Tan Cheng Bock v AG
[2017] SGCA 50
…
82. The Government agrees with the approach proposed by the
Commission. …
[emphasis added]
114
With the greatest respect to the Appellant, these extracts were wholly
irrelevant to the real controversy that was before us. It is plain from the
Commission’s terms of reference that it was tasked with considering and
proposing mechanisms to ensure minority representation in the Presidency
given the form of the office of the President as it was at the time the Commission
was established. References to “free and unregulated elections” producing
Presidents from different races or to a “30-year” hiatus that may trigger a
reserved election must be understood in that context as pointing to the
desirability of establishing a reserved election model. The Commission was not
asked under its terms of reference to address its mind to when and how the count
would start for the purposes of Art 19B(1). Any explanation of the concept of
or the desirability of a reserved election in the Commission’s Report says
nothing about the specific question of when the recommended model should
take effect. Notably, the Commission expressly declined to comment on the
issue of whether and, more importantly, when any amendments to the
Constitution should be implemented because it took the view that this was “a
political matter for Parliament to determine” (see the Commission’s Report at
para 7.19).
115
Thus, the Commission’s Report and the White Paper pertain mainly to
the reasons for wanting to ensure minority representation in the office of the
President through the introduction of the concept of the reserved election in Art
19B(1), as well as their reasons for proposing and choosing the specific
mechanism of a hiatus-triggered reserved election. Both the Commission’s
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