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Process of forming the government Singapore (Presidential form of government) The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to mean the Executive branch of government, which is made up of the President and the Cabinet of Singapore. Although the President acts in his personal discretion in the exercise of certain functions as a check on the Cabinet and Parliament of Singapore, his role Is largely ceremonial. It Is the Cabinet, composed of the Prime Minister and other Ministers appointed on his advice by the
President, that generally directs and controls the Government. The Cabinet is formed by the political party that gains a simple majority in each general election. A statutory board is an autonomous agency of the Government that is established by an Act of Parliament and overseen by a government ministry. Unlike ministries and government departments that are subdivisions of ministries, statutory boards are not staffed by civil servants and have greater independence and flexibility in their operations.
There are five Community Development Councils (CDC) appointed by the board of management of the People’s Association (PA) for districts in Singapore. Where there are not less than 150,000 residents in a district, the PA’s board of management may designate the Chairman of a CDC to be the Mayor for the district that the CDC Is appointed for. As it is the practice for MSP to be appointed as Chairmen of CDC, these MSP have also been designated as Mayors.
From the founding of modern Singapore in 1819 until 1826, Singapore was headed by two Residents in succession. Following Singapore amalgamation Into the Straits Settlements In 1 826, It was governed by a Governor together with a Legislative nuncio. An Executive council of the straits settlements was Introduced In 1877 to advise the Governor but wielded no executive power. In 1955, a Council of Ministers was created, appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the Leader of the House.
Constitutional talks between Legislative Assembly representatives and the Colonial Office were held from 1956 to 1958, and Singapore gained full internal self-government in 1959. The Governor was replaced by the Yang del-Pertain Engage, who had power to appoint to the post of Prime Molester the person most likely to nomad the authority of the Assembly, and other Ministers of the Cabinet on the Prime Minister’s advice. In the 1959 general elections, the People’s Action Party (PAP) swept to power with 43 out of the 51 seats in the Assembly, and Lee Guan Yew became the first Prime Minister of Singapore.
The executive branch of the Singapore Government remained unchanged following ere PAP has been returned to power in every general election and has thus formed the Cabinet since 1959. The Government is generally perceived to be competent in managing the country’s economy and largely free from political corruption. On the other hand, it has been criticized for using unfair election tactics and dilating freedom of speech. ere Speaker of Parliament has overall charge of the administration of Parliament and its secretariat, and presides over parliamentary sittings.
The Leader of the House is an MM (members of parliament) appointed by the Prime Minister to arrange government business and the legislative programmer of Parliament, while the unofficial Leader of the Opposition is the MM who leads the largest opposition party able and prepared to assume office if the Government resigns. However, in September 2011, Low Thai Kiang, the Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party of Singapore, which holds the most opposition seats in Parliament, said that he Mould not be accepting the title. Some of Parliament’s work is carried out by select committees made up of small numbers of MSP.
Standing Select Committees are permanently constituted to fulfill certain duties, and ad hoc Select Committees are established from time to time to deal with matters such studying the details of bills. In addition, selected PAP backbenchers sit on Government Parliamentary Committees hat examine the policies, programmer and proposed legislation of government ministries. ere main functions of Parliament are lawmaking, controlling the nation’s finances, and ensuring ministerial accountability. Parliament convenes when it is in session. He first session of a particular Parliament commences when Parliament meets after being formed following a general election. A session ends when Parliament is prorogued (temporarily suspended) or dissolved. The maximum term of each Parliament is five years, after which Parliament automatically dissolves. A general election must then be held within three months. He quorum for a Parliamentary sitting is one quarter of the total number of MSP, not including the Speaker. An MM begins a debate by moving a motion and delivering an opening speech explaining the reasons for the motion.
The Speaker (or chairman, if Parliament is in committee) then puts the motion in the form of a question, following Inch other MSP may debate the motion. After that, the mover may exercise a right of reply. When the debate is closed, the Speaker puts the question on the motion to the House and calls for a vote. Voting is generally done verbally, and whether the motion s carried depends on the Speaker’s personal assessment of whether more MSP have doted for than against the motion. MSP’ votes are only formally counted if an MM claims a division. Parliament regulates its own privileges, immunities and powers.
For instance, the freedom of speech and debate and proceedings in Parliament may not be impeached or questioned in any court or other place out of Parliament. Behaving contemptuously. Parliament convened at the Old Parliament House between 1955 and 1999, before moving into a newly constructed Parliament House on 6 September 1999. Singapore is a sovereign republic, with a legal system based on the English common law. The Constitution lays down the fundamental principles and basic framework for the three organs of state, namely, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary. He Executive comprises the Cabinet, which is responsible for the general direction of the Government and accountable to Parliament. ere Legislature comprises the Parliament and is the legislative authority responsible for enacting legislation. ere Judiciaries function is to independently administer Justice. The Judiciary is safeguarded by the Constitution. He Prime Minister of Singapore is appointed by the President of Singapore under Article 25 of the Constitution. The President, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, also appoints other Ministers from among the Members of Parliament.
The Prime Minister is the effective head of the executive branch of government. He chairs the Cabinet, which is the central decision-making body of the executive government. It is an organ of state and central to Singapore system of government. Qualifications Persons are qualified to be elected or appointed as Members of Parliament if: 1 . They are Singapore citizens; . They are 21 years of age or above on the day of nomination for election; 3. Their names appear in a current register of electors; 4. Hey are resident in Singapore at the date of nomination and have been so resident for an aggregate period of not less than ten years before that date; 5. They are able, with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable them to take an active part in Parliamentary proceedings, to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or some other physical cause, to read and write at least one of the following languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil; and 6. Hey are not otherwise disqualified from being MSP under Article 45 of the Constitution.
Article 45 provides that persons are not qualified to be MSP if: 1. They are and have been found or declared to be of unsound mind; 2. They are undercharged bankrupts; 3. They hold offices of profit; 4. Having been nominated for election to Parliament or the office of President or having acted as election agent to a person so nominated, they have failed to lodge any return of election expenses required by law within the time and in the manner required; 5. They have been convicted of an offence by a court of law in Singapore or
Malaysia and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or to a totalitarian acquired the citizenship of, or exercised rights of citizenship in, a foreign country or has made a declaration of allegiance to a foreign country; or 7. They are disqualified under any law relating to offences in connection with elections to Parliament or the office of President by reason of having been convicted of such an offence or having in proceedings relating to such an election been proved guilty of an act constituting such an offence.
A person’s disqualification for having failed to ropey lodge a return of election expenses or having been convicted of an offence may be removed by the President. If the President has not done so, the disqualification ceases at the end of five years from the date when the return was required to be lodged or, as the case may be, the date when the person convicted Nas released from custody or the date when the fine was imposed. In addition, a person is not disqualified for acquiring or exercising rights of foreign citizenship or declared allegiance to a foreign country if he or she did so before becoming a Singapore citizen.
Participation in Parliament Mumps and Amps can participate in all Parliamentary debates, but cannot vote on any motion relating to: bills to amend the Constitution; Supply Bills, Supplementary Supply Bills or Final Supply Bills, which authorize the spending of public funds by the Government; Money Bills, which deal with various finance-related matters; votes of no confidence in the Government; and removal of the President from office. Committee A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of MSP appointed to deal with particular areas or issues.
Standing Select Committees (that is, permanently instituted committees) are either chaired by the Speaker of Parliament or an MM appointed to the position, and its members are usually up to seven MSP appointed by Parliament in a manner that ensures that, so far as is possible, the balance between the Government benches and the Opposition benches in Parliament is reflected in the Committee. Parliament may also appoint ad hoc Select Committees to deal with other matters, such as to study the details of bills that are before Parliament. In addition, if Parliament resolves that Amps will be appointed during its term, a Special
Select Committee on Nominations for Appointment as AMP is established to consider suggestions for nominees submitted by members of the public. A Standing Select Committee continues for the duration of a Parliament unless Parliament otherwise provides, while other select committees last until they have presented their final reports. A prorogation of Parliament does not cause the business and proceedings before select committees to lapse; these are proceeded Ninth in the next session of the same Parliament. ere Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the
English Westminster system of Parliament. It consists of the Dean Rackety (House of Representatives or literally People’s Hall, in Malay) and the Dean Engage (National Hall in Malay; commonly referred to as the Senate). Members of the Dean Rackety are known as members of Parliament (MSP) while members of the Dean Engage are called senators. A general election is held every four or five years to elect representatives to the Dean Rackety; members of the Dean Engage, like those of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, are appointed. Members of Parliament are commonly referred to as MSP.
Malaysia is a confederation of 13 states plus the Federal capital of Koala Lump and the Federal district of Labial. Nine of the peninsular states have Sultans and every five years an election is held by the royalties to determine, on a rotation basis, which one will become the ‘Yang Departure Agony’, or “King” of Malaysia. ere states of Saba and Karakas in east Malaysia are slightly different since they Nerve separate colonies, not parts of Malay, prior to Independence. They retain a greater degree of local administrative autonomy than the peninsular states.
Politics f Malaysia takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Malaysia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is Jested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate paean Engage) and the House of Representatives (Dean Rackety). Since Independence, politics has been dominated by the Barista National (National Front) coalition led by the United Malay National Organization (MONO). He political system is a federal one, with each state having its own legislature, but rower is concentrated in the national government. General elections are held every five years. The Barista National, which is a coalition of various political parties with the main party being MONO, continues to rule the government. Malaysia’s predominant political party, the United Malay National Organization (MONO), has held power in coalition with other parties since Malaysia’s independence.
This coalition called Barista National is composed of 14 parties which includes the three prominent members ?? the MONO, MAC (Malaysian Chinese Association) and MIMIC Malaysian Indian Congress). The Prime Minister of Malaysia has always been from MONO. ‘constitutionalism” whereby “communal interests are resolved in the framework of a grand coalition” This however is slowly changing, as government policies have grown increasingly racist with minority interests being sidelined.
The recent elections having denied the ruling coalition of its two thirds majority have shown the people dissatisfaction with Increasing abuse of power and corrupting and a drift away from communal and racial politics. Procedure A proposed act of law begins its life when a particular government minister or ministry prepares a first draft with the assistance of the Attorney-General’s Department. The draft, known as a bill, is then discussed by the Cabinet. If it is agreed to be submitted to Parliament, the bill is distributed to all MSP. It then goes through three readings before the Dean Rackety.
The first reading is where the minister or his deputy submits it to Parliament. At the second reading, the bill is discussed and debated by MSP. Until the mid-asses, both English and Malay (the national language) were used for debates, but henceforth, only Malay was permitted, unless permission was obtained from the Speaker of the House. At the third reading, the minister or his deputy formally submit it to a vote for approval. A 2/3 majority is usually required to pass the bill, but in certain cases, a simple majority suffices. Should the bill pass, it is sent to the Dean Engage, where the three readings are carried out again.
The Dean Engage may choose not to pass the bill, but these only delays its passage by a month, or in some cases, a year; once this period expires, the bill is considered to have been passed by the house. If the bill passes, it is presented to the Yang did-Pertain Agony, who has 30 days to insider the bill. Should he disagree with it, he returns it to Parliament with a list of suggested amendments. Parliament must then reconsider the bill and its proposed amendments and return it to the Yang did-Pertain Agony within 30 days if they pass it again.
The Yang did-Pertain Agony then has another 30 days to give the royal assent; otherwise, it passes into law. The law does not take effect until it is published in the rent Gazette. ere government attempts to maintain top secrecy regarding bills debated; MSP generally receive copies of bills only a few days before they are debated, and swappers are rarely provided with copies of the bills before they are debated. In some cases, such as a 1968 amendment to the Constitution, an MM may be presented Ninth a bill to be debated on the same day it is tabled, and all three readings may be carried out that day itself.
In rare circumstances, the government may release White paper containing particular proposals that will eventually be incorporated into a bill; this has been done for legislation such as the Universities and University Colleges Act. Also exists a process for Private Member’s Bills. However, as in most other slaughter following the Westminster System, few members of Parliament actually Introduce bills. To present a Private Member’s Bill, the member in question must seek the leave of the House in question to debate the bill before it is moved.
Originally, it was allowed to debate the bill in the process of seeking leave, but this process was discontinued by an amendment to the Standing Orders of Parliament. It IS also possible for members of the Dean Engage (Senate) to initiate bills; however, only cabinet ministers are permitted to move finance-related bills, which must be abele in the Dean Rackety. It is often alleged that legislation proposed by the opposition parties, which must naturally be in the form of a Private Member’s Bill, is not seriously considered by Parliament.
Some have gone as far as to claim that the rights of members of Parliament to debate proposed bills have been severely curtailed by incidents such as an amendment of the Standing Orders that permitted the Speaker of the Dean Rackety to amend written copies of MSP’ speeches before they were made. Nevertheless, some of these critics also suggest that “Government officials often face harp questioning in Parliament, although this is not always reported in detail in the press. ” Most motions are typically approved or rejected by a voice vote; divisions are generally rare.
In 2008, the 12th Parliament saw the first division on the question of supply bill. In June 2008, two MSP announced they would be supporting a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister, another first in the history of Parliament. ere procedure surrounding a vote of no confidence is not entirely clear; as of 18 June 2008 it appeared there was no provision in the Standing Orders for whether a simple sorority or a 2/3 superiority would be necessary to pass a vote of no confidence ere Senate ere Senate consists of 70 members. He membership of the Senate is made up of two categories: 26 members elected by the State Legislative Assembly to represent 13 states (each state represented by two members). 44 members appointed by His Majesty The King on the advice of the Prime Minister, including two members from the Federal Territory of Koala Lump, and one member each from the Federal Territory of Labial and Pituitary. Or be eligible as a member, a person must: e a Malaysian citizen; be not less than 30 years old; be of sound mind; ere tenure of office is a three-year term for a maximum of two terms, applicable to both federal and state appointments. He life of the Senate is not affected by the dissolution of Parliament. Senators are drawn from the ranks of persons who have rendered distinguished public services or have achieved distinction in the professions, commerce, industry, agriculture, cultural activities or social service or are representatives of racial minorities or are capable of representing the interests of Rang Assail. Every member, before taking his seat in the Senate, must take the prescribed oath before the President of the Senate.
By the oath, the members swear or affirm that they will faithfully discharge their duty as members to the best of their ability, to bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia and to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.