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SINGAPORE: On the heels of President Halimah Yacob’s announcement that she won’t search re-election, lawyer and famous socio-political commentator Yeoh Lian Chuan has referred to as for reconsidering the elected presidency scheme in its present type.
Highlighting the scheme’s flaws and the necessity for elementary adjustments, Mr Yeoh expressed considerations relating to the shortage of actual contests and the limiting qualifying standards for the Head of State place in a Fb publish revealed yesterday (29 Might).
Mr Yeoh identified that because the establishment of the elected presidency in Singapore, there have been 5 presidential phrases, with just one event that includes a real contest. He additionally criticized the notion that solely CEOs of the most important companies and former senior public officers are deemed certified to carry the place of Singapore’s Head of State.
He referred to as this qualifying standards “unappealing” and asserted his perception {that a} broader vary of candidates ought to be thought-about for the position.
The lawyer additionally mentioned that the reserved election that was referred to as in 2017 was launched “prematurely and unnecessarily” by the ruling Folks’s Motion Celebration (PAP) Authorities.
Arguing that these three components collectively point out a elementary conceptual flaw within the design of the elected presidency system, Mr Yeoh mentioned that the Report of the 2016 Constitutional Fee means that the members of the Fee themselves acknowledged the necessity for vital enhancements to the scheme. He wrote:
“These flaws had been illustrated by the Report of the 2016 Constitutional Fee, which fairly clearly selected to transcend its phrases of reference to ask if the Workplace of the Elected Presidency ought to stay as it’s.
“Paragraphs 7.35 to 7.53 of the Report counsel clearly (at the very least to me) that the members of the Fee thought that the establishment may have been higher designed in a elementary manner.”
Whereas Mr Yeoh is to see who will throw their hat into the ring as the subsequent presidential election approaches, he asserted that it’s important to reassess and rethink the Workplace of the Elected Presidency as established by the PAP Authorities, as the issues within the system persist. Learn his publish in full right here.
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