After watching all the debates and the forum, I can't help it but come to the conclusion that we are electing a 'Super-accountant' for the country, and not a president. As pointed out, our current president has never been 'famous' as a person with strong financial knowledge and i don't know why this is such an issue in the current election.
My opinion is that for Singapore which is ruled by a parliamentary system in which Prime Minister is entrusted with all the power and authority, we don't need another so-call higher person to monitor his performance. If the PM is no good, we just need to vote for another one and hopefully can be a better one.
furthermore, public finance is a very complicated matter. While the current system seems to forbid the government to withdraw the past reserves, the government of the day can always issue state bonds and treasury bills to finance their operations. They don't need to draw the past reserve to fund their operations. i have very little (or no knowledge) of public finance, but raising public funds through bonds and treasury bills is one of the mechanics in the public finance. This is universal.
Frankly, I feel very embrass to discuss with me overseas friends on our current PE. Are we electing a president to represent the people or are we electing a super-accountant?