Much has been made of his dead fish handshake. Sadly, I have been at the wrong end of that dreaded handshake with presidential hopeful Tony Tan, so I can vouch for the veracity of those allegations. For me it had been a significant turn-off.
But a limp and damp handshake is too frivolous a reason for rejecting a presidential candidate.
In 1991 when the elected presidency was introduced, its purpose was to act as a check against a profligate government. The custodial powers of the elected president would include powers to check governmental abuse of power as well as to have custodial powers against governmental raiding of our national reserves. It seems clear that the PAP introduced this scheme not to check itself but to protect against a freak election result which allowed an opposition group to take over government, and therefore be in a position to 'raid' the reserves.
Increasingly though, the people are now coming round to the idea that the national reserves as well as public service appointments are actually assets belonging to the nation and should be managed in a non-partisan way. The elected president should therefore have custodial powers over the reserves and public service appointments, regardless of which political party is in power. Previous President Ong Teng Cheong had tried unsuccessfully to exercise these powers. But the shabby way he was treated as the people's President because he had the audacity to do his job remains deeply etched many people's minds. I have to confess I still harbour deep resentment for his being denied a state funeral when he passed away.
So never again.
Logically therefore, the uber establishment Tony Tan should automatically be disqualified from the job as he is just too deeply enmeshed with the PAP leadership and the GIC management of our national reserves. How can he be the second key for the reserves when he has been such an integral part of the first key? The increasing litany of endorsements from leaders of unions and establishment groups just continue to flag him out as being so ultra-establishment and so pro-status quo that I find it harder and harder to consider his legitimacy for the elected presidency position. In fact I find it increasingly difficult not to see him as a desperate attempt by the government to stem the growing movement towards greater expectation of a higher level of transparency of government and of the management of our reserves.
It does not help also that he has not 'come clean' about the allegations of preferential NS deferment for his son Dr Patrick Tan. From what I have read of the incident and of his early rebuttals, the whole thing seemed somewhat irregular. And if he as a very senior political leader, cannot see that it was irregular and should not have happened, then I am more than concerned. So be it if it was a lapse in judgement. I can accept that. But if it remains unaddressed, it sets an awful precedence for all our subsequent generations of leaders that such 'white horse' decisions are acceptable and defensible. That's not the road I want our country to go down.
I have actually tried very hard to avoid commenting on the presidential election, but I find it very difficult because it continues to grate upon my conscience. I want my President to represent my country and to function correctly as the custodian of the reserves and a guard against a profligate government. And I am not sure Tony Tan is the man for the job. Sadly though, he may still end up getting the job because of the continued silliness of the other candiates in not wanting to coordinate their efforts for Singapore's sake.
Which of the other three candiates would I vote for? I am not telling you. But two of the three appear to be too driven by their egos for my liking.
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8 comments:
Voters should not be daft to put any ex or past PAP Member as the Sin President into a PAP Cabinet.
Voters should not be daft to put any ex or past PAP Member as the Sin President into a PAP Cabinet.
I don't want a candidate too rooted with PAP, neither one that will oppose for the sake of opposing and barking like a dog with rabies.
Your logic is faulty. Presidents since Devan Nair have been in bed with PAP (Wee Kim Wee was also pro-PAP journalist) but they have never failed to disagree with the PAP. I am not rooting for TT. I just think this logic doesn't work. The reverse of my logic says there is no guarantee an anti-PAP person will not be compliant. Let us stick to the Constitution and the roles it prescribed for the Presidency.
Anonymous "AUGUST 20, 2011 8:44 PM"
Using logic and past example is one thing, but do use your gut feeling too. judging from those issues that dig out of Tony Tan, and his secrecy with GIC and his son's NS affair. If you don't feel that there is something seriously wrong with Tony Tan (not that other candidates are perfect), I really don't know what to say .
Most of the time, you can exercise your own judgement will be the best.
I'd vote for Tan Cheng Bock too if Tony Tan hadn't joined the race, because both are the PAP stalwarts who really championed and appreciate PAP policies for the greater good of Singapore.
We forgot one thing,and this is the psychoanalytical basis of the evolution of the Presidency from one of purely ceremonial to one having Ceremonial-Custodial-Supervisory functions. This is because in the 1980s, it was the Grand Old Man himself who envisaged this grand vision of retiring in the Istana as some sort of President Emeritus, the Boss Behind the Curtain, a Capo de Capo, who still can apply the brakes or leverage against Parliament, drawing his legitimacy from the fact (or hope) that he was voted in by the people directly. After the 7 May GE in which there is such a violent electoral backlash, this is no longer possible. The people can no longer be trusted. If The Grand Old Man stands as a presidential candidate now, he runs the very real risk of being mauled by protest voters and lose face irretrievably. So he does not dare put himself forward now. What then becomes of the Presidency? Now, the evolved newer and better ”Version 2” Presidency with vastly increased powers then becomes a sort of Frankenstein (or should that be ”PAPenstein”) Monster, which is, even as we speak, rampaging through the cityscape of Singapore, making all manner of unpredictable and frankly out-of-control statements and confusing the people. The presidency is the mutant that escaped from the mad scientist’s lab. What untold damage and confusion such a mutant will wrought on our political landscape boggles the mind. All bets are off now. I can only humbly agree that the disconnect between the expectations of the people (fired by all the speechifying done by the Tan, Tan, Tan & Tan) and the legal stipulations in the Constitution will be so wide as to cause even more chasm and and schism between the state and the people it purports to govern. This huge fault must be laid at the door of the Mad Scientist himself. Yet another anomaly is raising its ugly dead: the dreaded RACE issue itself. There are mutterings in the street that all four candidates are Chinese (and all Tan’s, to boot!). Where are the minority candidates? If this goes on, won’t every subsequent Presidential Election be Chinese dominated? Hitherto, the Istana operated on a sort of racial rotation system. This is has completely broken down. The Presidential Election Commission cannot produce minority candidates by fiat, nor can it disqualify any Chinese candidate if he fulfils the requirements to run. Shit. We are in trouble. Anyway, you mark my words, boys & girls, whoever wins, the PAPist will amend the Constitution to defang the Presidency for good. Its really really scared now, and will not permit itself to suffer another such scare episode in the next PE in 2016
Nice insight which I can agree with. I think whatever the outcome at the PE, it will have the effect of somemore upheavals from within PAP, and we will also see a major rewrite of the constitution to curtail the EP as a separate power centre.
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