A Further Open Letter to the President of Singapore
Published: 17th June 201216th June 2012
A Further Open Letter to the President of Singapore
His Excellency Tony Tan Keng Yam
Office of the President of the Republic of Singapore
Orchard Road, Singapore 238823
Dear President,
I refer to my letter of 1st June 2012 in which I asked whether Presidential approval had been sought or given for our republic’s loan commitment to the IMF under Article 144(1) of our Constitution.
I received no response to that letter which puzzles me considering the speed with which your gracious decline of our invitation to the JBJ Memorial Event was received.
With the greatest respect there is a great deal of public interest in this matter and I feel it is entirely reasonable that the President be called upon to clarify his role even if that clarification is merely to state the case that presidential approval was not necessary.
I must therefore take it that your failure to respond in order to set the record straight and clarify that Presidential approval was indeed sought and obtained, is confirmation that it was not. Unless you are good enough to deny that this is indeed the case by Wednesday 20th June 2012, (a reasonable interval since the date of my original letter), then I will be guided by that confirmation in attempting to gain transparency as to the constitutionality or otherwise of the IMF loan commitment.
Yours faithfully,
Kenneth Jeyaretnam
Secretary General