Fake Elected Parasitism EXPOSED!

[makapaaa]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>WP chief: We still don't support elected presidency
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jeremy Au
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE Workers' Party may support the new framework that allows the Government to tap investment income from the reserves for its spending, but that does not mean it has abandoned its objection to the elected presidency, said its leader Low Thia Khiang.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had drawn the link yesterday when he praised the opposition party for supporting the constitutional amendment.
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'What will happen if the EP (Elected President) takes an adverse approach? Then the government can be crippled.' Mr Low Thia Khiang



</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>But the MP for Hougang, who is the party's secretary-general, promptly rejected it, saying the WP had not budged from its existing position.
He said the elected presidency had 'political implications'.
For example, should the People's Action Party lose a general election, 'the office of the Elected President could be potentially crippling for a non-PAP government given the fact that a lot of important appointments require the President's approval', he said.
Mr Low argued that the strict qualifying criteria for candidates meant presidents would likely be from the Establishment, or even former PAP ministers.
The Constitution requires a candidate for the presidency to have senior management and financial experience in a large organisation, plus good character and reputation.
Mr Low also referred to the Government's decision to set aside $150 billion to guarantee bank deposits. 'What will happen if the EP (Elected President) takes an adverse approach? Then the government can be crippled.'
As for the President's role in safeguarding Singapore's reserves, he said there could be other ways of doing this.
PM Lee had earlier praised the WP's 'responsible approach' in supporting the constitutional changes. He said: 'We hope the WP now accepts the wisdom of having an Elected President with custodial powers, because that is at the core of this amendment... and will no longer campaign to abolish the Elected President as they did in the 2006 election.'

 

[makapaaa]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>President acted as reserves 'gatekeeper' for first time
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Fiona Chan
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->LAST week's $150 billion bank guarantee package was the first time that the Singapore Government has had to call upon the Elected President to exercise his custodial powers over the nation's reserves, the Prime Minister said yesterday.
The guarantee, aimed at maintaining public confidence in Singapore's banking system amid the financial turmoil, had to be approved by President S R Nathan and the Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA) before it was issued last Thursday.
'This is the first time that the President is exercising his custodial powers to approve a potential draw on reserves in the almost 18 years that we have had the Elected President system,' Mr Lee Hsien Loong told Parliament.
The rarity of doing so, noted Mr Lee, showed how careful the Government has always been with its reserves.
Even in the current slowdown, if the Government needs to run deficits over the next one or two years, it can bank on the 'comfortable buffer of current reserves' built up since the last general election, said Mr Lee.
The $150 billion bank guarantee also demonstrates the importance of having reserves in a crisis, he added.
Now set aside to back up deposits, it 'is not yet a draw on past reserves', but could be drawn upon, 'depending on how things turn out'.
Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang had said on Monday that the Government might have to use very little of the money if it was lucky.
The guarantee is an example of how the President 'exercises his gatekeeper function', noted Mr Lee yesterday.
In 1991, Singapore's Constitution was amended to create an Elected President whose priority was to protect the principal sum of Singapore's past reserves. Only the interest and dividends earned on the reserves could be spent, a system that has endured until now. For any request that involves changing or using the reserves, the President's approval must be sought and he will consult in turn with the CPA, which is chaired by Singapore Exchange chairman J Y Pillay.

 

[hunter]

The $300,000 man opens his mouth