Referendum, Please!
The last Presidential Election was a farce lampooned worldwide.
Unbelievably, this second Presidential Election goes even further and throws us all back into the old days when a President was simply appointed by Lee Kuan Yew. In this case, Nathan was picked by Lee without even the semblance of an election. Whatever happened to the rhetoric by Lee about an 'elected' President having more 'mandate' to "protect the taxpayers' reserves and to oversight senior civil service appointments"?
LKY and the PAP are now even bigger laughing stocks.
But I'd like to suggest a way for them to save face.
Why not hold the scheduled Presidential Election on
Voters will be given a ballot that will read something like this:
DO YOU WANT NATHAN TO BE YOUR PRESIDENT TO SAFEGUARD YOUR RESERVES AND OVERSIGHT KEY CIVIL SERVICE APPOINTMENTS?
YES ( )
NO ( )
UNSURE ( )
NO COMMENT ( )
As in a truly democratic election, the PAP can champion their man and campaign for YES votes while the Opposition can campaign for whatever vote they want. Then, it will become a convincing and clear referendum by the people whether they are happy with the PAP and the way they stage-manage everything.
It will be a true test of the PAP's popularity since, unlike a GE, there is no GRC or upgrading threats to cloud the issue.
Like every Singaporean, I look forward to a chance to cast my vote of confidence in Nathan. Surely the PAP will not chicken out of this modest little referendum in which they have nothing to lose since Nathan will become President anyway!
Puny Voter
