The Straits Times Opinion: Why a Constitutional Commission to review the Elected Presidency?

My Straits Times Opinion Article

2016.02.17 Why did the PAP Government appoint a Constitutional CommissionI wrote an OpEd for the Straits Times, “Why a Constitutional Commission to review the Elected Presidency?”, explaining the background to the recently appointed Constitutional Commission, which is only the 2nd one since independence. The previous one was in 1966.

I opined on why the PAP Government did so when it had never found the need for it regarding all its constitutional amendments since 1966. I suggest the new political context where a PAP Government-backed candidate may plausibly lose the vote. This is amidst the backdrop of societies and voters moving further left in economic policies and also rising sensitivities as regards ethnic-religious minorities.

Update: make submissions to the constitutional commission

Submit in writing, signed, by 21 March, 5 PM. There may be public hearings for clarification and elaboration.

Submissions can be in Malay, Chinese, Tamil or English and need to be typed or legibly written by hand. The submissions must also be signed, whether in hardcopy or PDF form.

The precise dates of the public hearings will be announced in due course, but these will likely take place over a limited number of days between April 18 and May 15, 2016.

The submissions must be addressed to the Constitutional Commission Secretariat, and sent by post to 1, Supreme Court Lane, Singapore 178879, or e-mail to CCSecretariat@supcourt.gov.sg.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.