Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob to step down from post to contest presidential election
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Coming Sep is the Presidential Elections....we may a new example for GP: Halimah Yacob as the first female President of Singapore! And it's not just gender equality here, but also racial equality coz the Constitution has been tweaked to allow for the Elected President post to be reserved for the race that has not won for five consecutive years.
This has called into question the compromise on our meritocratic system where the position should go to the person of greatest competence and not on other factors like skin colour....and also the sacred rule that race and politics should not mix in Singapore....
The govt's rebuttal is that meritocracy is not compromised because even though the position is reserved for a particular race, he or she must have the competence to qualify for the job; in other words, not any noob Malay can be President. But does this address the qn of what is there is a more competent person from another race?
The answer to this probably lies in the argument that our President(s) must reflect our multicutltura society....Left unintervened, it will be very difficult for minority races to be voted President as being a minority, they do not have the numbers to win the election, as most people tend to vote for their own kind (i.e. race) as they probably understand their own kind better....This is the problem with democracy and elections as they go by numbers or the majority, so tweaks are needed sometimes to address the imperfections of the system....At least, I think that's the thinking of the govt....
Relate to Qns on meritocracy and the involvement of race in politics, as the govt appears to be doing a U-turn on these, albeit with arguably valid reasons....
Qns:
Coming Sep is the Presidential Elections....we may a new example for GP: Halimah Yacob as the first female President of Singapore! And it's not just gender equality here, but also racial equality coz the Constitution has been tweaked to allow for the Elected President post to be reserved for the race that has not won for five consecutive years.
This has called into question the compromise on our meritocratic system where the position should go to the person of greatest competence and not on other factors like skin colour....and also the sacred rule that race and politics should not mix in Singapore....
The govt's rebuttal is that meritocracy is not compromised because even though the position is reserved for a particular race, he or she must have the competence to qualify for the job; in other words, not any noob Malay can be President. But does this address the qn of what is there is a more competent person from another race?
The answer to this probably lies in the argument that our President(s) must reflect our multicutltura society....Left unintervened, it will be very difficult for minority races to be voted President as being a minority, they do not have the numbers to win the election, as most people tend to vote for their own kind (i.e. race) as they probably understand their own kind better....This is the problem with democracy and elections as they go by numbers or the majority, so tweaks are needed sometimes to address the imperfections of the system....At least, I think that's the thinking of the govt....
Relate to Qns on meritocracy and the involvement of race in politics, as the govt appears to be doing a U-turn on these, albeit with arguably valid reasons....
Qns:
1. Evaluate the claim that equality of opportunity for females is a desirable, but unrealistic goal. (Cam. 2016)
2. Consider the view that some careers are better suited to one gender than the other. (Cam. 2014)
3. In your society, how far is equality for all a reality? (Cam. 2012)
posted by Dark Shadow | 2:03 PM
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