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After much pressure from the people of Spore, President Nathan finally open his golden mouth. But I feel that the President is just parroting from Tharman's explanation for the use the reserve. Are you all satisfied with his answers? For sure I am not. 
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_339518.html
Feb 17, 2009
Why I okay use of reserves <!--10 min-->
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> </tr> <tr> </tr> <tr><td><!-- headline one : start -->
</td></tr> <tr> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold">By Sue-Ann Chia </td> </tr> <tr><td><!-- show image if available -->
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Mr Nathan was making public for the first time his decision to allow the drawing down of $4.9 billion of past reserves to fund two schemes. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSEIN
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PRESIDENT SR Nathan on Tuesday explained why he agreed to the Government's request to unlock the past reserves. The process took 11 days and he gave the nod just a day before the Government presented its Budget to Parliament on Jan 22.
The swiftness of the process stemmed from the urgent need to roll out aggressive measures to tackle the severe recession which could worsen without quick action.
'I recognised the importance of giving confidence to go ahead with the measures proposed in the Budget for the particular reference to past reserves, bearing in mind if the situation prolongs or worsens, negative consequences would have kicked in, making any measures too late to be of any effect to stem events,' he told reporters at the Istana.
Mr Nathan was making public for the first time his decision to allow the drawing down of $4.9 billion of past reserves to fund two schemes.
One, the $4.5 billion Jobs Credit which subsidies wage costs in a bid to save jobs, and the other, the $5.8 billion Special Risk Sharing Initiative (SRI) to give companies more access to credit.
On the speed of his decision, he said: 'The urgency was quite evident, and I think 11 days was reasonable. If it had to be, it could have been shorter.'
According to the Constitution, Singapore's national reserves can only be used if two parties give consent: one is the Government of the day, the other is the Elected President. Hence, there are 'two keys' to the reserves.
While the process in getting the President's consent happened quickly, Mr Nathan sought to dispel any impression of a hurried and easy unlocking of the reserves.
Such views had been expressed by some MPs during the recently-concluded Budget debate and among some Singaporeans as well in public and on-line forums.
All had called for more information to be made available about the process and the decision-making.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_339518.html
Feb 17, 2009
Why I okay use of reserves <!--10 min-->
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> </tr> <tr> </tr> <tr><td><!-- headline one : start -->
</td></tr> <tr> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold">By Sue-Ann Chia </td> </tr> <tr><td><!-- show image if available -->
</td></tr> <tr valign="bottom"> <td width="330">
</td> <td width="10">
Mr Nathan was making public for the first time his decision to allow the drawing down of $4.9 billion of past reserves to fund two schemes. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSEIN
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>
</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->
PRESIDENT SR Nathan on Tuesday explained why he agreed to the Government's request to unlock the past reserves. The process took 11 days and he gave the nod just a day before the Government presented its Budget to Parliament on Jan 22.
The swiftness of the process stemmed from the urgent need to roll out aggressive measures to tackle the severe recession which could worsen without quick action.
'I recognised the importance of giving confidence to go ahead with the measures proposed in the Budget for the particular reference to past reserves, bearing in mind if the situation prolongs or worsens, negative consequences would have kicked in, making any measures too late to be of any effect to stem events,' he told reporters at the Istana.
Mr Nathan was making public for the first time his decision to allow the drawing down of $4.9 billion of past reserves to fund two schemes.
One, the $4.5 billion Jobs Credit which subsidies wage costs in a bid to save jobs, and the other, the $5.8 billion Special Risk Sharing Initiative (SRI) to give companies more access to credit.
On the speed of his decision, he said: 'The urgency was quite evident, and I think 11 days was reasonable. If it had to be, it could have been shorter.'
According to the Constitution, Singapore's national reserves can only be used if two parties give consent: one is the Government of the day, the other is the Elected President. Hence, there are 'two keys' to the reserves.
While the process in getting the President's consent happened quickly, Mr Nathan sought to dispel any impression of a hurried and easy unlocking of the reserves.
Such views had been expressed by some MPs during the recently-concluded Budget debate and among some Singaporeans as well in public and on-line forums.
All had called for more information to be made available about the process and the decision-making.
