Political Duplicity, a cornerstone in the Singapore GRC syst - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14215557
Political Duplicity, a cornerstone in the Singapore GRC system of elections?
Before we introduce the 'FT' MP scheme, how about reviewing the (duplicitous) GRC system of elections? (The Parliamentary Elections Act)

Before PAP decides to introduce a FT MP scheme (dun pretend, U know what the abbrv.'FT' means), lets free minority political representation of the duplicitous GRC system of elections, as PAP ceaselessly invites more and more foreigners to run our little country ...
(Old story, 'Former NTUC (Asst.) director Amy Cheong is an Australian citizen')
By extension, I wonder if under the PAP's talent search scheme such as 'GRCs make it easier to find top talent: SM' ST, 27 June 2006, SM GohCT: "Without some assurance of a good chance of winning at least their first election, many able and successful young Singaporeans may not risk their careers to join politics" due to the lack of able and successful young Singaporeans we should also soon see more FTs in positions of authority [see in quotes 'Can PRs be judges?']- a FT Chief Justice, FT Police men, FT Army, FT Admin Service perhaps even FT MPs- it doesn't take too much stretch of the imagination what the PAP would do, how about a FT SS for Singapore, would make SG more stable and prosperous under a 'united' strong ruling party... (Perhaps, using the Workers' Party of (North) Korea as its template of 'success').

In Quotes: 'Can PRs be judges?':
The Straits Times; Published on Apr 15, 2013; My point
Can PRs be judges?
IN THE ongoing trial of law professor Tey Tsun Hang, it was mentioned that he is a Malaysian national and a Singapore permanent resident ("CPIB used strong-arm tactics, says prof"; April 2). It was also stated that he is a former district judge in the Singapore judiciary system.
Some of my friends in the legal industry said they were not aware that a PR can be a judge here. As far as they know, only a Singaporean can be a judge.
Can the Ministry of Law clear up the issue?
Joshua Selvakumar
Copyright © 2013 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
My point
Perhaps by removing the anti-competitive and quite unnecessary GRC system of election from statute, there can be more competition amongst all political parties through fully single seat parliamentary elections so that only the best candidates can win. If the PM loses his own MP seat due to the opposition scheming to usurp him from his seat, then he doesn't deserve to be PM. In anycase, I think that SG has reasonably safe hands in DPM Tharman and Mr Heng SK currently if not temporarily.

And what about the sacred minority representation issue originally legitimizing the GRC system of elections?- PM Lee has answered his own question... the NMP and subsequently NCMP scheme was meant to revive the almost extinct opposition voice in parliament (or notional semblance of such), it succeeded overwhelmingly. A simple tweak of rules under the NCMP could now introduce the new [COLOR="Red"]NC(RM)MP scheme- the Non-constituency Racial Minority MP scheme[/COLOR].

Under the NC(RM)MP scheme, the current system of 'guaranteeing' 15 minority MPs in parliament will be maintained (Wiki: '(GE)07May2011. There are fifteen GRCs'). Minority MPs will, like all other candidates, all stand as single seat candidates, however, any short fall of minority status candidates elected will allow the remainder best performing loosing candidates to take up NC(RM)MP seats such that no fewer than 15 registered racial minority MPs (or such number deemed appropriate) shall be represented in the SG parliament. Alongside the scrapping of the duplicitous GRC system of elections, the NCMP scheme shall also be scrapped (The NMP scheme can continue its circus act although with liberalization, more entertainment value is expected).

GRC system duplicitous really?
Tell me, if PAP were really sincere about racial minority representation, notwithstanding PAP's paranoia about the adverse outcomes of by-elections, what other reason could there be for the Parliamentary Elections Act, Section 24 [source]:
(2A) In respect of any group representation constituency, no writ shall be issued under subsection
(1) for an election to fill any vacancy unless all the Members for that constituency have vacated their seats in Parliament.

Thus, having passed elections, there is basically no interest whatsoever placed upon whether or not the minority race MP is indeed seated in parliament (he could die/ be sacked by the PAP but the show goes on like nothing happened). Since this is a stumbling block to PAP of the GRC system of elections whereby if minority rep. were really adhered to, then the PM might have to undergo by-elections if the essential member of the GRC were to have his seat vacated.

If the problem were to be determining when a NC(RM)MP should be allowed to have his vote in a matter counted, then surely PAP again has the correct answer as it currently decides when the whip in Parliament is raised (only 3 times in 4 decades before 2002 ['Lift the Whip']) so (by inverse logic perhaps) perhaps by default, NC(RM)MPs should only be banned from voting 3 times in 4 decades- every issue has a racial slant if U think hard enough... anyway, for now, unlike FT (Foreign Talent) judges and Asst. Directors at NTUC, MPs are still all, by statute, Singaporean- males of whom have served NS with other races so they should not be too parochial in their thinking and 15 really isn't a majority in an 87seat (or more) parliament- by any count.

So dear Mr PM Lee, before you choose to introduce FT MPs, please consider my NC(RM)MP scheme, it's do wonders for your reputation if you can even be bothered to read it; really.

Written by a Singaporean who wants his humble vote to count, even if it means spending time researching and forgoing whatever distractions life might bring...

No, no, no... FTs must not be allowed to vote in Singapore parliamentary elections.

Perhaps the best guarantee of PAP winning elections is a high chance of not winning, otherwise to the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_Party_of_Korea"]Workers' Party of (North) Korea[/url] here we become!
Rgds all,
B.C.

Image[Pict source: Why people should not hate Tin Pei Ling....]

Image[pict source: HDB as a political weapon]

Image

Tags:
Singapore, politics, GRC, racial minority, racial harmony, leadership, democracy, poverty, dictatorship, autocracy,
#14215735
A critique of the GRC system of elections in Singapore and a better solution forward
(By Jarlaxle)
Re thread: Before we introduce the FT MP, how about updating the parliamentary elections act?
wah bro
ur WOT is damn messy with all the bold and highlight
cannot read at all sia.
can hv exe summary ?

Will try,

Image[Pict source: [Table1]: Yeo Lay Hwee. “Electoral Politics in Singapore”*Electoral Politics in Southeast And East Asia, eds. Aurel Croissant, Gabriele Bruns & Marei John (Singapore: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung - Office for Regional Cooperation, 2002). [[url="http://library.fes.de/fulltext/iez/01361inf.htm"]link[/url]] n other research]

Essentially I'm saying that the GRC system of elections has lost its way, and is now dated. In the picture, in 1988 (inception of GRCs)there were 13 GRCs and so 13 minority candidates and still 42 SMCs for smaller political parties to contest, yet by 2001, the minority representation had only increased by one, yet with the overwhelming number of seats needed for GRCs, only 9 seats were left to cater to smaller political parties. It remains amazing how the sudden and needless deflation in SMC seats between GRC inception (1988, SMC=42) and 1997 (SMC= 9) without any significant increase in minority representation could have gone unnoticed.

If one is wonder if the GRC system has really lost its racial minority aim, look no further than the Parliamentary Elections Act, Section 24 [source] that states in (2A) "In respect of any group representation constituency, no writ shall be issued under subsection (1) for an election to fill any vacancy unless all the Members for that constituency have vacated their seats in Parliament". In short, only the election of a minority candidate to parliament is legislated and nothing ensures the continuation of such minority representation in parliament beyond general elections- a premise soon enough forgotten. Due to this ridiculous statute that defers the need for by-elections even if just one MP remains standing in a GRC, by-elections for GRCs are probably as rare as hen's teeth. Quite possibly, GRCs were expanded to eradicate the need for all, if not any by-elections- the fewer the SMC constituencies, the larger the GRC, the rarer the chance for a by-election (less disturbance to PAP dynastic political ambitions)- yet the postponement of by-election simply forestalls any development on the political front.

As then SM Mr Goh CT admitted in 'GRCs make it easier to find top talent: SM' [ST, 27 June 2006], "Without some assurance of a good chance of winning at least their first election, many able and successful young Singaporeans may not risk their careers to join politics" - every GRC seat is thus one less for independent political representation in Singapore- and a stain on the maturity and inclusiveness of politics in Singapore. As mentioned, the GRC system of elections favours the mob mentality of larger political parties- fearful of political independents whose ideas are ought to 'rock the boat'. Fearful of novel political ideas independents might bring which might challenge the dynastic political aspiration of those in parliament- in short, GRC is the oligopoly of large political parties.

And does the GRC system have any political legs to stand on in Singapore now?
Actually, I believe the PAP contradicted itself back in 1988 having introduced the NCMP scheme in 1984. "The (then) Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said that the NCMP scheme would ensure that opposition voices would be heard in Parliament". Despite having successfully introduced some opposition 'specimens' to parliament to "provide younger People's Action Party ("PAP") MPs with sparring partners to 'sharpen their debating skills'., then PM Lee KY, did not, in all his political creativity, think it wise to use the NCMP system (or variant of such) to 'guarantee' the political representation of minorities (races) in parliament. Possibly, the NCMP scheme had around then been tainted by the terms "sham" and "toothless" [link], suffice to say, with GRCs occupying less than half of all parliamentary seats in the 1988 GE, Singaporeans had other pressing concerns to attend to. Still, the skeletons of youth continue to haunt the PAP in its senior years as people ask, can the NCMP system for opposition be modified into some sort of NC(R)MP (Non-Constituency, Racial (Minority) MP) system, that like the NCMP system, allows the a best performing quote of candidates of that category a seat in parliament?- Constituency or not, then PM Lee KY said: "The readiness of non-PAP members to bring forth any allegation of misfeasance, or corruption, or nepotism would 'dispel suspicions of cover-ups of alleged wrongdoings'" [wiki], likewise the readiness of racial minority MPs... thus the total if not absolute redundancy of the restrictive GRC system of election towards "ensuring minority representation" when the same, and better, could be achieved by the NC(R)MP scheme. For the avoidance of doubt, NC(R)MPs shall have equal rights as normally elected MPs in any issue pertaining to race in parliament.

As described, Singaporeans have every right to aspire to attain a better political system moving forward, yet the current mob rule driven GRC system of election remains a significant stumbling block to their aspirations.

Going down the road of nepotistic authoritarianism, not PAP nor Singaporeans... neither of them will survive
-------------------
PS, thanks for your feedback and hope that this "exe summary" can clear some air.
BTW, it is said that an intelligent man can hold 2 ideas in his head as one time; surely this essay this time- its not too difficult to understand.

Still, your comments (if any) are most welcome.

Rgds all,
B.C.

Tags:
Singapore, politics, democracy, GRC, Racial Minority, elections, PAP,
Last edited by BicCherry on 17 Apr 2013 05:47, edited 1 time in total.
#14216265
unbalanced zealot wrote:BicCherry, welcome to the forum, but I see you have taken this text and graphics from elsewhere on the web.
I will leave these posts here, but in future please post only original text. UZ AP- mod

Hi Mod, tks for the message.

Agreed that some graphics might be 'borrowed' from elsewhere on the net as appropriate illustrations.
The text is however is self owned and also posted to PF.org both for further discussion as well as for some form of repository purpose as I have shown: 'Singapore websites ban political discourse'

Whilst I might not visit this forum daily, I do keep an eye on responses to my post as the opinions of users from different forums/ political learning might react differently to the same points in an article.

As most if not all my postings here consist of original text (except the quoted parts from news/ comment sources) and all my threads are sufficiently well linked/ annotated to allow the reader a reasonable understanding of the issue at hand, I do hope to be able to continue posting original text that I've authored. (Any residual forum/ news links mentioned within the text is retained for both transparency reasons as well as for any interested reader to understand a deeper genesis of an idea)

Once again, I treasure my membership in your good forum and hope that my contributions help better political opinion amongst the participants here.

Rgds,
BicCherry

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