Publication: The Straits Times, p A42&A43 Date: 6 August 2011 Headline: Presidential poll: How the debate is shaping up Presidential poll: How the debate On Aug 27, Singaporeans nouncing his bid, began putting out state- head to the polls for the ments on what he intended to do if elect- ed. second time this year. But ~r an said, among other things, that in the --up to the he was in favour of a conservative invest- May general election when ment approach among Singapore's sover- eign wealth funds and that he would "use bread-and-butter issues the influence of the president's officen to were the hot topics,. public b~a;~,"t~~~&;~;pe~dnts dmeW Strong discourse is now bemg rebuffs from the establishment, with the dominated by matters that current and former law ministers coming are distinctly more out to contradict him. philosophical. MI K. Shanmugam, Law and Foreign Minister, emphasised that the president had no role to advance his own policy 2 011 will go down in Singapore's political history as a year of records. For the first time since inde- pendence, two nationwide elec- tions are being conducted in the same year. The general election in May drew a lev- el of passion not seen in many years, with even People's Action Party (PAP)MPs ac- knowledging that there had been a turn- ing of tides of sorts. The opposition made significant advances and the electorate participated in the hustings with unprece- dented fewour. This month, Singapore will hold that other poll - to choose her head of state. Even this, the election that many had predicted would be a staid non-event, looks like it may set some hearts racing af- ter all. Five serious challeng- ers have entered the ,,,, . , agenda - "whether they concern security and defence, immigration and popula- tion, or housing and social safety nets". He also had no right to direct the strate- gies of Temasek Holdinrrs and the Govern- hent of Singapore 1nGstment Corpora- tion (GIC). That was early tune. Since then, Mr Tan has shifted his fo- cus to what he intends to say as presi- dent. He wants to act as "a voice of the people", and will provide the Govern- ment with feedback on issues that affect many Singaporeans,including cost of liv- ing, transport or housing. Pressed by reporters on whether he in- tended to speak out publicly or privately, Mr Tan said he would "recognise" a poli- cy problem in public and discuss solu- tions with Cabinet ministers in private. "The elected president can play a use- ful role in being an additional channel for the people to raise legitimate issues to the Government and can, through the influ- ence of his office, encourage an open and non-partisan approach to solve them," he wrote in a letter to The Straits Times' Forum page just this week. Willingly or not, other presidential hopefuls have been drawn into the debate. fray, compared to two, one and one in the last three campaigns. The po- tential candidates also ap- pear to be pulling no punches, raising issues - and stakes - and making promises in demonstra- tion of their seriousness. On Aug 27, Singapore- ans will decide whom to Without a doubt, the been spilt is that of what the president Former PAP back- bencher Tan Cheng Bock took a more moderate stand. He argued, on the one hand, that the president was not caged, but insist- ed, on the other, that he would "bring the peo- ple's concerns to the Government through entrust with the highest can do or S office of the land, and, along with it, the second key to the nation's past reserves. But first, the battle of ideas. Already, several issues, old and new, have emerged in the race. What exactly is the role and scope of the elected presidency, a constitutional experiment that began just 20 years ago? How many candidates will the Presi- dential Elections Committee (PEC) let through - and what are the consequences of the committee's decision? And might we wer see another ethnic minority elected president? ;a y . proper channels, without confrontation in public, as it is wrong to expect the presidency to be a centre of power on day- to-day politics". Former deputy prime minister Tony Tan, seen by many as the current front runner in the race, appeared to favour ret- icence most. He said in the press conference an- nouncing his bid: "1 don't think that it is the job of the presidential candidate to ex- press contradictory views for the sake of just being different. I don't think that is likely to advance the future of Singapore and Singaporeans." Some of these questions, to be sure, will continue to be asked in the foreseea- ble future. Others will, perhaps, be set- tled in the course of this year's contest. But of one thing we can be certain: it is by virtue of the election campaign that these debates are happening - to the ben- efit of our political system, some argue. Limits on word and deed WITHOUT a doubt, the issue over which most ink has been spilt is that of what the president can do or say. The debate seems to have been trig- gered by former NTUC Income chief exec- utive Tan Kin Lian, who, shortly after an- Mismatched expectations MANY netizens weighed in on this issue in favour of Mr Tan Kin Man, urging him and other candidates to shape the presi- dency into a more interventionist one. Be- ing directly elected, the president had the mandate of all Singaporeans and could therefore speak freely, so one line of their argument went. Associate Professor Hussin Mutalib of the National University of Singapore (NUS)called this a "mismatch of expecta- tions" between the Government and the public on the exact role of the elected president. He said that in the aftermath of the general election, the ground appeared to be shifting in favour of additional roles for the elected president. Most legal scholars and political aria- lysts who spoke to Insight agreed that a president who openly criticised the Gov- ernment and its national policies outside his areas of discretionary powers would likely be violating the spirit of the Consti- tution. However, some also conceded that there were grey areas - cases in which speaking out, even publicly, may be met with acceptance. Assistant Professor Wan Wai Yee of the Singapore Management University ex- plained that Singapore's political system essentially remained a Westminster one, where the president has very limited dis- cretionary powers. The constitutional amendments of 1991 made the presidency an elected of- fice. It gave custodial powers to the elect- ed president in five areas: past reserves, key appointments, Internal Security Act detentions, Maintenance of Religious Har- mony Act restraining orders, and Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau investiga- tions. But outside these five areas, his role was exactly the same as that of the pre-1991 president, who was elected by Parliament. That meant the elected presi- dent still had to act on the advice of the Cabinet, as clearly stated in the Constitu- tion, she said. "The fact that he is directly elected by the people does not miraculously confer on him additional powers," she added. Constitutional law expert Kevin Tan added that while the Cabinet's "advice" may not be actively provided in each in- stance, the spirit of the law is that the president should not publicly contradict stated government policy. Furthermore, there is danger in ex- panding the president's role into a third centre of power, after the Cabinet and Parliament, argued Institute of Southeast Asian Studies direct0r.K. Kesavapany. "There is a risk of diluting the capacity of the Cabinet to make decisions for the governing of the country. We could end up with utter confusion," he said. Grey areas WHERE, then, rmght one fmd grey areas on this issue? Professor Walter Woon of NUS cited one. On moral issues, most people would understand if the president spoke his mind outside his areas of discretion, he said. He offered a hypothetical scenario: the Cabinet grants clemency to a criminal who is a political ally of the d i n g party. Under the Constitution, the president is legally bound to sign the clemency. "But there's no reason why he can't sign under protest. He could say to Si- poreans, '1 sign because this is my consti- tutional role. But 1 do not agree. This is wrong,'" he said. Another possibility was for the presi- dent to lend his prestige to underdog caus- es that had not been overly politicised. such as environmentalism, ageing issues and a more equal role for women in socie- ty, said Dr Lam Peng Er, editor of Manag- ing Political Change In Singapore: The Elected Presidency. "He could act as a patron for civil soci- ety groups championing these causes and speak on the issues generally, thereby rais- ing awareness of them," he said. A third grey area would be the presi- dent criticising a bad investment decision on the part of Temasek Holdings or GlC, said Dr Kevin Tan. While he does not, on paper, have the power to direct these investment compa- nies, his role as custodian of the reserves may lend him some weight when com- menting on them, he said. But the president has to tread careful- ly. The Constitution allows for his remov- al on the grounds of "intentional viola- tion of the Constitution". This requires a three-quarters majority vote in Parlia- ment after a Supreme Court tribunal rec- ommendation. Parliament may also make changes to the president's constitutional powers with a two-thirds majority. The crux of the "grey areas" issue seems to be whether one sees the Consti- tution as a "living" document, the inter- pretation of which is shaped by shifting societal perceptions, or if it is a "static" document that has to be understood in Source: The Straits Times O Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.