What's the point of having a president?
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I'v been wondering all my life: what's the point of having a president in Singapore when he hardly ever get any action? Isn't that wasting our nation's resources to pay him his salary?
Correct me if i'm wrong. But what exactly does the president do? -
Not true, the president does plenty of stuff, just that you don't see. Somethings have to be kept hush hush for security reasons.
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he decides who gets to spend the money in Singapore... if there is no President... the ministers will fight over the money... so we have to have a President to decide who gets hw much of money to spend... Also... the President represents the country overseas... the Cabinet represents the people of Singapore... the President represents the country...
juz my 2cents worth... -
having being in MINDEF for my national service...i must say Mr President does quite a lot of work. just that these work are not disclosed to the public.
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he has only say in the use of the reserves...not the money that the govt have... and even tat...the govt can veto and reverse the decision of the presidentOriginally posted by weidev:he decides who gets to spend the money in Singapore... if there is no President... the ministers will fight over the money... so we have to have a President to decide who gets hw much of money to spend... Also... the President represents the country overseas... the Cabinet represents the people of Singapore... the President represents the country...
juz my 2cents worth...
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I am Croco, Croco am I -
huh really ah? onli reserves ah? haha... i tot all the money...lolz..Originally posted by sgboy2004:he has only say in the use of the reserves...not the money that the govt have... and even tat...the govt can veto and reverse the decision of the president
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I am Croco, Croco am I -
But from side that the public sees it, Mr president sure is quite free.....
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I do know how open is Singapore.
Actually, our politics system need to improve. I hope Gov be more open and actively encourage the public to discuss. -
NeonTetra> whatever hush-hush things the President was doing in MINDEF during your NS, I'm pretty sure that any decisions that came from him at MINDEF had already been made in advance by the Cabinet. He was probably just the rubber stamp, like he usually is.
We know what the Gahmen is like - if the President actually held any real power, do you seriously think they would allow us to directly elect him? Hah.
Even though he's supposed to serve as a check on the Gahmen, the President's power and influence has consistently been demonstrated to be very limited. Look what happened to poor Ong Teng Cheong. I'm surprised that the senior Civil Service and Cabinet can still sleep at night, when they must know that Heaven will make them answer for that when the time of reckoning comes. -
haha ya croco are right... he can only got abit show on the reserves.. but like our last president MR Ong.. he suggest to used the reserves and u see what happened to him next???Originally posted by weidev:huh really ah? onli reserves ah? haha... i tot all the money...lolz..
for a republic country, the power is with the PM and his MP, president only for show only lah..show face here show face there..
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to me, the president is like some sort of puppet.Originally posted by edwinSSM:I'v been wondering all my life: what's the point of having a president in Singapore when he hardly ever get any action? Isn't that wasting our nation's resources to pay him his salary?
Correct me if i'm wrong. But what exactly does the president do?
or maybe he's doing something, but very limited stuff.
a country can't be doing without a president, thus the PAP
have decided to let singapore have a president, but under their control.
hmm....... he's the only one during the election process ain't he?
so what can we conclude? president= no power
if president=power
LKY or LHL would have become one instead of ministers. -
president itself has no adminstration power. purpose just to hold the key to the reserve. most most important work as PR for singapore when there visit by foreign VIP.
walk walk stand stand. yearly istane open meet the public, CNY , festive season show face. to me president part of PAP. cant differentiate between them. seem like the same party. never hear him speak for singaporean against some PAP policy tat are disadvantage to the commoners such as rising transport fees, GST hike, cut CPF and etc.
sad sad sad. i respect Thai king more than our president. -
Legally speaking the president really seems to have little power and a lot of power at the same time... From somewhere I read, they say the president can only act on the recommendation by the Prime Minister. That means if the prime minister never suggest anything or recommend anything, the president cannot do anything. But again if the president don't give their approval to the recommendations, the decision have to go to the cabinet or something, making it more troublesome lah. I guess the kind of decisions that need president approval is probably about going to war or using up the reserves... I am not very clear about this
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Under the Singapore Constitution, presidential approval is required for the passage of all legislation, after it has cleared Parliament. Many other important, non-legislative consitutional powers, in theory, flow from the president. For example, he has the sole power to appoint judges, and I think he should have the power to dissolve Parliament as well.
That's the theory, at least. In practice, of course, the situation is vastly different. As a previous poster pointed out, the President can only make important appointments of officials on the recommendation of the Prime Minister - the President can't just appoint anyone he likes. Also, in practice the Singapore President has never exercised his power to dissolve Parliament except where the PM has requested it prior to a general election, nor has he ever exercised his right to refuse to approve legislation passed by Parliament. This is in contrast to Presidents in other countries, who often make full use of their legal authority to check abuses of power by their respective governments, e.g. in Italy late last year, where President Ciampi refused to approve a new law that would have allowed the corrupt PM, Silvio Berlusconi, to protect the business interests of a media company he owned. -
hmm.... do you think mr president wouldn't agree to whatever LKY or LHL propose?Originally posted by socrates:Legally speaking the president really seems to have little power and a lot of power at the same time... From somewhere I read, they say the president can only act on the recommendation by the Prime Minister. That means if the prime minister never suggest anything or recommend anything, the president cannot do anything. But again if the president don't give their approval to the recommendations, the decision have to go to the cabinet or something, making it more troublesome lah. I guess the kind of decisions that need president approval is probably about going to war or using up the reserves... I am not very clear about this 
unless...... he wants have the opposition party's ending-you should
know who... the one found selling newspaper at jb -
what happened to ong?? i was too young to remmeberOriginally posted by I-like-flings(m):haha ya croco are right... he can only got abit show on the reserves.. but like our last president MR Ong.. he suggest to used the reserves and u see what happened to him next???
for a republic country, the power is with the PM and his MP, president only for show only lah..show face here show face there.. 
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officially: due to his health, not recommended for advice to be president again.Originally posted by oldbreadstinks:what happened to ong?? i was too young to remmeber
unoffical: u got guess lor -
If my memory serves me, the president holds one of two keys to the national reserves. The other is held by the parliament i think. But as earlier posters had stated, I reckon hes just a puppet of the government and merely a legal formality, required but not really neccessary. His key seems to be in the governments hands too.
Furthermore, he holds the final decison on capital punishment. He can repudiate death sentences, but Im afraid there is no cases of successful appeals yet by death convicts. Nowadays, death convicts dont even bother to appeal to him. -
yea from what i know and read up the president has limited powers. His main duties are for ceremonial purposes and to protect the nation's reserves. A lot of stuff that he does is under the advice of the PM.. actually there was a lot of questions raised on what does our president do during former president Ong's year as president when he voiced out concerns on his role as an elected president... if you wanna check out then newspaper archives its was around sept 99 if i'm not mistaken oh and if you wanna know more abt wat the president actually do go and check out the constitution.. you can find it online at http://statutes.agc.gov.sg