Can a politicized President’s Office truly unite Singaporeans?

[Confuseous]

The oft-heard rationale for the Elected President was so that a rogue (read: non-PAP) government would not be able to spend the country into bankruptcy if there was a responsible President to hold the second key. Or so the logic from the smartest brains in the country goes. What the logic fails to account for is that in order for the ‘rogue’ party to come to power, it would already by then have the support of a large number of the population. And that in doing so, that same population would likewise want a President that best represents them. The government must be truly naïve to believe that people with partisan interests would not be interested in capturing an office that has the power to influence key appointments of public officers and control how much it can dip into the reserves.

- http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/08/can-a-politicized-president’s-office-truly-unite-singaporeans/

 

[HedgeTrader]

Theoretically maybe yes but now not practically with 65% voting against him LOL

 

[zeddy]

Tony can't unite Sporeans.. Its a mission impossible.. Maybe Mr TCB would stand a chance of uniting this country if he had won last Saturday... But majority of Sporeans will never accept Tony as the People's President.. 65% gave him the middle finger.. He got a monumental task ahead to convince the majority..

 

[LeMans2011]

There has been a lot of talk about "Unite Singaporeans", "Heal the divide" etc.
The state-controlled media has once again succeeded in creating the illusion of a "divided" Singapore when in reality, it is just a handful of the elites that people are pissed with. I am pretty sure when it comes to "less FTs" and "lower cost of living" all Singaporeans are united. The recent Cook Curry event is the best example.

The local scene is a far cry from countries like US where Republicans and Democrats with equal power can never stop blaming each other. Or the Red Shirts vs Yellow Shirts in Thailand which will never end.

Please don't be fooled by PAP, they are trying to get Singaporeans to look to PAP for leadership as a pretext to "Unite Singaporeans"

 

[hairylee]

Very easy.
Just get the leaders of various community and segments of society to come out a say "President Tony have done a lot for the community etc...".
Yaccob just did it with his Hari Raya message.

At the end of his six year term The straits times will declare he is indeed a people's president.
He do not even need to get out of Istana.

 

[steffychun]

Let him try and see......