Tan Cheng Bock v AG
[2017] SGCA 50
presumed to mean the same as “office of President” as it is used
throughout Art 19B(1). Therefore, the “5 most recent terms of office”
referred to here are those terms of office held by Presidents under the
Constitution as it stands after the appointed date. The practical effect of
this interpretation is that any term of office held by a President before
the appointed date cannot be counted, as it would have been a term of
the office of the President as it existed under a previous version of the
Constitution, and not a term of the office of the President as it exists
after the coming into effect of the 2016 Amendment.
59
Taken together, at least presumptively, and without regard to any other
provision, Art 19B(1) appears to mean this: any election for the office of
President to be held after the appointed date shall be reserved for a community
if no person belonging to that community has, held the office of President for
any of the five most recent terms of office of the President preceding that
election. Furthermore, by reason of what we have said at [58(c)(i)] the process
of reckoning the five terms would only begin after the appointed date. This goes
further than even the Appellant’s position in terms of when the first reserved
election can be, because it would suggest that the five terms of office to be
counted can only be terms held after the appointed date. On this basis, no
election can be reserved for a considerable time after the appointed date.
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What remains uncertain or unclear, just on the basis of the language of
Art 19B(1), are the following points:
(a)
Does Art 19B(1) refer to those who have not held the office in
their own right but who have, on a temporary basis, exercised the
functions and powers of the office?
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