Other suggestions: scale down GRCs and make NMP scheme permanent
| By Clarissa Oon, Senior Political Correspondent |
Members of the House were responding to President S R Nathan's Address at the opening of Parliament last Monday.
In his speech, the President had said that Singapore's political system 'is not set in stone' and must respond to the demands of a younger electorate while continuing to deliver good government.
Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) floated a radical suggestion aimed at getting the best talent into the Cabinet - allow the Prime Minister to appoint outstanding individuals from outside the ranks of elected MPs.
The suggestion has been made several times over the last 20 years by MPs and political observers, but has never been accepted by the Government on the grounds that unelected ministers would not be accountable to the electorate.
Revisiting the issue, Mr Nair argued that 'it may sound sacrilegious in a democracy to say so, but a person who is popular on the ground may not necessarily be the best person to run a ministry, or vice versa'.
He felt the concept of a 'nominated minister' did not offend the principles of democracy, as some democracies in the West already have such a system of appointing unelected ministers.
For example the British parliamentary system - from which Singapore's was derived - has a House of Lords composed mainly of unelected members who may be appointed to the Cabinet. As for the United States, the entire Cabinet is appointed by the President and they cannot be elected members of Congress.
What Singapore has by way of appointed parliamentarians is the Nominated MP (NMP) scheme, started in 1990 to introduce more diverse and independent views into Parliament. Each new Parliament has to decide if it wishes to have NMPs.
Arguing that now is the right time to make the NMP scheme permanent, NMP Loo Choon Yong said the scheme has been fine-tuned over 19 years and contributed greatly to policymaking and the quality of debate in the House.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=29744.1
No comments:
Post a Comment