Wong Souk Yee v AG
[2019] SGCA 25
Constitution. On this basis, the Appellant suggests that voters have a right to
representation in Parliament founded on the basic structure of the Constitution,
and that this basic structure includes the right to be represented by the full slate
of elected Members returned at each general election. The Appellant thus
suggests that a single vacant seat in MYT GRC results in a state of affairs which
violates the Constitution and so must be rectified to ensure that all the seats in
MYT GRC are filled until the dissolution of Parliament.
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It must first be noted that in Yong Vui Kong, we expressly refrained from
determining whether the basic structure doctrine laid down in the seminal
decision of the Supreme Court of India in Kesavananda Bharati v State of
Kerala AIR 1973 SC 1461 forms part of Singapore law, and even if it does,
what its extent or effect would be. It was unnecessary to do so on the facts of
Yong Vui Kong because “in order for a feature to be considered part of the basic
structure of the Constitution, it must be something fundamental and essential to
the political system that is established thereunder”, and we were satisfied that
the right contended for in that case did not possess those characteristics (see
Yong Vui Kong at [71]–[72]).
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It is similarly clear in the present case that even if the basic structure
doctrine does apply in Singapore, the right as framed by the Appellant would
not form part of that basic structure. The Appellant’s contention, taken to its
logical conclusion, implies that the GRC scheme as conceived by Parliament is
inconsistent with the basic structure of the Constitution. Even if the right to
representation forms part of the basic structure of the Constitution, it does not
follow that there is a particular form of representation that is “fundamental and
essential” to the Westminster model of government such that it cannot be
departed from. In our judgment, there is nothing in principle that would prevent
Parliament from devising the GRC scheme in such a way that a GRC could be
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