00:00 The intent of our Constitution is very clear, to have a non-partisan elected president so
00:10 that the president is above the partisan politics of Parliament.
00:17 Yet all our elected presidents since 1993 were affiliated to or endorsed by the PAP.
00:29 Our system has been compromising the spirit of the Constitution.
00:36 Our system has complied with the letter but not the spirit of the Constitution.
00:44 Our system allowed past political leaders to stand for election merely months after
00:51 resigning from their political party.
00:55 Politics in Singapore today has become highly contestable.
01:02 Having the wrong team in charge in the near future is no longer a remote possibility.
01:11 Our government leadership will also undergo a generational change in the next few years.
01:20 There are uncertainties and risks with all transitions in the face of such increasing
01:27 risks.
01:28 We cannot afford to have a president who may be beholden to political parties who endorse
01:38 their nominations and help get them elected.
01:43 We cannot afford to have a president who is manipulated by political parties to serve
01:51 their political agenda.
01:54 Is it appropriate for an ex-finance minister who set fiscal policies to then move across
02:02 the table and become the president and check on the very policies that he had put in place?
02:12 I do not believe any person should be put in such a position of conflict.
02:20 And we don't need to.
02:24 We cannot rely on an own-self check, own-self mechanism to safeguard our reserves or the
02:32 integrity of the public service.
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