Perfecting Singapore’s system of political governance: Privileging elites in the quest for good governance

• Main Author: EUGENE, Tan K. B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2019
• Subjects: President; Constitution; Singapore; elites; Administrative Law; Asian Studies; President/Executive Department; Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3631; https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=cdi_askewsholts_vlebooks_9781351666626&context=PC&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Primo%20Central&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Constitutional%20change%20in%20Singapore:%20Reforming%20the%20Elected%20President&offset=0
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This chapter argues that the office of the Elected President is best understood as an elite institution with eligibility restricted to a select group by a stringent set of criteria for hopefuls from the public and private sectors. The Singapore Constitution provides the Elected President with executive and legislative powers. Since independence in 1965, Singapore has sought to constitutionally engineer a political system that meets its unique needs and aspirations. Any theory of responsible government, undergirded by the separation of powers, will entail some measure of both conflict and cooperation, whether one or the other dominates. Given the particularistic neo-Confucian political culture subtly promoted by the Singapore Government, the political leadership valorizes the Confucian precept that leaders have a moral duty to act in the collective interest. The Government agreed with the Commission’s recommendations outlined above on the nature of a qualifying company and the nature of qualifying position within a qualifying company.