President S R Nathan, given his age, is unlikely to be serving any more terms as head of state. He should look to his historical legacy and his responsibility to the people and the Constitution, rather than pleasing the government.
HELP keep the voice of TOC alive!
If you like this article, please consider a small donation to help theonlinecitizen.com stay alive. Please note that we can only accept donations from Singaporeans. Thank you for your assistance.Do you have a flair for writing? Volunteer with us. Email us your full name and contact details to theonlinecitizen@gmail.com
when the first key turns clockwise, the second key turns immediately clockwise. that’s how it works in independent and unique Singapore’s system of trust and trust.
What second key? since when do our system have any second key? the second key is the voice of our MM lah, bodoh! its voice activated system, can only regconise MM voice, the rest are just mechanism made to go with the flow lah.
Elected President? Who elected him?
Have anyone of you voted or even have a chance to vote?
What legacy?
Signature only mah? What so difficult?
You all expect him to read through all the thick piles of documents, study them, analyse them and come to a clear conclusion; and then give his concurrence?
Where got so much time and so much energy?
Please give him a break, lah.
Voter 101.
Yes, our late Ong Teng Cheong did that for the people of singapore and then got himself BOOTED OUT! by who, we all know hah!
By not making the process transparent, one cannot but suspect a list of hidden motives so that only the people within the inner circle can assess the reserve.
the first key is the duplicate of second key, therefore, ceremonial role for our Mr. Nathan.
Whether or not for Mr. Nathan to be re-elect, think not an issue. As long as someone is as obedient as the predecessor, will be up to the mark already.
I disagree with Tharman on what he said about the issue being about trust of the government. This second lock, unless it was just a wayang during its initiation, is meant to serve the sacred purpose of safeguarding our reserves, irregardless of who the govt is. whether there is trust or honesty or whatever is subjective. There are plenty of people nowadays who say one thing but acted another. What comes to mind is the ERA Indian guy who wrote in a blog that he is honest and do everything for the client and recently was found to manipulate both his subordinate, wife and his company for his own gains. So everybody can say he or she is honest, reliable, do everything for the citizens etc, but at the end of the day, the second key is to prevent abuse, so it must work at all times.
The holder of the second key thus is very disappointing. Even a judge has to give a rationale for ruling the way he does, after a verdict, but we heard nothing from the president even after MPs have asked for details. We, as Singaporeans, can see for ourselves what the honourable Mr Ong Teng Cheong has tried to do in the Presidential role, but we have yet to see any similar honourable acts befitting the role of a President. Thus I am not surprised to see, in a straw poll by TKL on how the various ministers and VIPs were rated, that this president is among the last four, possibly the last, in terms of ratings.
Singapore is a republic, and not a monarchy, from the way he is acting, he is more suitable to be in the monarchy system. It is time the President of Singapore come out of his slumber to make a strong statement to show Singaporeans that he is really in charge of our reserves.
If iam paid close to $3 million or so a year more than any President in the entire world, I will just keep my mouth shut and earn the money quietly.
You tell me waht to do, I will just do lah. All this wayang about the government advising the President about the nation’s reserves and how and when to use it is all a bunch of rubbish.
You and I know whats going on in singapore. We were not born yesterday. so lets cut the crap about all this. Our President was not elected by the people for the people. He was appointed by the government for the government!
This Pressident is just a sycophantic civil servant who takes order from his master and earns the $3m salary every year for so many years already. He is not worth the amount. How much can he get when he resigns tomorrow and apply for other jobs in the private sector considering his age and limited commercial experience. He has it good all these years, saving enough to feed 5-6 generations of his own type. Disappointing! The only respected President is the late Ong Teng Cheong, there will be no other President like him in the future or for a long time to come.
The jigsaw puzzle is all coming into place – HC suddenly resigning, Nathan too old for another term, PM perceived to be tired and wan-looking, etc
What keys to the reserves? Does the peasants hold one too?
Questions about the process and detailed steps the President deliberated to open the second key are not satisfactorily answered.
No keys in the first place lah.
he should emulate what he himself said of OTC – http://www.ongtengcheong.com/views.htm
Tharman & Nathan,
You have squandered an opportunity to show a high degree of transparency and accountability and regulation.
Please do not be too harsh on our President and our MM.
Many at their age are already overcame by sensibility disorders
AND
here Singaporeans are expecting that they(Prez/MM) account for National Affairs of the utmost complexities.
Don’t we realized that the WHOLE GROUP of younger parliamentarians are quite unable to deal with the Issues In Discussions.
Is it fair to expect the OLD FOLKS to do what the Younger Lot can’t fulfilled?????
patriot
The time to change the president is now. Ho Ching for president!
I mean President Nathan’s son and daughter. The legacy he passed behind when he could have made a difference…
if only. Too late?
Is the budget debate over?
Pity also the sons and daughters of those in the council. They were paid tax payer’s money? 1 week to deliberate on $4.5 bil?
Because it is based on trust?
To these calls for more transparency, Mr Tharman replied that he was not sure the details of the President’s process were relevant.
But he was sure that:
‘This is a system that relies on trust in the individuals who are in charge…’
Woah! Unlocking the second key based on kumcheng.
I don’t quite get this part:
He added that other systems ‘based on transparency of figures and procedures’, as distinct from trust in the individuals, have been shown to shift towards ‘wanting to spend more reserves for less and less meritorious purposes over time. ‘That is what we want to resist,’ said Mr Tharman. .
Does he mean that figures and procedures are not as, or more important than kumcheng?.
Is kumcheng the equivalent of transparency?
TRUST = Tarman Ruins Us and Singapore by Trust.
We need the Tar Man for President!
We the majority singaporean screw up, why voted this ruling party to power and now regret. This a wake up call to those 66% who had voted them in. Lets make a change the next election.
if it’s just only about trust, then there is no effective second key.
can i say that 66% of those who actually were lucky enough to cast a vote wanted this system?
To be fair , I must not say if I was one of them.
We need people of late Ong Teng Cheong calibre and independent of mind to stand up and be elected as president. Not people who follow whatever the executive team says.
5) ashamed on February 9th, 2009 11.55 pm
By not making the process transparent, one cannot but suspect a list of hidden motives so that only the people within the inner circle can assess the reserve.
—–
Well, i suspect the people trust them.
Trust means trust.
If you trust, then I wonder would you still question?
people very highly educated too.
no wonder this is 1st world.
everything so nice and unique.
What a success story!
When people simply entrust others without asking relevant questions about transparency and due process, people like Madoff can capitalise on that complacency.
Hasnt our Finance Minister learnt that lesson from Madoff’s scandal?
I don’t know about that. It takes a certain calibre to want to leave a positive legacy. Most people I know would rather take the money and do nothing. Heck, the money should be enough to feed at least 3 generations… how about that, legacy within the family…
19) BG on February 10th, 2009 12.17 pm
We the majority singaporean screw up, why voted this ruling party to power and now regret. This a wake up call to those 66% who had voted them in. Lets make a change the next election.
To-date, both combined losses from TM and GIC exceeded more than $100billions of our taxpayers money, at the rate they are going singapore may be the 1st asian country to go bankrupt. And what happen next? do you think the present team of bullshits would still be around to defend singapore when they don’t even dare to admit their mistake discovered by the public? If we continue to allow them to squander off the nations $$$, then be prepared to pay for a very high price to be a singaporean here.