Workers’ Party MP Sylvia Lim will be raising a question on the counting of Presidency again after she was banned from asking in the previous Parliament sitting on Sep 11. According to the Singapore’s only elected opposition party, WP chairman Sylvia Lim will file an adjournment motion to question how did Appointed President Wee Kim Wee become an Elected President. In the previous Parliament sitting, the 82 PAP MPs-majority voted against the question being raised.
President Wee Kim Wee was appointed president in 1985, and the actual first Elected President was President Ong Teng Cheong in 1993. The Lee Hsien Loong-controlled Parliament made a mistake and took President Wee Kim Wee as the first Elected President – resulting in a reserved presidency for Halimah Yacob. The election rules written by Lee Hsien Loong dictated that if a minority race is not represented for five presidency, a reserved election will be called.
If the ruling party government is unable to prove Wee Kim Wee is elected, President Halimah Yacob will have to face impeachment via order from the Court. As the Singapore judiciary is unlikely to defy the dictator, Halimah Yacob could face greater backlash from the Singaporean public, who are already angered by her walkover win and her rejection of her Indian heritage.
MP Sylvia Lim’s question will be brought to a ballot again on Sep 26, but the 82 PAP MPs will likely ban the question. The WP MP with two other MPs, Low Thia Kiang and Pritam Singh, are currently facing a S$33 million lawsuit field by the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council and Aljunied Town Council for alleged “inappropriate” payments made for town council works. If the 3 WP MPs lose the case, they are likely to be declared bankrupt and lose their MP seats.