Manifesto checklist
In the previous article One thousand, I sketched out my political beliefs as a liberal. Here, I am going to take it one step further. What would I want to see in party manifestoes?
A political manifesto should address the areas which need work in the coming term of office. Of course, if one had the time, it could be an infinitely long list, but here I will just keep it to the top ten priorities. These ten are, in my view, the key areas where the present situation falls far short of ideal, from the point of view of a liberal.
I have divided the ten into two sets of five. The first five are what I call the direct responsibilities to liberty. The second are the indirect responsibilities -- policy areas what can have an enabling effect towards greater freedom for the largest number of people.
However, no manifesto can be exhaustive. This is a reason why parties too should state their political philosophy. It gives voters a clue as to how they will respond to unforeseen situations, what guiding principles will come into play.
That said, here are the ten priorities:
1. Gay equality
Full legal equality for all regardless of gender and sexual orientation. This includes marriage and adoption.
2. Constitutional and electoral reform
Disestablish Group Representation Constituencies. Parliament should comprise 84 single-member constituencies and 84 more seats elected nationally on a proportional party basis.
Members of Parliament (MPs) should be encouraged to be full-time MPs so that they can devote more attention to communicating with the ground and to thinking about policy issues, and not merely be part of a rubber-stamp legislature, which part-time MPs, busy with their other jobs, tend to be. The full salary of about S$14,000 a month (the current "allowance") should therefore only be for full-time MPs; those with other jobs should be paid much less.
Certain organs of the state should not be overseen purely by the elected government, but jointly with an elected president (with lower eligibility threshold for presidential candidates). This elected president should take advice from a nine-member senate. Organs of state that should be supervised by the president and senate should include the judiciary, the elections bureau, the anti-corruption bureau, statistics commission and the office of the Ombudsman for Freedom of Information. The senate must hold hearings into the qualifications of candidates proposed by the elected government for senior positions in these organs of state (e.g. justices of the supreme court), and must approve all proposed appointments before the president assents to them. The senate retains the right to summon these office-holders (except justices of the Supreme Court) to appear before it for reports on their work and, upon a two-thirds majority, to impeach them (including justices of the Supreme Court) for any severe violations of the public trust.
The senate should comprise nine members. Three to be elected by the people in a national vote from a list of nine candidates proposed by the prime minister. Three more to be elected by the people from another slate of nine put up by the parliamentary Leader of the Opposition. The last three to be appointed at the sole discretion of the president.
3. Strengthen the independence of the judiciary
Set up a stand-alone apex court, comprising seven judges, three of which must be sourced from foreign common-law jurisdictions. Narrow the present law on contempt of court to apply only to instances when a legitimate court order is defied.
4. Freedom of speech and assembly
Remove all censorship except for the most egregiously harmful speech, though rating systems are justifiable, provided that there remains a rating band that contains no censorship at all (the present situation is that even the topmost classification can still require cuts). Any remaining controls must be subject to judicial review and public consultation.
Break up the duopolies Singapore Press Holdings and Mediacorp. Repeal the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act, the law that gives the government effective control over the media.
Realign all public assembly rules to practices in liberal democracies.
Enact a Freedom of Information law. Appoint an Ombudsman for Freedom of Information to arbitrate on complaints that government agencies are not living up to the spirit of transparency. The Ombudsman can sue the government for violation of the law on behalf of citizen-petitioners. Likewise, the Ombudsman can also rule certain requests from citizens as frivolous, vexatious and of no public interest. All government records to be open to the public after 30 years; only the Ombudsman can allow exceptions, keeping still-sensitive information sealed for another 20 years.
5. Abolish inhuman penalties
Abolish the death penalty. Abolish caning. Restrict detention without trial to cases of suspected terrorism and violent revolution, with additional reviews, safeguards and open records within five years of any detention.
In the previous article One thousand, I sketched out my political beliefs as a liberal. Here, I am going to take it one step further. What would I want to see in party manifestoes?
A political manifesto should address the areas which need work in the coming term of office. Of course, if one had the time, it could be an infinitely long list, but here I will just keep it to the top ten priorities. These ten are, in my view, the key areas where the present situation falls far short of ideal, from the point of view of a liberal.
I have divided the ten into two sets of five. The first five are what I call the direct responsibilities to liberty. The second are the indirect responsibilities -- policy areas what can have an enabling effect towards greater freedom for the largest number of people.
However, no manifesto can be exhaustive. This is a reason why parties too should state their political philosophy. It gives voters a clue as to how they will respond to unforeseen situations, what guiding principles will come into play.
That said, here are the ten priorities:
1. Gay equality
Full legal equality for all regardless of gender and sexual orientation. This includes marriage and adoption.
2. Constitutional and electoral reform
Disestablish Group Representation Constituencies. Parliament should comprise 84 single-member constituencies and 84 more seats elected nationally on a proportional party basis.
Members of Parliament (MPs) should be encouraged to be full-time MPs so that they can devote more attention to communicating with the ground and to thinking about policy issues, and not merely be part of a rubber-stamp legislature, which part-time MPs, busy with their other jobs, tend to be. The full salary of about S$14,000 a month (the current "allowance") should therefore only be for full-time MPs; those with other jobs should be paid much less.
Certain organs of the state should not be overseen purely by the elected government, but jointly with an elected president (with lower eligibility threshold for presidential candidates). This elected president should take advice from a nine-member senate. Organs of state that should be supervised by the president and senate should include the judiciary, the elections bureau, the anti-corruption bureau, statistics commission and the office of the Ombudsman for Freedom of Information. The senate must hold hearings into the qualifications of candidates proposed by the elected government for senior positions in these organs of state (e.g. justices of the supreme court), and must approve all proposed appointments before the president assents to them. The senate retains the right to summon these office-holders (except justices of the Supreme Court) to appear before it for reports on their work and, upon a two-thirds majority, to impeach them (including justices of the Supreme Court) for any severe violations of the public trust.
The senate should comprise nine members. Three to be elected by the people in a national vote from a list of nine candidates proposed by the prime minister. Three more to be elected by the people from another slate of nine put up by the parliamentary Leader of the Opposition. The last three to be appointed at the sole discretion of the president.
3. Strengthen the independence of the judiciary
Set up a stand-alone apex court, comprising seven judges, three of which must be sourced from foreign common-law jurisdictions. Narrow the present law on contempt of court to apply only to instances when a legitimate court order is defied.
4. Freedom of speech and assembly
Remove all censorship except for the most egregiously harmful speech, though rating systems are justifiable, provided that there remains a rating band that contains no censorship at all (the present situation is that even the topmost classification can still require cuts). Any remaining controls must be subject to judicial review and public consultation.
Break up the duopolies Singapore Press Holdings and Mediacorp. Repeal the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act, the law that gives the government effective control over the media.
Realign all public assembly rules to practices in liberal democracies.
Enact a Freedom of Information law. Appoint an Ombudsman for Freedom of Information to arbitrate on complaints that government agencies are not living up to the spirit of transparency. The Ombudsman can sue the government for violation of the law on behalf of citizen-petitioners. Likewise, the Ombudsman can also rule certain requests from citizens as frivolous, vexatious and of no public interest. All government records to be open to the public after 30 years; only the Ombudsman can allow exceptions, keeping still-sensitive information sealed for another 20 years.
5. Abolish inhuman penalties
Abolish the death penalty. Abolish caning. Restrict detention without trial to cases of suspected terrorism and violent revolution, with additional reviews, safeguards and open records within five years of any detention.
