Who will be the next president?
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President (Past) - used to be the most powerful man in Singapore. One person who all singaporeans are and feel proud about.
President (Future) - Some one who collects $ 2 million paycheck, make special appearance in "major" events, seriously misoriented when shaking hands of Sg players in a Cup Final, photos to be hanged at major building, some one insignificant and singaporeans have no feeling about.
eg. Prata Man -
no bad ... i think she's quite popular.Originally posted by cornyfish2000:Hmmm... President Dr Lily Neo?
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i disagree with you...Originally posted by patriot:After Devan Nair, I think Ong Teng Cheong was the most counterproductive president. In Singapore's political culture, unengineered policy disagreement does not result in political progress. That's what Mr Ong did. He actually believed that the presidency was independant of the ruling party and started behaving and speaking accordingly. That, for very logical reasons, ruffled quite a few feathers within the ruling party. And he became sidelined as he was deemed more and more of a nuisance.
So having a guy like Tan Soo Khoon who is another outspoken character with an independant streak would not do well for the Singaporean brand of the presidency. The institution of the presidency would on the other hand, start to strengthen if we get a guy who understands the adage that "if you can't beat them, join them." In the longterm evolution of things, this would certainly be much healthier for the presidency. And by relation, the cohesiveness of the entire political system and culture.
prez ong was a good prez... he's deemed a nuisance by te ruling party. but to many s'poreans he's a hero in his own right... he dared to speak up...
though i posted previouly that the s'pore prez is only a figurehead, i would like to see someone who will make a difference... someone who can check on watever the ruling party is doing...
someone outspoken like tan soo khoon, who is not afraid to speak out, is excatly the sort of check we need on our government now... no government is perfect, with a one party parliament like ours, if the opposition cannot be counted to provide a check on the government's powers, at least the prez should be strong enough to do so...
the role of the prez is to safeguard the reserves of the country... if he has the mentality of "if you can't beat them, join them.", it would defeat the purpose of having an elected prez since the prez would join in in the plundering of the country should the ruling party decide to enrich themselves with the country's reserves... -
seriously, our current prez is too old when he ran for prez... though its not a too tedious job, the head of state should still be someone who looks energetic and capable of leading the nation...Originally posted by Medicated Oil:President (Past) - used to be the most powerful man in Singapore. One person who all singaporeans are and feel proud about.
President (Future) - Some one who collects $ 2 million paycheck, make special appearance in "major" events, seriously misoriented when shaking hands of Sg players in a Cup Final, photos to be hanged at major building, some one insignificant and singaporeans have no feeling about.
eg. Prata Man
i'm not saying that prez nathan is doing a bad job, but he looks tired and jaded all the time...
perhaps we'll have someone younger this time? -
I have a strong feeling it could be Abdullah Tarmugi, the Speaker of Parliament. He is certainly much younger than SR Nathan.Originally posted by hyuuga neji:seriously, our current prez is too old when he ran for prez... though its not a too tedious job, the head of state should still be someone who looks energetic and capable of leading the nation...
i'm not saying that prez nathan is doing a bad job, but he looks tired and jaded all the time...
perhaps we'll have someone younger this time? -
Who support Lily Neo running for presidency ?
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lily neo... political lightweight... will be easily bullied...
no go... -
she's tough despite her demure appearance.Originally posted by hyuuga neji:lily neo... political lightweight... will be easily bullied...
no go...
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Why do you want her for Prez? Becos she is chiobu?Originally posted by crazy monkey:Who support Lily Neo running for presidency ? -
she's quite popular and people oriented and will perform the role of president well.Originally posted by iveco:Why do you want her for Prez? Becos she is chiobu? -
The presidency my own view is a vacation job given to someone with long public service record who contribute much in the past, knows the deepest and darkest but currently is neither here or there, without portfolio or soon to retire.
So it's a convienient job which still keeps him in overall scope of things but out of the loop.
For the next presidency I will put my money of Tony Tan or Teo Chee Hean. -
Richard Hu ?
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He's happily retired from politics now. All he probably wants is to stay out of the limelight.Originally posted by crazy monkey:Richard Hu ? -
Richard Hu mmm... good guy but strikes me as an academic who pores over accounts books all day long, I don't think he is someone who knows or interested in the deepest and darkest. I think more likely when he retires they make him a Professor or Head of NUSOriginally posted by crazy monkey:Richard Hu ? -
Why not one of the SGforums Admin stand for election. I will buy Premier membership if that happens.....
It'll be a laugh -
It is naive to think that having an outspoken president equates to having an effective president or one that is able to "check" our government. On the contrary, the more noise a person makes, the more the government is gonna find him a nuisance. Put yourselves in the government's shoes. Who would you rather listen to: someone you consider a nuisance or someone you consider an ally and a friend. Someone who criticises you in public or someone who does so in private?Originally posted by hyuuga neji:i disagree with you...
prez ong was a good prez... he's deemed a nuisance by te ruling party. but to many s'poreans he's a hero in his own right... he dared to speak up...
though i posted previouly that the s'pore prez is only a figurehead, i would like to see someone who will make a difference... someone who can check on watever the ruling party is doing...
someone outspoken like tan soo khoon, who is not afraid to speak out, is excatly the sort of check we need on our government now... no government is perfect, with a one party parliament like ours, if the opposition cannot be counted to provide a check on the government's powers, at least the prez should be strong enough to do so...
the role of the prez is to safeguard the reserves of the country... if he has the mentality of "if you can't beat them, join them.", it would defeat the purpose of having an elected prez since the prez would join in in the plundering of the country should the ruling party decide to enrich themselves with the country's reserves...
Our political reality is that there are no different branches of power to check each other. There is just one power that calls the shots. It is the party that has seen Singapore grow from third world to first and will continue to ensure our prosperity. Having a noisemaker president will only hinder the political processes that ensure Singapore continues to flourish.
Both the governement and the president should be part of Team Singapore. Not rivals suspicious of one another. So when I say, "if you can't beat them, join them," it is in recognition of the reality that our political culture is unilateralist and monopolistic. The more anyone, including a president, tries to fight this reality, the more he will fade into irrelevance. Wisdom is called for. Not noisemaking. -
the role of the prez is not to report, scrutinise and criticize every single policy or move of the government... he is to safeguard the reserves of our country, to ensure the governmant does not draw unnecessary from the reserves...Originally posted by patriot:It is naive to think that having an outspoken president equates to having an effective president or one that is able to "check" our government. On the contrary, the more noise a person makes, the more the government is gonna find him a nuisance. Put yourselves in the government's shoes. Who would you rather listen to: someone you consider a nuisance or someone you consider an ally and a friend. Someone who criticises you in public or someone who does so in private?
Our political reality is that there are no different branches of power to check each other. There is just one power that calls the shots. It is the party that has seen Singapore grow from third world to first and will continue to ensure our prosperity. Having a noisemaker president will only hinder the political processes that ensure Singapore continues to flourish.
Both the governement and the president should be part of Team Singapore. Not rivals suspicious of one another. So when I say, "if you can't beat them, join them," it is in recognition of the reality that our political culture is unilateralist and monopolistic. The more anyone, including a president, tries to fight this reality, the more he will fade into irrelevance. Wisdom is called for. Not noisemaking.
what i'm saying is that we dun need a prez who will cao bey cao bu at every single turn, but someone who will be strong enough, with character and the guts to stand up and say "hey thats not right!" when the government tries to take out reserves for the wrong use...
wat good will it do if the prez is in cahoots with the government to bleed the country dry... it's not impossible that what happened during the marcos era, happen to us here... -
not likely we'll have another chinese prez...Originally posted by KumSioJui:The presidency my own view is a vacation job given to someone with long public service record who contribute much in the past, knows the deepest and darkest but currently is neither here or there, without portfolio or soon to retire.
So it's a convienient job which still keeps him in overall scope of things but out of the loop.
For the next presidency I will put my money of Tony Tan or Teo Chee Hean.
tarmugi is better bet...
or maybe some prominent eurasian...
but nobody comes to mind... *and pls... not eunice olsen* -
Eunice Olsen? She'll be abroad half the time playing at piano recitals instead of being presidential.Originally posted by hyuuga neji:not likely we'll have another chinese prez...
tarmugi is better bet...
or maybe some prominent eurasian...
but nobody comes to mind... *and pls... not eunice olsen* -
Eunice Olsen?
The prez must be above 40 years old, if I'm not wrong. She's way to young. -
Originally posted by suntze:
if the president is to prevent a rogue govt frm raiding the reserves.then how can another govt man like DPM tony tan be the president?
Robertteh,
[b]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. [/b] -
Originally posted by Rusesabagina:if the president is to prevent a rogue govt frm raiding the reserves.then how can another govt man like DPM tony tan be the president?
don't know who tarmugi is, but i kinda like the sound of his name, one vote from me if he's a candidate -
I agree.Originally posted by Rusesabagina:if the president is to prevent a rogue govt frm raiding the reserves.then how can another govt man like DPM tony tan be the president?
But unfortunately the eligibility criteria for presidential candidates is so stringent that the candidate must have been some minister or very senior civil servant to even qualify to run.
So it's inevitable that the president would be a "govt man". -
Yes, the eligibility requirement is absurd. Quite simply, the presidential election is a sham.
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Originally posted by Rusesabagina
if the president is to prevent a rogue govt frm raiding the reserves.then how can another govt man like DPM tony tan be the president?
Don't you see the ploy is to ensure that even shd a non-PAP gov gets into power, there is still a PAP man to guard the goalpost?
However, this may not be fool-proof. If these wise guys are able to get rid of PAP, they'll come up with devious ways to get around this "problem".