The skeptical cynic strikes!

From Todayonline (18 August 2005)

Letter from Janaine Lau
Press Secretary to Minister for Law

Your article "Changing Istana" (Aug 13-14), although purporting to be based on views of experts, contained misleading and inaccurate statements about the constitutional role of the President and his relationship with the Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA).
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First, the article said that in 2004, Parliament passed new provisions "to make it possible for the Government to transfer its reserves to selected statutory boards and Government companies, without such transfers being regarded as a draw on past reserves".
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In fact, the amendments merely enabled the Government to transfer its past reserves to the past reserves of protected statutory boards and Government companies. This would not enable the Government to draw on these past reserves.
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Secondly, the article said the majority of the six-member CPA "must agree with the President before he can effectively veto the Government's budget or key appointments".
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There is no requirement that the CPA has to agree with the President before he can exercise his veto. However, if the President vetoes the budget or key appointments contrary to the CPA's recommendation, the veto can be overridden by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. But if the CPA agrees with the President, then his veto is final and cannot be overridden by Parliament.

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Notice the words in bold above.

From the dictionary.com, the definition of veto:

n. pl. ve·toes

1.
1. The vested power or constitutional right of one branch or department of government to refuse approval of measures proposed by another department, especially the power of a chief executive to reject a bill passed by the legislature and thus prevent or delay its enactment into law.
2. Exercise of this right.
3. An official document or message from a chief executive stating the reasons for rejection of a bill.
2. An authoritative prohibition or rejection of a proposed or intended act.


tr.v. ve·toed, ve·to·ing, ve·toes

1. To prevent (a legislative bill) from becoming law by exercising the power of veto.
2. To forbid or prohibit authoritatively.


Then let's see the make up of the Council of Presidential Advisors (from http://www.istana.gov.sg/cpa.html):


The Council comprises six members, of whom two are appointed by the President at his discretion, two are the Prime Minister's nominees, one is the Chief Justice's nominee and the sixth, the nominee of the Chairman of the Public Service Commission.


And then let's see who makes up the majority of the Parliament (from here):

Total of 84 seats in Parliament.
seats by party - PAP 82, WP 1, SPP 1


And we just wonder why was there so much hoo ha about the non-president elections earlier.