George Goh Says Ong Teng Cheong Had Political Courage As President
Like many Singaporeans, presidential hopeful George Goh has watched Channel NewsAsia (CNA)’s documentary with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Singapore’s reserves.
The potential candidate highlighted former president Ong Teng Cheong’s disagreement with the Executive branch’s use of investment returns.
Mr Goh used this to argue why the president should be independent.
He further added that the most important quality needed to exercise real independence is the political courage to challenge the Executive.
George Goh praises former president Ong Teng Cheong
PM Lee provided much clarification in the CNA documentary on Singapore’s reserves.
Source: CNA
Amongst the topics he touched on was the creation of the 50/50 split in the Net Investment Returns Contribution (NIRC).
PM Lee explained that before this, the government would spend all the income from the reserves.
Former president Ong Teng Cheong argued against this spending. He proposed that the government spend 50% of the investment returns and save the other 50% in the reserves.
Source: CNA on YouTube
In a press statement released today (17 Aug), Mr Goh highlighted that Mr Ong was able to bring a “fresh perspective” as someone who had never been immersed in financial policymaking.
What’s more, he showed the courage needed to challenge the Executive in the interest of the country.
Source: Tan Kin Lian on Facebook
This courage allowed him to be truly independent, and it was this independence that allowed him a fresh perspective on the reserve’s investment returns.
His call all those years ago prompted the Government to rethink the way they handled Singapore’s reserves.
Before becoming president, Mr Ong was a private-sector architect.
Important to avoid groupthink
PM Lee explained that the ones who knew how much were in the national reserves were the Minister of Finance and a small team in his ministry, the prime minister, the president, and the Council of Presidential Advisors (CPA).
Source: CNA on Facebook
Mr George Goh stated that if everyone involved in shaping the reserves policy were from a small circle of those in power, there would be a “real danger of groupthink”.
Groupthink refers to a psychological phenomenon when the desire for conformity in a group overrides their personal rational opinions. This results in dysfunctional decision-making.
In his statement, Mr Goh observed that many people are concerned that the political leadership “all think alike”.
He then argued that there should be more people outside the circle to discuss and refine many areas in the reserves policy.
George Goh advocates for a transparent & accountable president
The presidential hopeful had another takeaway from the documentary. He concluded that the president needed to be more transparent and accountable.
Image for illustration purposes only
Using the documentary as an example, Mr Goh said that it would’ve been better to hear from the president about the reserves.
They could also speak about the inner workings of the presidency.
After all, “there are two keys in our system,” Mr Goh says. One with the prime minister and one with the president.
“It is a different key, not a duplicate key.”
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Featured image adapted from MS News and Facebook.
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