PE 2017: Three potential candidates - what happens next?
By Monica Kotwani @MKotwaniCNA
08 Aug 2017 05:45PM (Updated: 08 Aug 2017 05:56PM)
SINGAPORE: With former Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob throwing her hat into the ring, three prospective candidates have now expressed an interest in contesting this year’s Presidential Election.
Chief executive of Second Chance Properties Mohamed Salleh Marican and chairman of Bourbon Offshore Asia Farid Khan Kaim Khan announced their intention to contest in June and July, respectively.
Following changes to the Elected Presidency, this year’s election has been reserved for candidates from the Malay community.
With the September timeline looming, Channel NewsAsia looks at what interested candidates will have to do from now until voters turn up at the polls.
ELIGIBILITY
The first step is to apply for is the Certificate of Eligibility. Applications for this form opened in June. Potential candidates will have to provide their details, as well as state their employment history and provide supporting documents.
For applicants from the private sector like Mr Marican and Mr Farid, they will have to show that they helmed a company with at least S$500 million in shareholders’ equity.
Mr Marican told Channel NewsAsia that his company’s shareholder’s equity amounted to S$260 million as of May this year. This means he will not qualify under this criteria. It is also unclear if Mr Farid will, although he was quoted to be confident of qualifying.
But both candidates could qualify under the “deliberative track". Under Article 19(4)(b) of the Constitution, the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) can exercise its discretion if it is satisfied that the person has served three years or more within a private sector organisation and “has experience and ability that is comparable” to that of someone who served as the chief executive of a company with a shareholders’ equity of S$500 million.
The PEC must also be satisfied that the person has the “experience and ability to effectively carry out the functions and duties of President”.
Madam Halimah meets the criteria set out for those in the public sector, having held office for three or more years as Speaker.
COMMUNITY DECLARATION
For the first time in a Presidential Election, interested parties will have to submit a Community Declaration form to the newly-established Community Committee. This is to certify that the prospective candidate belongs to the community for which the election has been reserved for.
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...s-next-9102626
Would anyone want to guess would become the next President ?
Apex court dismisses appeal on Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s interview transcripts
Published: 10:57 PM, August 17, 2017
Updated: 12:46 AM, August 18, 2017
SINGAPORE — The Court of Appeal on Thursday (Aug 18) dismissed an appeal by Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang for all rights to late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s interview transcripts from the 1980s.
Their rights to the copyright of the transcripts — of interviews Mr Lee Kuan Yew had done between July 8, 1981, and July 5, 1982, with the government’s oral history unit — cannot be meaningfully exercised without the consent and cooperation of the government, which owns the physical transcripts, said Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who ruled together with Judges of Appeal Chao Hick Tin and Andrew Phang.
And it is up to the government to provide that consent and cooperation according to what it deems in the national interest, he added in a written judgment.
Dr Lee and Mr Lee, the founding Prime Minister’s two younger children, are executors of his estate. They wanted to be entitled to use and have copies of the transcripts, and have the apex court declare there shall be no access or use of the transcripts by anyone until March 23, 2020 (five years after Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s death) without their written permission.
The case centred on an interview agreement Mr Lee Kuan Yew signed with then-Cabinet Secretary Wong Chooi Sen and Mrs Lily Tan, then-director of the Oral History Unit. The agreement governed the rights, use and administration of the transcripts until five years after his death and beyond.
CJ Menon said a key concern of the parties to the agreement was the need to sufficiently ensure no unwarranted disclosure or circulation of the material to anyone else before a suitable time had passed — and even then, only with the permission of the government.
The judges found that Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s personal right to use the transcripts did not pass to his estate. If his estate had unqualified use of the transcripts, it would potentially be an offence under the Official Secrets Act, they said. Dr Lee and Mr Lee’s “status as Mr Lee’s children does not exempt them from the operation of the OSA”, they said.
The judges said their findings are “entirely consistent with Mr Lee (Kuan Yew’s) desire to ensure that the information in the transcripts would be protected until the critical time (of his death) and even beyond that, because the interests at stake are not personal to Mr Lee but involve matters of national interest”.
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PMO rebuts claims by Li Shengwu in Reuters’ article about detention fears
Published: 11:37 AM, August 18, 2017
Updated: 1:08 PM, August 18, 2017
SINGAPORE — The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has refuted claims made by Mr Li Shengwu that he left Singapore over fears that he would be detained and interrogated by the authorities in relation to his contempt of court case.
In his claims, published in a Reuters article on Friday (Aug 18), Mr Li, the son of Mr Lee Hsien Yang, said in Singapore, “it is possible that one can be detained and interrogated for some time without a lawyer”.
He also claimed he left Singapore for the US on July 23, a week earlier than planned, as two days before that, he had received a letter from the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) in Singapore demanding that he issue an apology and purge a July 15 Facebook post in which he had said that “the Singapore government is very litigious and has a pliant court system”.
He told Reuters that his friends had “warned me that they were concerned for my safety if I remained in Singapore”.
In its response to queries sent by the news agency, which were carried in the article, the PMO said Mr Li’s points on detention and interrogation are “not accurate”. The PMO said the AGC’s application to the High Court to start contempt of court proceedings against Mr Li is a well-established legal process.
“Clear laws and procedures apply to all cases of contempt, including this case involving Mr Li. The courts will decide on the merits of the case,” said Ms Chiang Li Lin, press secretary to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the PMO statement.
“AGC has told Mr Li that if he apologised for his comments, then the proceedings against him will be withdrawn. Mr Li has not done so,” she added.
The AGC started legal proceedings against the Harvard academic on Aug 4 for contempt of court in relation to his Facebook post on July 15.
Mr Li, whose father has been embroiled in a public feud with PM Lee over the fate of their late father’s house, had posted a link to two news articles which likened the public disagreements over 38 Oxley Road to a “political crisis”, and commented that “the Singapore government is very litigious and has a pliant court system”.
In an earlier interview with Reuters, he had said he has no intention of returning to Singapore and would defend himself with legal representation.
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From grass-cutter, janitor to shipping bigwig — President next?
Having worked his way up from the bottom, Mr Farid Khan wants to ensure no one is left behind
By Kelly Ng
Published: 6:35 PM, August 18, 2017
SINGAPORE — When Mr Farid Khan and his family were living in Jakarta from 1995 to 2004, his children sometimes spent their birthdays with kids at orphanages. At other times, they would invite their friends and disadvantaged children to birthday parties thrown at home, as well as share their gifts with the guests.
“We have brought up both our kids to be caring persons and aware of the unfortunate… I remember the times when the (less fortunate) children receive their gifts from my daughter. It is really touching to see their happy faces,” said the 62-year-old aspiring presidential candidate, who was working for an Indonesian marine company at that time.
His lifelong concern for the needy and less fortunate is one reason behind Mr Farid’s determination to run for the highest office of the land — so that he can lend a hand to groups in society that have fallen through the cracks, “so that nobody gets left behind”.
In fact, his 24-year-old daughter, Ms Raeesah Khan is already doing her part to help others in her own way, through the Reyna Movement, a non-profit organisation which she founded in April last year.
Through the organisation, Ms Raeesah supports Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and empower women in the region through community engagement and upskilling programmes.
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Uphill task to run for President, but believer in second chances is undeterred
If he succeeds, Mr Mohamed Salleh Marican hopes to raise more money for charity
By Faris Mokhtar
Published: 6:35 PM, August 18, 2017
SINGAPORE — After his textile merchant father died when he was 15, Mr Mohamed Salleh Marican watched his mother fret about family finances.
Although his father left a substantial inheritance, his mother doubled down to raise six children herself. She sold her jewellery, moved the family from their Woo Mon Chew Road bungalow to a smaller terrace house in Jalan Selamat and urged the children to save what they could.
The experience opened Mr Marican’s eyes to the plight of single mothers, some who might be less fortunate than his mother.
Since 1992, the chief executive of Second Chance Properties has donated S$22,222 yearly to the Tabung Amal Aidilfitri Trust Fund to help the needy.
On top of that, he donates about S$200,000 a year to Malay-Muslim organisations such as the PPIS (Persatuan Pemudi Islam Singapura), a non-profit that helps improve the lives of women and their families. With a recent contribution to Project Smile, which helps underprivileged Indian women, his charity has also extended beyond the Malay community.
Two is the favourite number of Mr Marican, 67, who has rebounded from setbacks to head a listed company after dropping out of school before his A Levels, and who now wants to become the Republic’s second Malay president.
He signalled his intention in June to contest in next month’s Presidential Election. If elected, he wants to use the influence and power of the position to raise more funds for charities.
“Smaller charities, especially, they are doing good work and have committed and altruistic people but they face difficulty in raising money,” he said.
“The role of the President is to unite the nation. It’s not just about uniting people of different races and religions. It is also about helping those who have fallen through the cracks. If you leave them behind, how can you say that the nation is united? So, I want to help charities so they can help Singaporeans.”
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AGC gets green light for contempt of court proceedings against Mr Li Shengwu
By Valerie Koh
Published: 6:58 PM, August 21, 2017
Updated: 7:31 PM, August 21, 2017
SINGAPORE – The High Court has given the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) the green light to launch contempt of court proceedings against Mr Li Shengwu, the son of Mr Lee Hsien Yang and nephew of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Permission was granted by Justice Kannan Ramesh during a closed door hearing on Monday (Aug 21), bringing proceedings to the next stage, said Senior State Counsel Francis Ng to reporters. The AGC will have 14 days - till Sept 4 - to write to the court to start proceedings, then serve court documents on Mr Li, so that dates for a hearing can be fixed.
A hearing can go on whether or not Mr Li or his lawyers are present.
If satisfied that Mr Li has scandalised the court, the High Court could make an order for committal and sentence him to a fine or a jail term.
The alleged contempt surfaced in a private Facebook post made by Mr Li, 32, on July 15.
In the post, the Harvard academic had shared a Wall Street Journal article on the dispute between his father, uncle and aunt Lee Wei Ling over the family property at 38 Oxley Road. He also wrote that the Singapore Government was “litigious” and has a “pliant court system”.
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Li Shengwu highlights PM Lee’s press secretary knew about contents of AGC letter to him
So he made the letters that were exchanged public.
By Belmont Lay | August 21, 2017
Li Shengwu has published in full the letters the Attorney General’s Chambers sent him on Aug. 8 and his response to them on Aug. 18.
Li wrote in a Facebook post on Monday, Aug. 21, that “the AGC privately revised its demands to me”, but “my uncle PM Lee Hsien Loong’s press secretary was aware of these revised demands, and disclosed them on 18 August”.
In response to this turn of events, Li released both letters as Google docs (see below) into the public domain.
PM Lee’s press secretary
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s press secretary is Chang Li Lin.
The Aug. 18 response from Chang that Li highlighted was reported in a Reuters article, “Lee Kuan Yew’s grandson left Singapore because friends feared he would be detained”. The article was based on an exclusive interview they did with Li.
In her response, seen by Mothership, Chang rebutted the suggestion that there was a cult of personality surrounding the late Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore and highlighted the next step the AGC was taking against Li for a previous Facebook post he made suggesting “that the Singapore government is very litigious and has a pliant court system”.
AGC’s demands
The AGC was demanding that Li apologise for his post, even though he amended the wording of the post and kept it private throughout.
Li’s contention is that the meaning of his post was taken out of context and the AGC has not pursued the matter with other publishers that gave the post more exposure in public.
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Presidential hopeful Salleh Marican submits papers for upcoming reserved election
By Faris Mokhtar
Published: 3:56 PM, August 23, 2017
Updated: 5:31 PM, August 23, 2017
SINGAPORE — Presidential hopeful Mohamed Salleh Marican has submitted his application forms to contest the upcoming reserved presidential election, becoming the first among three potential candidates to do so.
Mr Marican, accompanied by members of his campaign team, turned up at the Elections Department at about 3.30pm on Wednesday (Aug 23).
Two other potential contenders — Mr Farid Khan Kaim Kham and Madam Halimah Yacob — are expected to submit their forms in the coming days.
“I’m ready and I believe all Singaporeans are ready to vote. It would be good for Singapore if there is a contest,” Mr Marican told reporters after successfully submitting his papers.
Mr Farid, the 62-year-old chairman of marine service provider Bourbon Offshore Asia Pacific, has said he will submit his papers on Thursday morning.
Mdm Halimah, the former Speaker of Parliament, told TODAY she will submit her forms in “due course”.
Signalling his intention to contest back in June, Mr Marican, 67, had told TODAY in an earlier interview that he wants to use the influence and power of the Presidency to raise more funds for charities, especially the smaller ones.
The three hopefuls have to be deemed eligible by the Presidential Elections Committee before they can be officially declared as candidates for the upcoming election.
The qualifying criteria was raised last November, when Parliament passed changes to the Elected Presidency scheme. Among the changes is the requirement of having run a company with at least S$500 million in shareholders’ equity, on average, in the most recent three years.
As the upcoming election is reserved for the Malay community, they also have to submit a community declaration to the Community Committee to certify their ethnic group.
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Apex Court dismisses Tan Cheng Bock’s Presidential Election appeal
Published: 12:44 PM, August 23, 2017
Updated: 7:07 PM, August 23, 2017
SINGAPORE — The Court of Appeal has rejected the appeal by former presidential hopeful Dr Tan Cheng Bock against the basis and timing of the coming reserved Presidential Election.
In a 68-page written judgment issued on Wednesday (Aug 23), the panel of five judges, among them Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, ruled that Parliament had the right to decide when to start counting the first term of office for the reserved election, making the Attorney General’s advice irrelevant.
The court also found that the definition for President covers those elected by the Parliament as well as citizens, therefore leaving it open for Parliament to specify that President Wee Kim Wee’s last term would also count as the first term of the Elected President under the amended Constitution.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday evening, Dr Tan expressed disappointment and said he accepts the decision “with a heavy heart”. Adding he disagreed with some who called his appeal a “fool’s errand”, he filed the case “to argue what most Singaporeans felt was proper”.
“My team and I will now rest, regroup and re-energise ourselves. I promise you, I will always speak up for Singaporeans and do my very best for our country,” he said, at the same time wishing the participants of the coming Presidential Election all the best.
Dr Tan had filed an appeal to the apex court after changes to the Elected Presidency (EP) scheme were passed, where a reserved election will be triggered for a particular race that has not seen an elected representative for five consecutive terms
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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...lection-appeal
Somehow or other I am not surprise by the outcome . AbdullTCB ?
WP files motion on reserved election for parliament sitting
By Siau Ming En
Published: 4:00 AM, August 29, 2017
Updated: 7:45 AM, August 29, 2017
Workers’ Party (WP) chairman and Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim has tabled an adjournment motion on an issue surrounding the Elected Presidency, which will be debated at the next Parliament sitting on Sept 11 — just two days before Nomination Day.
Writing on Facebook, the WP said the motion will be titled Counting from President Wee Kim Wee or President Ong Teng Cheong — policy decision or legal question?
The issue of whether the count for the hiatus-triggered model for the Elected Presidency should start from the term of Dr Wee or Mr Ong was part of the failed legal challenge mounted by former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock.
The motion was filed before Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued the writ of election yesterday. “In the wake of intense public discussion after the parliamentary debates and a court case on the reserved presidential election, the Workers’ Party believes it is in the public interest for the Government to clarify this issue surrounding the election of our Head of State,” the opposition party wrote on Facebook.
Last week, the Court of Appeal threw out Dr Tan’s legal challenge on the basis and timing of the reserved election. The panel of five judges, including Chief Justice (CJ) Sundaresh Menon, ruled that whether or not a President was voted into office by citizens was irrelevant in calculating the five-term trigger for a reserved election.
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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...iament-sitting
No use lah . Waste of time .