chikopek SG As we know, our current president S R Nathan will be stepping down this year after his 6 year term since 1999. Anyone got any idea who will be the new president? Also will the history of 1999 in which only 1 eligible candidate for the president’s seat be repeated?
Mr Chumpa Woompa SG I think my knowledge is really limited, but can someone please kindly enlighten me, what IS the role of the Singaporean President, besides being a representative to foreign countries?
cornyfish2000 SG I think our current DPM Tony Tan is a very likely candidate… and i think it’s gonna be a walkover again this year..
av98m SG Does it matter who is president? In Singapore the president is just a lame duck who is rolled out during national day celebrations for ornamental purposes. The ruling party still holds the controls.
babymac13 SG Anyway do we really need a president? Wat we need is just a "Mr Nice Guy" that protray Singapore to other countries.
babymac13 SG Anyway do we really need a president? Wat we need is just a "Mr Nice Guy" that protray Singapore to other countries.
cornyfish2000 SG Well, Singapore’s president is just a figurehead, for ceremonial duties as the head of state, and to stay out of the government’s way, that’s all.. A really brainless job actually, haha.. Just like the British monarchy.
robertteh SG Ceremonial president around whom people do not look up to for guidance or inspirations in peace or in crisis is really impractical especially when he is costing too much. Hierachy is an old concept of management. It costs too much to maintain hierachy causing duplications of functions and tax payers' monies. All extraneous positions especially those without particular accountability or created for one particular ad hoc or one-task committee like populations, procreations, community liaisons can be dispensed with. All duties where the substantial tasks are performed by someone or some other departments after setting up of statutory boards or taking over by some other committees or ministries should be dispensed with. Town council should not double up HDB posts to create two sets of costs. All ceremonial heads for colation of views or liaison with parliament are not really necessary as these tasks can always be performed by some one else back in the ministries. All PR departments performing mundane tasks of answering to press when press is controlled are no longer accountable for performance or true feedbacks and should be dispensed with. All ministers who delegate every task and no longer taking steps to obtain results in his primary departmental functions should re-examine how to merge to give tax payers values for monies. With so many more ministers, why should there be additional DPMs.
timothytsgsg SG President Nathan doesn't do anything sigificant and yet he will draw $2m as President this year before he retires. It's plain obvious something has gone wrong. If Tony Tan becomes President, then nothing really changes- as the whole BS thing is nothing but a sham.
suntze SG Robertteh, Our President is head of state and also serves to prevent a rogue government from raiding the reserves. I agree with your views about the relatively insignificant role of the Presidency vis-a-vis the high cost of maintaining this position. However, I wonder what the alternatives are. Would it, for instance, make sense to combine the positions of Presidency with that of Speaker? I also agree there are too many ministers in the current cabinet. The PM should downsize the present cabinet with a better arrangement for retired and displaced ministers to leave the goverment and put a better mechanism in place for the future.
robertteh SG Waa!!! You hit the nail on its head!!! It is highly plausible, logical and practicable to combine positions of speaker with president. Like many other issues affecting our small and vulnerable country, all must think out of the box. Speaker can be a very respectable head of state too beside doubling as as part of the executive to provide for coordination with the rest of branches of government. It will create a more cohesive government of the future. Coordination by speaker with other branches of government will ensure our continuing success. At the moment, each branch tends to work to its own confrontational objectives and people would perceive lack of accountability and transparency for the same reason. All these disadvantages of present constitutional set-up will disappear with more coordination by speaker who knows what is going on.
mistyblue SG LKY... I still think we should outsource the position to india. This is really a jo-bo role, with no power or authority.
mach10 SG dudes and dudettes, As long as Grandpa is still around, everything will still be navigated by him. If u really dun like wats going on, tok to grandpa ... he may be your Grandpa Agony.
gerrykoh SG I think Tamugi cos we already had Chinese & Indian presidents, now it is the Malays’ turn.
KumSioJui SG wah president gooda. all expenses paid, travel all the time, smile for the camera all the time, every month still got give you few thousands, then retire $100k per year still got bodyguard. wah I want
aiyo! SG We had Yusof Ishak(sorry if i spelled the name wrong) as our first president!! Don't forget him!! And seriously I don't think we choose our president by his race.
cornyfish2000 SG Not to mention that the President doesn't have to pay a cent of taxes for his multi-million dollar income. He's the only person in the country who is exempted from paying taxes.
