PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE (Executive powers)

Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam asked the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence whether he will elaborate on his statement made at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy that the government proposes to amend the Constitution to enable a future President to share powers with the Prime Minister.

The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence (Mr Goh Chok Tong): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Anson has not read the text of my speech at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy carefully. I did not say that the Constitution would be amended "to enable a future President to share powers with the Prime Minister". Those were the words of the Straits Times journalist who had paraphrased my speech.

What I said was:

'The President will be vested with veto powers in certain areas. He will not have the powers of President Reagan. The Prime Minister will remain the Chief Executive of the country. But in areas where the President is vested with veto powers, the Prime Minister has to have his concurrence. The areas which we have in mind relate to the use of the country's financial reserves. These reserves, including those accumulated by previous governments from the same party, cannot be freely spent without the President's agreement. The President, for example, may withhold his consent if the Cabinet proposes to spend the reserves on wasteful programmes or projects. This way, we have an additional safeguard against our financial reserves being squandered by a potentially profligate government.'

Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam (Anson): Mr Speaker, Sir, a supplementary question for the First Deputy Prime Minister. But, first of all, could I ask him whether he does not think it improper, or perhaps uncalled for, to take issue with me on what is reported in his own paper, the Straits Times? I never saw any correction of this report from the First Deputy Prime Minister. But I will let that pass.

May I ask the First Deputy Prime Minister, first of all, was there any reason why he went to the other side of the world to speak on a matter that concerns the people of Singapore primarily, without first discussing the proposals with the people of Singapore?

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I thought the Member for Anson has jumped up to apologize to me for having not read my speech carefully. Instead he has taken issue with the Straits Times and me for not having corrected the wrong reporting. The Member for Anson should have read my speech which was also published in the same issue of the Straits Times. My speech was also telecast. So he owes me an apology rather than the other way round.

Why did I go to Boston to make a speech on a matter which concerns Singaporeans? The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy organizes conferences on ASEAN. Last year it was a conference on Singapore, the year before it was on Indonesia. It was a seminar wherein other speakers were also invited. I thought the main interest of the audience would be the political future of Singapore and I therefore delivered a speech on a matter which I believe was of great interest to the audience.

Is there anything wrong with a Minister making a speech which concerns Singaporeans in a country outside Singapore? The Member for Anson himself went to Penang to talk on human rights, and he was in Jakarta to talk about the plight of the foreign workers in Singapore. Is he not contradicting himself when he asked me that question?

Mr Jeyaretnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I ask the First Deputy Prime Minister if he is not aware of the distinction between my speaking in Jakarta or in Penang and the First Deputy Prime Minister speaking to foreigners about how we propose to govern ourselves in the future, without the matter first having been discussed with the people? I would respectfully suggest to the Minister that there is a distinction. The First Deputy Prime Minister himself this morning says that he told the Americans that there were certain -

Mr Speaker: I thought you are asking a supplementary question, Mr Jeyaretnam. But you are making a speech.

Mr Jeyaretnam: I was just saying that the First Deputy Prime Minister mentioned "areas". "Areas" is a plural word. Would the First Deputy Prime Minister define the areas in which it is proposed that the President should have veto powers? Does he not realize that the Prime Minister, speaking on this sometime last year, or was it the year before, confined it to purely the use of foreign reserves? Did the First Deputy Prime Minister enlarge these areas before the Americans?

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, first the question of distinction between the Member for Anson speaking to a foreign audience and the First Deputy Prime Minister speaking to an American audience. The distinction is this. He has double standards. I do not have double standards. But that is not the important point of the debate this morning.

I referred to areas related to financial reserves. I did not go beyond what the Prime Minister has said on this issue in Singapore. We are concerned with the protection of financial reserves. How we protect these financial reserves is a question that is being studied by the Auditor-General, Accountant-General and the Permanent Secretaries who have to refine the plan to make it workable. Hence I used the words "areas related to financial reserves". The matter has been discussed in Singapore. I did not raise anything new in Boston. I was merely projecting ourselves into the future for the Americans who have an interest in the future of Singapore. I did not go into areas which the Member for Anson, in his own mind, thought I had gone into.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Is the First Deputy Prime Minister in a position now to define these areas? That is what I am asking.

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Anson is long on questions and short on memory. The matter was discussed sometime last year when he questioned the Prime Minister on this issue. The Prime Minister then said that it would take about two years for the details to be refined into a workable proposal to be formulated in a White Paper and submitted to the House. So please wait. It will take about two years from last year.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Could the First Deputy Prime Minister tell us whether this proposal will first be published in a White Paper and then thrown open to the people of Singapore for discussion?

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I just said that the Member for Anson is very long on questions and very short on memory. The Prime Minister has said last year, and I repeat, that the proposal will be published as a White Paper and submitted to Parliament and, of course, Parliament will discuss this.

Mr Jeyaretnam: The question is whether it will be thrown to the public for discussion. That is my question: whether the public will be invited, whether there would be public meetings and discussions on this matter?

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, when the proposal is published as a White Paper, the public is welcomed to discuss it and the Members of Parliament from both sides of the House can convene public meetings to discuss the paper.

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): Mr Speaker, Sir, the First Deputy Prime Minister suggests the changes which, in my mind, are very drastic. In other words, if you give veto powers to the President -

Mr Speaker: Where is your supplementary question, Mr Chiam?

Mr Chiam See Tong: - we are virtually taking away the supremacy of Parliament, changing the system as we know it today and which has served us so well for the last 25 years. My question is: Since this is going to be a very serious matter, will the Government put it to the people of Singapore, maybe in the form of a referendum, before these changes are made?

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am afraid the Member for Potong Pasir shares with the Member for Anson in not recalling a matter which was debated here last year. The answer given last year was that a referendum is very expensive but if the need for a referendum is there and the Members for Potong Pasir and Anson press for it and we feel that there is a need for it, it will be put to the people.

Mr Jeyaretnam: May I inform the First Deputy Prime Minister that he is quite right in what the Prime Minister said: that they would consider it. But the question this morning is: Will you go to the people on a referendum? We are asking for a referendum. There is no question of considering it. You said you will go to the people on a referendum if there is a demand for it, and I say we are asking for it.

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Contain your patience. When the proposal is published in the form of a White Paper and should the Member for Anson ask for it at that time, supported by the Member for Potong Pasir -

Mr Jeyaretnam: We will get it.

Mr Goh Chok Tong: - we will consider it very seriously.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, as regards costs of the referendum, how much will that be - $1 million, $2 million? The Government has thrown away $18 million last December. Is that just to boost up the sagging image of the PAP?

Mr Speaker: Mr Jeyaretnam, your second question.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Is a referendum not as important as an exhibition?

Mr Speaker: You are asking a question that is not indicated in the Question.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Yes, all right. We will get the First Deputy Prime Minister to speak out loud and clear whether or not there will be a referendum. We have been asked to give straight answers. But we hope the Government will now give straight answers.

Mr Speaker: Mr Jeyaretnam, your second question.

Mr Jeyaretnam: I have another supplementary question, Mr Speaker, Sir.

Mr Speaker: All right.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Before I dispose of this question, may I ask the First Deputy Prime Minister whether the American businessmen or whoever attended this lecture asked for an assurance that the PAP Government would continue to rule Singapore before they would continue to invest in Singapore?

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, before I answer the question, on the supplementary question phrased in the form of a long speech by the Member for Potong Pasir, there will be a referendum if the people feel the need for a referendum.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Yes or no?

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Did the American investors ask for an assurance that the PAP would be in power before they would invest. They did not ask for an assurance in that particular manner.

Mr Jeyaretnam: In what manner did they ask?

Mr Goh Chok Tong: But they were very reassured that we are taking steps to ensure that there will be a stable government in Singapore in the 1990s.