It's tough being the Prime Minister of Singapore.

You have to be active on Facebook, cut a trailer as a preview to your National Day Rally, and mention "Pokémon" to generate more interest to your address.

What is the National Day Rally?

The NDR is an annual address made by the PM on one of the Sundays in August after National Day.

A yearly event since 1966, the PM uses this rally to address Singaporeans and to announce major policy changes. This can be compared to the State of the Union Address delivered by the President of the United States.

What is on this year's agenda?

PM Lee Hsien Loong will talk about preparing Singaporeans for the future, the economy and improving the elected presidency.

But it is this line that attracted many Singaporeans' attention:

"This Sunday, take a break from hunting Pokémon and join me as we explore our plans for the next 50 years."

When it should be this line that gets people's attention:

"How can we strengthen our racial harmony by improving the Elected Presidency?"

PM Lee announced on February 10 the government’s intention to appoint a Constitutional Commission to study and make recommendations on aspects of the Elected Presidency (EP). The Commission completed and submitted their work to PM Lee on Wednesday this week (Aug 17).

Three aspects of the EP were studied:

1. The qualifying process for presidential candidates, particularly whether the eligibility criteria for such candidates should be updated, and if so, how;

2. The framework governing the exercise of the President’s custodial powers, including whether the views of the Council of Presidential Advisers can be given more weight, and if so, how; and

3. Ensuring that minorities have the chance to be periodically elected to presidential office.

But notice the emphasis that PM has placed on point three, and perhaps point two, with this mention of "racial harmony" in his NDR trailer.

Anyway, it should still be possible to listen to the NDR while playing Pokémon Go — Is ITE College Central a PokéStop?

Top photo from Lee Hsien Loong's Facebook page.

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