Dennis Tan on Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment No. 3) Bill

The time spent on serving foreign and international organisations, no matter how fruitful they can be for the President and even for Singapore, equates to “time not spent on his presidential responsibilities”, said MP Dennis Tan. Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday (Nov 22), he said that from the conversations he has had, there is a very strong argument for a serving President to concentrate wholeheartedly on his or her presidential responsibilities and not be distracted by other external private responsibilities. Mr Tan noted that the Government has argued that it has safeguards built into the Bill but he questioned if these are sufficient or could create other complications and unintended outcomes. Mr Tan said that while the Cabinet needs to be satisfied that any such appointments must be in the national interest, this does not preclude the possibility that the role that a President is initially allowed to assume in an international organisation may later on turn out to require more time and attention due to unforeseen or unexpected international issues or crises. It may become morally difficult to step down and walk away from such positions of leadership. If this happens, it may even affect the standing of the President or the country. Mr Tan stressed that the President should focus fully on his official presidential duties and responsibilities for which he has been elected to. Allowing the President to take up appointments with foreign or international organisations in his private capacity could detract from his official presidential duties, he said. “The Workers’ Party will therefore vote against this Bill,” he said.