Presidential Election 2011
-
TT too many endorsement....at least backfire me :pokeeye:
-
yqyq:
TT too many endorsement....at least backfire me :pokeeye:
Mentioned this to DH who thinks it is perhaps the indiv unions/clans/etc. trying to curry favour thinking TT will surely win... :scratchhead: -
yqyq:
TT too many endorsement....at least backfire me :pokeeye:
Not just that.... the message that I hear from him is, he is a experienced person in economic and various areas due to his exposure and has working relations with the cabinet so he is well positioned for this job.
That, to him is his key selling point. But I just feel that he is missing something. If you hear what TCB say, it's true, we've a team of experts on these issues, we don't need a president to be our finance minister cum prime minster.
Yes, I may have formed certain positive impression of TT since he has always been around since I was young. But hearing his message this time round is rather disappointing. The key message is just weak. What is his core value add in this case???? Able to work with the government since he has always been working for them???? Then the key issue we have for GE is up again. What about the controls and checks that the people desire in this country???? Can he really show that independence like OTC??? -
Someone sends this to me. Apparently from Catherine Lim, but not sure where she had posted this comment, so can't provide link.
CHALLENGING THE OUT-OF-BOUNDS MARKERS FOR AN ELECTED PRESIDENT
Seventeen years ago, the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Goh Chok Tong, sternly warned government critics about what they could and could not criticize, using the golfing term ‘out-of-bounds markers’ which has since then become part of the political lexicon.
But in the General Election of 2011 (GE 2011), a newly emboldened, energized and subsequently triumphant electorate went all the way of criticism, sparing no personage in the People’s Action Party (PAP) leadership, no matter how long feared, nor any PAP policy, no matter how well established. Thus they removed, in one fell stroke, all the hated markers, clearing the way for even the most outspoken critic in the future.
Now, just some months later, they clearly want to do the same for the President of Singapore. For he too is hampered by out-of-bounds markers, the special constraints imposed on him by the constitution which forbids him to say or do anything that might be construed as disapproval of government policy. By challenging these markers and removing them, they want him to be an independent voice of the people, that dares raise itself, whenever necessary, on their behalf. Judging by their and fervid boundless activity in the Internet in the run-up to the presidential election, it is clear that they want to continue to use the same powerful instrument to achieve their purpose. If they succeed, they will in effect change forever the role of the Elected President (EP) and secure another people’s victory this year, surely one of the most remarkable years in Singapore’s electoral history.
But this time, the challenge is very much complicated by a powerful counter-challenge by the government, in the form of that most sacrosanct instrument of the social compact – the constitution. The constitution clearly spells out the role of the EP in its nature and scope : it is custodial, not executive; it is in harmony with, not against, the decisions of the government; in tone, it is dignified , in bearing stately, not cantankerous and demeaning of its high office. To refute the claims and promises of independence made by certain presidential hopefuls, PAP ministers have painstakingly drawn attention to these strictures in the constitution.
But the vociferous anti-PAP camp, still flush with the success of GE 2011, has little patience for the legalisms and punctilio of a constitution, as can be seen in the vigorous, unbridled exchanges among netizens bent on bringing out into the open allegedly past misdeeds of those hopefuls who are perceived to be favoured by the government. The prevailing attitude seems to be that since the constitution was created more than 20 years ago by a self-serving government that provided it with enough ambiguities to allow for an interpretation that will always suit their purpose, it is no longer relevant. Indeed, it contradicts the new spirit of openness, transparency and expanded powers for the people, ushered in by the watershed GE 2011, that a humbled PAP leadership has actually acknowledged and promised to promote.
Ironically, in the midst of the government’s deliberately conspicuous efforts to establish a more amicable relationship with the people (which some observers consider as needlessly effusive and overdone, detracting from the image of strong, confident leadership ), the estrangement persists in its most exacerbated form in the current EP controversy.
In addition to the unbridgeable gap between the diametrically opposed perceptions of a purely custodial role, on the one hand, and an actively adversarial one on the other, there are the following equally irreconcilable divergencies:
i)\twhere the government insists that the EP has veto power in only the five areas specified by the constitution, which include the protection of past reserves and the appointment of key personnel, the critics clearly want the EP to have a say in a whole array of other issues, especially those that had been their greatest concerns in GE 2011, namely, the ministerial salaries, the employment of foreign workers and unaffordable housing - and, presumably, any issue which affects the lives of Singaporeans.
ii)\tWhere the government emphasizes dignity, gravitas and acumen as the most important qualities for the EP, the people want to see fearlessness, courage and readiness to stand up to a powerful government.
iii)\tWhere the government wants the presidential voice, if it needs to be critical, to be so only in quiet, private consultation with the Prime Minister, the people will be satisfied with no less than open and public accounting.
In short, the differences are so vast that beyond the vague general agreement that the president must uphold the integrity of the highest office in the land, there is no common meeting ground. Every discussion on the EP is hence an impasse from the start.
Indeed, so intense is the clamouring of the people for change, so adamant is the government about preserving intact the constitutionality of the presidential role and so riddled with anomalies is the constitution itself when subjected to tests of real-life applications ( as was evident in a recent forum where the Law Minister bravely answered questions put to him by academics and political analysts) that the rancour is likely to continue well beyond the actual election on 27 August, regardless of who gets elected.
The new president , no matter how he chooses to play out his role,will be in the unenviable position of being continually scrutinized and criticized in the light of his previous formal association, or absence of it, with the PAP. If he had been a former stalwart in the PAP administration, and had been publicly favoured by the government, he will be seen as just one more in a line of perfectly acquiescent, cosily harmonious presidents, exactly as the PAP had always intended and desired. If he had been formerly a member of the PAP but had pointedly distanced himself from it, whatever efforts he makes at asserting his independence will be overshadowed by the past links, or even seen as the sheer futility of trying to shake off an unshakeable, deeply entrenched PAP mentality. If he had never been a PAP member, the expectations of him will be so unrealistically high that whatever evidence of independence he displays will elicit disappointment as being not enough. And since the presidential salary is tied to ministerial salaries, any angry response to the outcome of the review currently being undertaken, will not spare him.
In the new political climate after GE 2011, the greatest loser might just be the EP, because he will have to bear the brunt of the anomalies, confusions and conflicts of a society that has been suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into the flux of transition. He will be stuck in an impossible situation, for the out-of-bounds markers set out in the constitution will strait-jacket him, making a mockery of his popular mandate and the will of the people who had directly elected him. He has continually to maintain the difficult balance between the need, on the one hand,to present the magisterial bearing and calm composure and detachment expected of a president, and, on the other, to project an image of empathy and affinity with the man-in-the-street, all the time aware that he is being watched and judged, and that the savage criticisms and relentless exposure of his private life, that he had endured during the run-up to the election, will by no means end with the high office he now holds. Rightly or wrongly, he will be linked with a government that has fallen so far in the people’s regard that close association with them is seen as something of a taint. With the traditional protective mantle of his office stripped away, he will be at the mercy of netizens who themselves enjoy the protective anonymity of the Internet.
The experience of the presidential election of 2011 could well be the most bruising, divisive and ugliest election in Singapore’s history. It may be necessary when a system ends up with nobody being a winner, and everybody having a bad taste in the mouth, to take another look at it, and subject it to an honest review. -
everytime i turn on the radio, so and so support TT as Pres… every night i turn on TV news so and so support TT as Pres… it’s like advertisments… worse than sms/email spams…
-
Insider, I watched the youtube link and totally agree with you, and Dr TCB.
Money shld not be a deciding factor to name a public hospital (which also uses taxpapers' money) after a tycoon just becos he donated $125m out of the over $900m to the hospital. No offence to NTF and his family, but like what Dr TCB said in the interview, it's the principle behind the naming. He said he wouldn't want to tell his grandkids (when they asked him why the NTF hospital was named such) that it was becos somebody signed a big cheque to the hospital. Well said, Dr TCB! And he has just scored a big point and alot of respect from me!insider:
When MOH named Jurong Hospital as Ng Teng Fong Hospital, I was real pissed off.
TCB stood as a 'hero' for me in this issue, for being 'daring' enough to go against the MIW and to quit to stand firm on his principle...
Not sure someone had shared a video interview of him (can see his mannerism):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_7pX4uiT8I
Name change 'sends wrong message'
Ex-MP: Hospitals should be named after lifelong philanthropists or major contributors to nation
By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent
Dr Tan has quit the board of the new hospital in Jurong, in protest against it being named after late tycoon Ng Teng Fong.
FORMER Member of Parliament Tan Cheng Bock has stepped down from the board of the upcoming hospital in Jurong because he disagrees with its new name: the Ng Teng Fong Hospital.
Dr Tan said that while he had nothing against the late property tycoon, whose family donated $125 million to the hospital, this was 'a moral issue' as it looked as if a rich man could pay to have a public institution named after him.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_652200.html
PS: Sengkang Hospital coming up in Y2020...wonder it will be named after which rich man...MONEY TALKS IN SINGAPORE!!! -
yqyq:
TT too many endorsement....at least backfire me :pokeeye:
he is the elite here, so i can expect that
but base on the track record, I dont see any good contribution of him to the nation in fact the other way
one of the many that i dislike was his objection on building MRT for the nation in 1981 -
Watching the ‘live’ telecast of the Nomination now. All 4 candidates filed their papers, can expect an exciting fight!
-
KSP:
everytime i turn on the radio, so and so support TT as Pres..... every night i turn on TV news so and so support TT as Pres..... it's like advertisments....... worse than sms/email spams........
to keep the illusion alive. The image glorified in the past by the media.
the new media is creeping slowly to show the real image, but many will probably be still hoodwinked....or choose to turn a blind eye. -
KSP:
everytime i turn on the radio, so and so support TT as Pres..... every night i turn on TV news so and so support TT as Pres..... it's like advertisments....... worse than sms/email spams........
now wondering if it wil be a case of aljunied grc.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login
