Institution of Elected President at a crossroad?

Personally I am at a major crossroad of my life, hence my blog name "crossroads".  To me, being at the crossroad would require major decisions to be made and major changes to be expected.

Therefore I am surprised and dismayed to hear that the institution of Elected President is at a crossroad and will evolve over time.  Isn't the institution of Elected President enshrined in the Constitution?  How could it be at a crossroad?  What major decisions and changes are needed at this crossroad?

Perhaps the recent closely fought presidential election has created this crossroad.  It is time to tame the created monster before it returns to haunt?

The drivers of the evolution will possibly come from 2 sources:-

1) The President himself.  The way he engages the government and the people of Singapore will likely set the precedents for future presidents to come.  It will be a gradual and painful process of testing the boundaries, getting the feedback and taking the next step.  The President will be moving in uncharted territory. He will have to be proactive & engaging, determine & persuasive, objective & independent....etc.  I am really not sure if Tony Tan is the most ideal person to carry out this all important task which will determine the credibility and the fate of the presidency.  On one hand, his track records & close association with the ruling party is an asset in engaging the government, yet at the same time, this has made it difficult for him to be seen to be independent of the government.

 2) The Ruling party.  After all, this is the same ruling party that has created the role of the elected president to be the "goalkeeper" for Singapore.  It has probably not expected that the "goalkeeper" may someday want to be the "striker".  After all ex-Manchester United goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel had regularly vacated his goalpost to venture up field to score goals.

The most powerful tool the ruling party can use is of course to change the Constitutions.  It still has the majority vote to move any Bill in Parliament.  Typical of the government's working style on long term planning and scenario analysis, it has probably concluded that it must tweak the rules now and tame monster before it gets really nasty.

Signs are already there as the PM has said that "the Institution (presidency) will evolve to take into account new circumstances".   So, what are the new circumstances and what will be the evolutions?

Whatever actions to be taken, let's hope that it will not be a case of "using a machine gun to kill an ant".....that will probably miss the ant, particularly in the current environment.

As I reflect on the political landscape of Singapore, I think Singapore has certainly come a long way from a politically apathetic nation to a politically vibrant nation.    We have not arrived, but we are certainly on the way. While we like to complain a lot, we must also give credit to the government which have gradually allowed the political space to open up.  While the government may be high handed in many aspects, it has also mellowed down in many ways.

Not only is the Institution of Presidency at the crossroads, the ruling party is also at the crossroads after the recent watershed general election.   The tiny red dot Singapore, is certainly at the crossroads as well, with the global problems from the major developed economies of USA, Europe, Japan and even potentially China. The decisions to be made and the way to take going forward may well determine the fate of our future and the generations to come.

Are you at a crossroad too?  I am staring at mine, the biggest crossroad of my life.........