Tan Cheng Bock v AG
[2017] SGCA 50
elected by Parliament under the previous Art 17(1), and those who were elected
by the citizens of Singapore under the present Art 17A. In both cases, the
relevant Presidents were “elected under this Constitution”. Hence, on this view,
the “5 most recent terms” in Art 19B(1) can start from the term of any past
President specified by Parliament, subject to the point we have made at [71(a)]
above.
100
We make one final point, which we alluded to in passing earlier. As we
noted at [72(a)], Art 163 confirms that President Wee was to be regarded as
having “held the office” of President even after the 1991 Amendment altered
the office of the President. When Art 19B was drafted, Parliament had
knowledge of Art 163 and it seems reasonable to infer, as Mr Nair submitted,
that the use of the words “held the office” in the former was influenced in part
by their use in the latter. The relevant question is not whether President Wee
was elected to the Presidency under the post-1991 Amendment iteration of the
Constitution but whether he is properly to be said to have held that office even
after the 1991 Amendment, and as to that, if there were any conceivable doubt
over this, Art 163 makes it explicitly clear that he did.
101
We summarise our interpretation of the plain meaning of Arts 19B(1)
and 164, having regard to the text of the provisions in their statutory context, as
follows:
(a)
The counting of “terms of office” under Art 19B(1) may include
terms already served, as well as partial terms of office that were
uncompleted.
(b)
Art 164 allows Parliament to specify any of the past five terms
of office of the President that immediately precede the 2017 election as
the first term to be counted under Art 19B(1).
50