SINGAPORE: The Elections Department (ELD) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) said on Thursday (Aug 24) that it asked for parts of presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian’s broadcast speech to be removed due to “inaccuracies” after Mr Tan decried censorship, earlier this week.

Revealing that all candidates were briefed on the broadcast rules on Monday (21 Aug), the agencies said: “Mr Tan Kin Lian’s original script had inaccuracies about the President’s role. Specifically, he suggested that the President can provide guidance on the reserves’ investment strategies and influence government policy. After being notified of the inaccuracies, Mr Tan’s election agent had corrected them without objection”.

ELD and IMDA said that the candidates have also signed a statutory declaration confirming that they have read the explanatory material on the President’s constitutional role, which includes “specific examples of what the President can and cannot do”.

According to the explanatory material, the Cabinet has the “general direction and control of the government.” It further states, “Publicly, the President must speak and act in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet, especially when expressing views on legislation or government policy.”

The material also states that the President cannot express public views on legislation or government policy without being advised to do so by the government.

Pointing out that the candidates signed a voluntary undertaking to ensure that their campaign is “dignified, decorous and consistent with the President’s position,” the agencies said: “We remind all candidates not to mislead the public about the President’s role.”

On Thursday (24 Aug), Mr Tan said that the IMDA had removed three statements from his broadcast speech on the grounds that the president does not have the power to make such promises. The statements were promises to take a more involved approach in the investment strategies of the reserves and to use the president’s office to influence policies.

Mr Tan argued, “I considered these statements to be the most important parts of my speech and that IMDA did not have the authority to interpret the constitution in a narrow way and asked for these statements to be removed. I did not have the time to argue about the removal of these paragraphs. I will bring it up to IMDA separately.”

The former NTUC Income chief added: “Some people suggested that I was misleading the people by promising them goals that I did not have the executive authority to deliver. I am not misleading the people.

I had made it clear, in many statements, that I would be using the office of the president to convey to the government about the hardships faced by the people and about their aspirations.”

During a walkabout at Senja Hawker Centre on Thursday morning, Mr Tan said: “They asked for it to be removed on the grounds that it is outside of the President’s prerogative. I do not agree with that decision, but I have no choice. I consider the IMDA does not have the authority to interpret the Constitution in their way and ask for the statements to be removed.”

He added that he was busy with other matters when his team tried to notify him about IMDA’s request to cut parts of his speech. He said:

“I only received the message after the IMDA deadline. I was not able to respond within the deadline. Anyway, my campaign person used his initiative and I commend him. He did what needs to be done on the spot. He couldn’t reach me, so he did what has to be done; he removed those three paragraphs.”