SINGAPORE — As the Republic seeks to entrench the 25-year-old Elected Presidency (EP) scheme in the Constitution, the United States provides a “striking example” of the need to strike a balance between rigidity and adaptability when designing the entrenchment framework, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean told the House on Monday (Nov 7).
“Numerous US Presidents have emphasised the need for the Constitution to be a living document. Yet, scholars have observed that it is ‘almost impossible’ to amend the US Constitution,” he said.
To date, only 27 of the almost 12,000 proposals to amend the US Constitution have been successful, Mr Teo noted. The US example illustrates the important point that the Constitution “must, in one way or another, continue to evolve over time”, he said.
In his speech on the proposed amendments to the EP, Mr Teo nevertheless said it was “critical” to have an entrenchment framework for the EP, given the risk of a Government “bent on raiding the reserves or compromising the public services” demolishing the scheme to rid itself of the additional check posed by the President.
Mr Teo explained that the Government has approached the issue based on three considerations: Which provisions should be entrenched, should the referendum requirement be revised, and should the Council of Presidential Advisers’ (CPA) views be given legal weight in the entrenchment context?
The entrenchment framework proposed by the Government in its White Paper will cover only the provisions establishing the EP and its core custodial powers.
Currently, the same referendum requirement is applied “bluntly to all entrenched provisions” should the Government want to proceed with changes despite the disagreement of the President and his advisers, noted Mr Teo.
Under the Bill, the entrenched provisions would be categorised into two tiers: The first group would contain provisions fundamental to the existence of the EP, and the entrenchment framework itself. The second would comprise provisions relating to more operational aspects of the EP and its custodial powers, and it may not be necessary to put such issues to a national referendum.
Highlighting the “inherent limitations” of referendums, Mr Teo said emotions and misinformation can have a big influence on voting patterns. He cited, for example, the Brexit referendum earlier this year in which Britain voted to leave the European Union.
Mr Teo said the Government believes there is a need to accord legal weight to the CPA’s recommendations, “so that it can serve as a counterbalance, as it already does in other areas relating to presidential vetoes”.
“This is so particularly since the entrenched provisions concern areas where disagreements between the President and the Government might be sharp and intractable,” he said.
