutional, he said on Facebook yesterday.

    He believes that the elected presidency is not consistent with Article 12(2) of the Constitution.

    It states that unless expressly authorised by the Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against Singapore citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent or place of birth in any law, or in the appointment to any office, or employment under a public authority.

    “The right to stand for the elected presidency should be no different from the right to participate in parliamentary elections – all citizens should be equal,” he wrote.

    “The selection of the elected candidate should be based on merit, all other relevant requirements being fulfilled.”

    Mr Ravi also contends the amendments run counter to a legal principle called the basic structure doctrine, which he says applies here.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

     

  • High Court Accepts Application By Dr Tan Cheng Bock On Constitutionality Of Counting Late Wee Kim Wee As First EP

    High Court Accepts Application By Dr Tan Cheng Bock On Constitutionality Of Counting Late Wee Kim Wee As First EP

    COURT APPLICATION ACCEPTED

    I would like to announce that this morning, the High Court accepted my application (HC/OS 495/2017), which seeks the Court’s determination on whether a piece of legislation (section 22 Presidential Elections (Amendment) Act 6 of 2017 which counted President Wee Kim Wee as the first Elected Presidency term for the purposes of calling a Reserved Election), is consistent with our Constitution (Articles 19B(1) and 164(1) which introduced the mechanism of a Reserved Election into our Constitution).

    I am the Plaintiff and for the purposes of serving Court papers on the Government, the Defendant is the Attorney General.

    The application was filed on 5 May 2017. The Court accepted my application this morning, and has fixed a pre-trial conference on 22 May 2017.

    To recap, on 31 March 2017, I held a press conference explaining why in my layman’s opinion, starting the count from President Wee’s term appeared to be inconsistent with the spirit and purpose for reserved elections. I then invited the Government or AG to explain the legal reasons for their count.

    On 1 April 2017 the Government through MCI said I raised no new points that require a response. I responded to say the MCI missed my point. Nothing further was heard on this issue.

    Since this is a matter of national importance, I sought to find the legal answer and consulted the best constitutional lawyer I could find. He is Queen’s Counsel Lord David Pannick. I gave Lord Pannick the Commission Report, White Paper, all relevant Hansard parliamentary reports from 7 Nov 2016 to 6 February 2017, our Constitution and all related statutes on this issue. I asked him one question: whether the AG correctly advised the Government to specify President Wee’s term as the first to be counted on the basis that he was the first President to exercise elected powers.

    Lord Pannick has advised that he disagrees with the AG’s advice, and that section 22 Presidential Elections (Amendment) Act 6 of 2017 as it stands is unconstitutional. After receiving Lord Pannick’s reply, I felt I could not keep his legal opinion to myself. It would be in public interest to have the Court decide which legal view is correct – Lord Pannick or the AG.

    On 28 April 2017, I engaged M/s Tan, Rajah & Cheah to make the necessary application, and to produce in my affidavit Lord Pannick’s written opinion before the Court. I believe this question can be answered without confrontation or hostility. Both the Government and I have the nation’s best interest at heart. It is in nobody’s interest to have a Reserved Election that is unconstitutional.

    I am satisfied that I have, to the best of my ability and capacity, done my part to do what is right in the circumstances, which is to bring to this Court’s attention Lord Pannick’s opinion. Since the matter is now before the Court, it is only right that I refrain from making any further public comment until this case is decided.

     

    Source: Dr Tan Cheng Bock

  • Remember Wee Kim Wee? We Won’t Get A President Like Him Again If PAP Has Their Way

    Remember Wee Kim Wee? We Won’t Get A President Like Him Again If PAP Has Their Way

    Of all our presidents, I remember Wee Kim Wee the fondest. Maybe that is because he looked a little like my late father.

    In my mind, Wee Kim Wee was a great president. I remember seeing him on tv and thinking, “What a gentle soul.” Always with a smile, and as I recall, he lent his presence and name to many charitable works during his 8 years as head of state.

    And the fact that he chose to be buried among the common people at the Mandai Crematorium, says it all.

    A president is more than a CEO, more than someone who can handle $100 million, or even $1 billion. He is more than just another run-of-the-mill elite, picked from an exclusive group.

    For me, a president is someone who is able to stand above everyone and everything else, especially petty politics of the politicians and the political parties.

    President Wee was such a person.

    It is thus a shame that even if we ever have another Wee Kim Wee, he will never be deemed qualified to be our president, under current laws and under the expected changes to the law.

    It is a shame because it seems we have lost sight of what really the president is, and what the presidency means.

    He has become nothing more than a watchdog, relegated to guarding at the threshold, like an outpost looking out for trouble, and expected to bark when trouble comes.

    It is such a shame how we have stripped the presidency of all nobility.

    We do not need another aristocrat picked from among the elite.

    We need another humble, inspiring man like Wee Kim Wee. And such a man can come from anywhere, even among the ordinary.

    Don’t be fooled into thinking that only someone with some nebulous “financial expertise” or knowledge is qualified to be president.

    In fact, it is precisely such illusions which is now threatening to destroy all that the presidency is supposed to be.

     

    Source: Andrew Loh