SINGAPORE — The debate on the proposed constitutional amendments to the Elected Presidency (EP) scheme kicked off on Monday (Nov 7), with Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean telling the House that the changes would provide stability to the political system, and help to avoid gridlock in situations where the President and the government do not agree.
With at least 30 Members of Parliament (MPs) expected to join in the debate on the constitutional amendment Bill over the coming days, Mr Teo — along with Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim and three other MPs — rose to speak on Monday, after Parliament Speaker Halimah Yacob read out a message from President Tony Tan, who was making his first public comments on the proposed changes to the EP.
Among other things, Dr Tan stressed that the highest office of the land cannot be a “second centre of power” and pointed out the need to distinguish between the President “acting as a custodian and the President acting in opposition to the Government”,
All the MPs who spoke yesterday — MacPherson MP Tin Pei Ling, Jurong GRC MP Tan Wu Meng and Bukit Batok MP Murali Pillai — held up Singapore’s founding priniciple of multiracialism, and expressed their support for the changes.
In particular, Mr Murali said the safeguarding of minority representation would send “an important signal to all communities within Singapore that she must always remain an inclusive society”.
On his part, Dr Yaacob spoke about a “long-held” desire by the Malay community to see their one of their own serving as President and the pride they have in their community. “The truth is that we do not have many Malays in key positions of power and leadership. Having one being a president is not just nice but timely. But this cannot, and must not, be the reason why we should have a Malay president,” he said. “The Malay candidate must meet the same exacting standards as demanded of candidates from the other communities.”
A review of the EP scheme was first mooted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in January. Quoting Mr Lee’s comments then on the need to ensure the country does not get “swept off course by a transient public mood, or an erratic government”, Mr Teo reiterated that the Government needs to be able to respond to the mood but not go too far and “capsize the boat”, as Mr Lee put it.
Apart from detailing the proposed changes, Mr Teo noted that the inception of the EP in 1991 “did not change the President’s foremost symbolic and unifying role”. “However, it overlaid onto the office an additional custodial role and transformed it into an elected office,” he said.
He added: “Today, it is no longer this House that balances all the considerations when appointing a President to perform the President’s unifying and symbolic role. We therefore need another framework to achieve and maintain this fine balance.”
A nine-member Constitutional Commission, headed by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, was tasked with studying the eligibility criteria for prospective candidates for the Presidential Election, safeguarding minority representation in the presidency, and the framework governing the exercise of the President’s powers. The commission’s report was submitted in August, after six months of deliberations involving public hearings and written submissions from the public.
In a 49-page White Paper published in October, the Government broadly accepted the recommendations, which include raising the bar for candidates to keep up with the times: Prospective private sector candidates would have to have helmed companies with S$500 million in shareholders’ equity, up from S$100 million in paid-up capital. To safeguard minority representation, the Government will adopt the “hiatus-triggered” mechanism recommended by the commission, where presidential elections will be reserved for a particular race that has not been represented in the office for five consecutive terms
Mr Teo stressed that the eligibility criteria must continue to be updated, in order to maintain “a measure of assurance” that Presidential candidates have the necessary experience and expertise for the EP’s custodial role.
Noting the Elected President’s “two equally important” ceremonial and custodial roles, Dr Yaacob nevertheless said he would be most worried about “the character of the candidate”. “After all, we have seen very successful businessmen who are also crooks. To have stayed honest is too low a bar,” he said. “While we have debated much about the qualifying criteria, especially the candidates’ experience in managing large organisations, equally important are the values and ethos of the candidates.”
Mr Murali warned against the assumption that Singapore has arrived as a nation in terms of racial and religious harmony, and “all inter-communal issues have been resolved forever”. Harking back to the Malay community’s “brave” decision to remain in Singapore post-independence, despite finding themselves becoming a minority group, Mr Murali said: “They remained knowing Singapore’s declared commitment to meritocracy, equality, and multi-racial and multi-religious pluralism.”
Dr Tan Wu Meng felt that the reserved elections would serve as a “safety valve”, even as he emphasised the need to strengthen social cohesion among the various races. “Group Representation Constituencuies were controversial in their early years, but today we see their value as a safety check, to avoid a freak election outcome where every elected MP is of the majority race,” he pointed out.
Given that a majority of Singapore’s population are Chinese, the country “must make sure that our Head of State – an important national symbol – reflects our multiracialism”, said Ms Tin. “Non-Chinese Singaporeans are not a “by the way”, we are all an integral part of Singapore,” she said.
The debate resumes on Tuesday.
