Reply to Daniel Chua - role of the President

1 August 2011

Editor
Forum Page
Straits Times

In his letter published in the ST Forum Page on 30 July, Daniel Chua stated that Presidential aspirants should stick strictly to the roles for the President laid down in the Constitution. He seemed to suggest that the President does not have discretion to carry out his duties in an appropriate manner to serve the best interest of the people who have elected him.

If we were to observe every rule strictly to its narrowest interpretation, our country would stagnate and matters would worsen over the passage of time. We need to adopt a more innovative and bold approach, for our country to progress.

Let me state up front that I fully respect the Government's right to govern and it is my intention to adopt a cooperative and constructive approach in being the voice of the people to bring important issues to the attention of the government. I will convey them in a non-confrontational way, preferably through private channels. It is my hope that this approach will be reciprocated.

I agree that it is the primary duty of Parliament to discuss the important issues affecting the people and pass the necessary laws to implement the solutions. We know that the Government and Parliament is dominated by the same political party and there are constraints on how issues can be debated in Parliament due to the restrictions imposed by the whip of the ruling party. In the past, when important issues are brought up by the opposition MPs, they were usually answered in a partisan manner and the issues were not adequately or openly discussed. This structural weakness is likely to persist in the newly elected Parliament.

The elected President can play a useful role in being an additional channel for the people to bring legitimate issues to the attention of the Government and can, through the influence of his office, encourage an open and non-partisan approach to solve them. These important issues include affordable housing, public transport, security and terms of employment, impact of national service on male citizens and adequate savings for retirement.

I have set as the key goals of my campaign slogan to be the voice of the people, to be independent of the PAP government and to use my knowledge to safeguard the CPF savings of the people and the national reserves,

Tan Kin Lian