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.”

SINGAPORE: The debate on proposed changes to the Elected Presidency system resumed on Tuesday (Nov 8), with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong speaking on the Bill tabled to amend the Constitution.

On Monday, Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob delivered a message on behalf of President Tony Tan Keng Yam, in which he urged Members of Parliament discussing the proposed changes to keep Singapore’s future in mind. 

In its White Paper released in September, the Government had broadly accepted the recommendations made by a nine-member Constitutional Commission in its review of the Elected Presidency system.

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SINGAPORE: The impact of the North-South Corridor (NSC)’s construction on the 92-year-old Ellison Building can “be reduced to one corner shophouse unit, instead of a larger portion of the building”, said Senior Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 8), citing recently concluded engineering studies.

A prior assessment had stated that three units of the conserved structure on the edge of Selegie Road will have to be torn down to facilitate works on the NSC. These will be reconstructed and reinstated once the NSC is completed in 2026.

Responding to Nominated Member of Parliament Kok Heng Leun’s question, Mr Lee said that the original alignment for the NSC would have impacted even more buildings, including Rex Cinema on Mackenzie Road, and several of the shophouse units at Ellison Building.

“Nevertheless, we recognised the heritage value of Rex Cinema and Ellison Building. Hence, agencies were committed to carry out detailed engineering studies to further minimise the impact on these buildings. On that basis, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) proceeded to gazette the two buildings for conservation in 2008,” said Mr Lee, adding that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the URA eventually managed to develop a solution for the NSC to avoid Rex Cinemas completely.

When completed, the 21km North-South Corridor will connect the residential estates in the North such as Woodlands, Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan and Toa Payoh to the city centre. It will incorporate bus lanes, cycling trunk routes and an expressway that runs elevated as well as underground.

‘CHALLENGING ENGINEERING TASK’

Mr Kok  also wanted to know why the decision made by the authorities regarding Ellison Building is the “best option”, and whether they have consulted with stakeholders and considered mitigation measures.

In response, Mr Lee explained that space is “extremely tight” in the segment of the NSC leading into the city centre.

“On the one side of Bukit Timah Road is the underground Rochor Canal. This is an important drainage facility to ensure that low-lying areas in the city can cope with intense periods of rainfall. The North-East MRT Line (NEL) cuts across Bukit Timah Road, while the Downtown MRT Line (DTL) runs beneath Bukit Timah Road. This means that the NSC tunnels must run in between the foundations of existing buildings along both sides of Bukit Timah Road, the underground Rochor Canal as well as the NEL and DTL stations and tunnels,” he said.

Mr Lee added that the project is a “challenging engineering task” as sufficient clearance distance must be allowed between the NSC tunnels and surrounding underground structures for safety reasons.

“The NSC tunnel also cannot be lowered further into the ground to avoid these underground infrastructures, as doing so will require extensive ramps and portal structures to connect the NSC carriageway with surface streets which will affect the nearby MRT stations and impact other buildings. Given these constraints, LTA has worked out the best possible alignment for the NSC tunnel under the circumstances,” said Mr Lee.

Following an earlier pre-tender exercise, the Government will engage a conservation specialist to provide advice on how to better protect Ellison Building, said Mr Lee, adding that this consultant will explore various mitigating measures in detail.

He also noted that the Government has held two rounds of discussion with heritage groups, to get their views on how to better protect the Ellison Building during the construction process.

“URA and LTA will continue to work closely with the heritage groups on the construction methods to protect Ellison Building, as well as the measures that should be taken to preserve the heritage and history of the site. The Government will finalise its implementation plans after these discussions,” said Mr Lee. 

SINGAPORE: Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for two Pakistani men accused of murdering their compatriot and dismembering his body in a gruesome case in 2014.

Muhammad Noor’s torso was found in a suitcase dripping with blood along Syed Alwi Road on Jun 11, 2014. His legs, which had been sawn off at the thigh, were found in another suitcase at Jalan Kubor Muslim cemetery the next day. 

The suitcase containing Muhammad Noor’s torso. (Photo: TODAY/Ernest Chua)

Muhammad’s roommate Rasheed Muhammad, 45, and his friend Ramzan Rizwan, 27, were arrested on Jun 12 at a lodging house at 6 Rowell Road, where the men lived — and where Muhammad, 59, died. 

At the opening of Rasheed and Ramzan’s trial on Tuesday (Nov 8), Deputy Public Prosecutor Ong Luan Tze said the men decided to murder Muhammad to recover monies they had lost to him while gambling. 

At midnight on Jun 11, Rasheed and Ramzan crept into Room 44 where Muhammad slept. Ramzan covered Muhammad’s face with a shirt, smothering him, while Rasheed wrapped a string made with cloth around his neck and pulled, DPP Ong said. 

When Muhammad was dead, the men pocketed S$6,000 in cash they found in the room. 

In the morning, Rasheed and Ramzan made two trips to Mustafa Centre at about 9am and again at 11.45am, where they bought two suitcases, an electric saw, a bow saw and trash bags, DPP Ong said. 

It is the prosecution’s case that back in Room 44, the pair sawed off Muhammad’s legs and wrapped them in trash bags. They then packed the torso in one suitcase and the legs in the other, before cleaning the room with soap powder. 

At about 12.25pm, Ramzan left the black suitcase containing Muhammad’s legs at Jalan Kubor Muslim cemetery. He went back to help Rasheed, who was struggling with a grey suitcase containing Muhammad’s torso. 

File photo of the two Pakistani suspects brought to court for the case of the legless body stuffed in a suitcase at Syed Alwi Road. (Photo: Xabryna Kek)

They decided to abandon the bag along Syed Alwi Road en route to the cemetery, after one of its wheels broke and blood began to seep out of the bag, DPP Ong said. 

An 81-year-old man found the suitcase hours later. Assisted by several passers-by, he tried to push the suitcase to the police station, but when they made the gruesome discovery of a dead body in the bag, they immediately called the police.

The trial continues. 

If found guilty of murder, both men will face the death penalty. 

SINGAPORE: The take-up rate of the voluntary portable medical benefits at the company level has not been high, said Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 8).

Mr Lim cited a survey conducted in 2013 which showed that about four per cent of companies employing about 20 per cent of local workers offer such benefits. Portable medical benefits cover people even if they are out of work or in between jobs.

Mr Lim was responding to Nominated MP Ms K Thanaletchimi’s question on how many companies have implemented portable medical benefits for their employees.

More than 90 per cent of employers provide additional medical benefits at the company level and among them, some employers provide portable medical benefits on a voluntary basis, said Mr Lim. “However the take-up rate has not been high.”

He explained the low take-up rate could be due to the preferences of employers and unions. Mr Lim said it may be more cost-effective for employers to adopt a short term perspective as most of their workers are healthy.

“Many of them find it more effective for them to attract and retain their workers they want. In other words, they can tailor their company medical scheme as an attraction,” he explained.

Mr Lim also added that the unions may also find it challenging to convince the workers to move to portable medical benefits as most of the companies provide medical insurance which does not require co-payment. 

The challenge for the tripartite partners is to adopt a long term perspective, Mr Lim said. “So indeed today there are already financial incentives for employers to move towards portable medical benefits. For example the tax deduction can be up to two per cent of the payroll instead of one percent.”

He added: “The hurdle is how to overcome this short term perspective of the workers and the employers.”

Going forward, the Government’s focus is to encourage employers to shift from providing non-portable medical benefits, such as Group Hospital and Surgical (GHS) insurance, to making additional contributions to employees’ Medisave accounts, Mr Lim said. 

SINGAPORE — At the opening of a seven-day trial for the high-profile legless body case, the court heard how the Pakistani duo charged had allegedly plotted to kill their roommate to recover the money they had lost to him.

The prosecution charged that on June 11, 2014, Rasheed Muhammad, 45, and Ramzan Rizwan, 27, had met outside room 44 – which Rasheed and the deceased shared at their lodging house at 6 Rowell Road – to hatch a plot to smother and strangle Muhammad, before dismembering his body and stuffing the body parts into two separate suitcases.

The legless body of 59-year-old Pakistani national Muhammad Noor was discovered in a bloodied suitcase along Syed Alwi Road in the evening on the same day, while his legs were found in another luggage bag nearby at Jalan Kubor Muslim Cemetery.

After hatching their plot, upon entering the room, Ramzan allegedly took Rasheed’s shirt hanging at the back of the door and pressed it against Muhammad’s face, while Rasheed used a string to strangle him. When he became motionless, they took about S$6,000 from him.

Between 9am and 11.17am that morning, Rasheed and Ramzan then headed to Mustafa Centre where they got an electric saw and a grey luggage bag. On the way back, they also bought a bow saw and trash bags.

Once back in the room, the prosecution said they sawed off Muhammad’s legs at his upper thighs, then packed his body and legs into separate trash bags, before putting his legless body into the grey luggage bag.

The duo then made a second trip to Mustafa Centre and got a black luggage bag, which they used to contain Muhammad’s legs.

At about 12.25pm, they each pulled one bag out of the room. Ramzan allegedly dumped the bag containing Muhammad’s legs at Jalan Kubor Muslim Cemetery, while Rasheed is accused of abandoning the other bag along Syed Alwi Road after one of its wheels broke.

The bag with the legless corpse was discovered by an 81-year-old man at about 6pm on July 11, the court heard. Ramzan and Rasheed were separately arrested the next afternoon, following which Rasheed led the police to the cemetery where the bag with Muhammad’s legs were recovered.

The trial is scheduled for seven days and the prosecution is expected to call on 21 witnesses.