No contest for Presidential Election, only Nathan gets COE
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Lee Foong Ming, Channel NewsAsia
No contest for Presidential Election, only SR Nathan gets eligibility certificate
SINGAPORE : Only President SR Nathan has been given a Certificate of Eligibility to contest SingaporeÂ’s Presidential Election; three other applications have been rejected by the Presidential Elections Committee.
This means that come Nomination Day on August 17, President Nathan will be returned unopposed for a second six-year term.
The Presidential Elections Committee, which announced its decision on Saturday, said President Nathan has all the credentials for the office of the President and is well regarded and respected for his public service.
It considers Mr Nathan a man of integrity, good character and reputation.
The Committee also gave its reasons for rejecting the other three applications.
Firstly, Mr Ooi Boon Ewe, a former tutor, had claimed to be the sole proprietor of a realty business.
But the licence for the business had expired at the time of his application for a Certificate of Eligibility.
The second applicant, Mr Ramachandran Govindasamy Naidu, is a retired Senior Store Keeper who was with the Commonwealth Forces from 1946 to 1987.
The Committee said the career history of these two men obviously showed that they did not hold any similar or comparable position of seniority and responsibility in any other organisation or department of equivalent size or complexity in the public or private sector, which is necessary for the office of the Presidency.
As for Mr Andrew Kuan, the former Group Chief Financial Officer of JTC, it was the Committee's assessment that the seniority and responsibility of that position was not comparable to those needed for the office either.
All four applicants for the Certificate of Eligibility have been informed of the Presidential Elections Committee's decision. - CNA /ct -
Erm, there is already an existing thread on the topic here. Please look carefully before you start new discussions.
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May God bless Singapore for the next 6 years.
May God bless me that I will not be a Singapore citizen within the next 6 years.
Amen -
erm... no need to wait for 6 yrs... dun tink nathan can last tat long...Originally posted by Cindyfeh:May God bless Singapore for the next 6 years.
May God bless me that I will not be a Singapore citizen within the next 6 years.
Amen
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Whatever happened to democracy?
Democracy:- [*]Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
[*]A political or social unit that has such a government.
[*]The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
[*]Majority rule.
[*]The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.
Singapore Pledge
We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation. -
WhoopsOriginally posted by iveco:Erm, there is already an existing thread on the topic here. Please look carefully before you start new discussions. 
I thought it is political in nature, so I did not check the Chit-Chat section. -
this is a better place to post this as the other may degenerate into name-calling and other things...
back to the topic...
i wonder about this part in the news report:
As for Mr Andrew Kuan, the former Group Chief Financial Officer of JTC, it was the Committee's assessment that the seniority and responsibility of that position was not comparable to those needed for the office either.
soooo... what kind of "seniority and responsibility " is necessary?
and what did SR Nathan do to get his cert the last time? someone refresh my memory?
sadly, SR Nathan, the nice guy, may not be remembered as a nice guy president like Wee Kim Wee.. but may be remembered as the guy whom the powers that be protected and coddled... -
sian i dun want my whole life dun even get a chance to vote leh
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I agree. SorryOriginally posted by theoronin:Whoops I thought it is political in nature, so I did not check the Chit-Chat section. -
Agree! At times, life is cruel to one's ambition!
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Originally posted by theoronin:
simi lai de?
Whatever happened to democracy?
[b]Democracy:- [*]Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
[*]A political or social unit that has such a government.
[*]The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
[*]Majority rule.
[*]The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.
Singapore Pledge
We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation.[/b] -
tomorrow all roti prata shops will have good business......confirm fullhouse.
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aiyah the pledge says it all lor.Originally posted by Manager433:simi lai de?
"to build" means we dun have mah
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Darn! Will we ever get to vote?
The Demise of democracy!
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head of ISD.Originally posted by the Bear:this is a better place to post this as the other may degenerate into name-calling and other things...
back to the topic...
i wonder about this part in the news report:
As for Mr Andrew Kuan, the former Group Chief Financial Officer of JTC, it was the Committee's assessment that the seniority and responsibility of that position was not comparable to those needed for the office either.
soooo... what kind of "seniority and responsibility " is necessary?
and what did SR Nathan do to get his cert the last time? someone refresh my memory?
sadly, SR Nathan, the nice guy, may not be remembered as a nice guy president like Wee Kim Wee.. but may be remembered as the guy whom the powers that be protected and coddled... -
That's why the electoral system must be changed. Is there any way for Singaporeans to show their displeasures? The question is, can we reverse the decision? Why does it boil down to ONLY THREE men to decide the eligibility of the candidates??Originally posted by hisoka:sian i dun want my whole life dun even get a chance to vote leh -
actually you should ask who the f**k decided that those men can decideOriginally posted by theoronin:That's why the electoral system must be changed. Is there any way for Singaporeans to show their displeasures? The question is, can we reverse the decision? Why does it boil down to ONLY THREE men to decide the eligibility of the candidates?? -
cast your vote for the opposition in the next GE. fark the PAP.
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Not exactly the people's President type, who would uphold the human rights of Singaporeans. Remember, the ISD is in charge of enforcing the Internal Security Act, which allows the Government to hold citizens incommunicado for investigation and detaining them indefinitely without the detainee ever being charged with a crime or tried in a court of law.Originally posted by crazy monkey:head of ISD. -
oh yah.. i forgot.. he's an ex-secret agent...
thing is, even when i have my suspicions of the ISD, they have done well for certain things...
it's just that when they're used for political purposes, it stinks..
as for being a secret agent, does that qualify him to be a guy who holds the key to the country's coffers?
anyone asked that? -
Anyway his key cannot open the safe one.Originally posted by the Bear:oh yah.. i forgot.. he's an ex-secret agent...
thing is, even when i have my suspicions of the ISD, they have done well for certain things...
it's just that when they're used for political purposes, it stinks..
as for being a secret agent, does that qualify him to be a guy who holds the key to the country's coffers?
anyone asked that?
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Ong Teng Cheong: Extended interview
In view of the above article and in the interest of transparency, there are a couple of candidate interview questions that we should ask President Nathan:
ASIAWEEK March 10, 2000.
Reference: http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0310/nat.singapore.ongiv.html
Initially, he did not want to do that?
It's not that he did not want to do that, but it had been dragging for a long time. They produced a White Paper eventually, tabled it in parliament last July, and that made the future president's job easier. We have already tested out many of the procedures during my term, except for asking the president to approve a draw on the past reserves during a deep economic crisis. That was never done. It's that part of procedure that was not tested. How to do it?
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Why did they not want to tell you?
I do not know. Don't ask me, because I don't have the answer. I've been asking them. In fact, in 1996, exactly halfway through my term, I wrote prime minister Goh a letter. At that time, everybody was expecting a general election in December or January. After the election, a new government would be sworn in. When that happens, all the reserves, whether past or current, become past reserves and are locked up on the changeover date. As president, I have to safeguard them and they can only be drawn upon with my permission. So I said to Mr Goh: It's already halfway through my term, but until today I still don't know all these figures about the reserves.
So the government had been stonewalling you, the president, for three years?
Yes. What happened actually was, as you know, in accounting, when you talk about reserves, it's either cash reserves or assets reserves. The cash side is straightforward: investment, how many million dollars here and there, how much comes from the investment boards and so on. That was straightforward -- but still we had to ask for it. For the assets, like properties and so on, normally you say it's worth $30 million or $100 million or whatever. But they said it would take 56-man years to produce a dollar-and-cents value of the immovable assets. So I discussed this with the accountant-general and the auditor-general and we came to a compromise. The government would not need to give me the dollar-and-cents value, just give me a listing of all the properties that the government owns.
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When they eventually gave you the list -- the incomplete list, did you have enough staff to do the checking and other work?
No, I did not. I only had one administrative staffer and two part-timers from the auditor-general's office. For things like approving the budget of statutory boards, the auditor-general's office would normally go through that for me. They are very good. They check on everything. And they query and ask for information.
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Eventually then, with the list of properties and the executive summaries, you were kept informed?
I wouldn't be able to say that. Even in my last year as president, I was still not being informed about some ministerial procedures. For example, in April last year, the government said it would allow the sale of the Post Office Savings Bank POSB to DBS Bank. In the past, when there was no elected president, they could just proceed with this kind of thing. But when there is an elected president you cannot, because the POSB is a statutory board whose reserves are to be protected by the president. You cannot just announce this without informing him. But I came to know of it from the newspaper. That is not quite right. Not only that, but they were even going to submit a bill to parliament for this sale and to dissolve the POSB without first informing me.
What did you do?
My office went to tell them that this was the wrong procedure. You've got to do this first, do that first, before you can do this. It was question of principle and procedure. We had to bring all this to their attention. That they cannot forget us. It's not that we are busybodies, but under the Constitution we have a role to play and a responsibility. Sometimes in the newspaper I came to know of things that I am responsible for, but if it had not been reported in the newspaper I would not know about it.- [*]Did President Nathan tested the procedure "for asking the president to approve a draw on the past reserves during a deep economic crisis"?
[*]Former President Ong Teng Cheong claimed that he does not have "all these figures about the reserves." What concrete steps has the President taken to ensure that all the figures are revealed?
[*]The former president mentioned that he only had "one administrative staffer and two part-timers" to "do the checking and other work." Has President Nathan done anything to improve the situation?
[*]Has President Nathan demand for all "ministerial procedures" that were not revealed to the former president to be fully revealed?
[*]For the past six years, were there any actions by the Government that the president is responsible for not revealed to him, but he only came to know of through the newspapers?
[*]Can President Nathan produce a list of the accomplishments he did for the past six years with specific regard to checks and balances?
[*]Could President Nathan elaborate on a specific example where he used his powers to maintain the checks and balances on the Government? -
sooo.. it's sandiwara and wayang kulit then
but seriously.. if a CFO of singapore's own JTC cannot qualify and is immediately up for character assassination, what is the gabrament (to use their favorite phrase) trying to do by "sending a message to the people"?Originally posted by LinYu:Anyway his key cannot open the safe one. -
Frankly, with the ex president who tried but still unable to do anything, what can you expect from him.
He couldn't even bother to reply to the petition for the casino send to him. -
IMHO, the BIG QUESTION we should be asking is whether President Nathan has been performing his duties to ensure checks and balances? How do we as Singaporeans appraise him?
All I know about him is that he jogs around the park and learn Chinese. Okay, big deal. So what?? What about his REAL job as President?