Editorial: Understanding role of President key, debate over changes aside

GRAPHIC: TAN ZHUO HUI

Singapore’s elected presidency has seen heated debate as of late, with the Government broadly accepting recommended changes proposed by the Constitutional Commission last month.

The qualifying criteria for candidacy has been tightened: a candidate must have been, for at least six years, the most senior executive of a company with at least $500 million in shareholders’ equity.

There is talk that the changes were targeted at specific individuals.

The revised criteria rules out two candidates who lost in 2011: Mr Tan Cheng Bock, who lost by less than 1 per cent of the vote, and Mr Tan Jee Say.

But how much do we really understand about the role in question?

An Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) poll of more than 2,000 Singaporeans in 2011 found that four out of five wrongly assumed that the President ensures the Government manages the economy wisely.

Three in four wrongly believed the President could speak publicly on national issues he deemed important.

In reality, the President is referred to as the second key over significant matters, notably when deciding key appointments and protecting national reserves.

How many of us remember that the late former President S R Nathan crucially approved a $4.5 billion drawdown on Singapore’s reserves to enable the Government to proceed with its $20.5 billion Resilience Package during the international financial crisis back in 2009?

This debate over qualifications for the presidency stresses the importance for us to know more about the President’s duties.

Some candidates even made ambitious promises outside the scope of the presidency during their campaign period.

When campaigning begins, we should meticulously assess the candidates based on the values needed for the role.

How can we argue over qualifying criteria for candidacy without even fully understanding the President’s responsibility?