SINGAPORE – The Republic could see its first Malay president in over 40 years come the next Presidential Election due next August, with the Government intending to amend the Presidential Elections Act in January to put into place a hiatus-triggered mechanism to ensure a minority race president.
This was revealed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the second day of the Parliamentary debate on proposed amendments to the Constitution on the Elected Presidency (EP) scheme.
The hiatus-triggered model was one of the suggestions made by the Constitutional Commission to refine the EP in August. Under the model, a Presidential Election would be reserved for a particular race, after five terms without a representative from that race assuming the highest office in the land.
This means Singapore is now in the fifth term of the Elected Presidency, while all past and present elected Heads of State have been Chinese, save for the late Mr S R Nathan.
“Therefore by the operation of the hiatus-triggered model, the next election, due next year, will be a reserved election for Malay candidates,” said Mr Lee. “That means if a Malay candidate steps up to run or more than one Malay candidate steps up to run, who is qualified, Singapore will have a Malay President again… I look forward to this.”
Through this arrangement, one in three Presidents will be non-Chinese over six terms – larger than the proportion of non-Chinese in the population, noted Mr Lee.
Noting that there are some who felt this mechanism went against meritocracy, Mr Lee said that candidates in a reserved election will still have to meet the same qualifying criteria.
In mulling over the refinements to the EP, which also touched on updating the qualifying criteria for candidates and strengthening the Council of Presidential Advisers, Mr Lee said that the Government had thought hardest about ensuring multiracial representation.
He added: “Every citizen, Chinese, Malay, Indian, or some other race, should know that someone of his community can become President, and in fact from time to time, does become President.”
This was not a theoretical matter, as race had real world implications in Singapore, said Mr Lee.
Enormous progress may have been made but the different ethnic groups continue to be subjected to “external pulls and influences”, he added.
Citing Singapore’s close business ties with China, Mr Lee said that outsiders may misunderstand the Republic to be a Chinese country, given the population composition and cultural familiarity of the two nations.
“Thus we must always remember that we are not a Chinese country, but a multi-racial, multi-religious Southeast Asian nation with an ethnic Chinese majority but not a Chinese country,” said Mr Lee. “We have to show this domestically, to our own population, Chinese population, as well as the non-Chinese population and we have to show this externally, to other countries too.”
Among neighbouring countries, race and religion remain hot issues, said Mr Lee.
In Indonesia, there were riots over a Chinese Christian governor running for re-election in Jakarta, and in Malaysia, non-Muslim parties were upset that a hudud bill – Islamic Penal Code – has been tabled in Parliament.
Similar concerns over race and religion exist in Singapore, and the President is the most important unifying symbol of the nation, said Mr Lee. Without intervention to ensure a multiracial outcome, the Presidency could end up a single-race office, he warned.
While he was heartened by aspirations to be race-blind, Mr Lee urged Singaporeans to be realistic.
In the US, the presidential race between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton may be about globalisation, jobs and insecurity, but race continues to be front and center, pointed out Mr Lee.
Trump supporters are largely lower- and middle-class whites, while African Americans are “overwhelmingly” voting for Mrs Clinton, albeit with less enthusiasm than they did for President Barack Obama.
Hence, practical arrangements have to be made to make multiracialism in Singapore work, said Mr Lee.
He added: “As we get closer to this ideal, and minority candidates are regularly elected President in open elections, we will need hiatus-triggered reserved elections less and less.”
