Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in Parliament on Nov. 8 that changes to the Presidential Elections Act will be enacted in January 2017.

And when the amendments kick in, the late Wee Kim Wee will be recognised as the first Elected President of Singapore, with the capital "E" and "P".

This would make Ong Teng Cheong the second Elected President, contrary to common understanding of what "elected president" means.

Currently, the public understanding is that Ong Teng Cheong was the fifth president of the Republic of Singapore and the first head of state to be popularly elected through the people’s vote in the 1993 presidential election.

PM Lee's speech

In his speech in parliament, PM Lee said he noted that some people have objected to how a "hiatus-triggered model" for the elected presidency will be implemented soon, saying this arrangement goes against the principle of meritocracy.

A “hiatus-triggered” model has been proposed to ensure minority representation in the presidency in Singapore and will be adopted by the government, with the government seeking advice from the Attorney-General on aspects of the proposal.

As a result, PM Lee said his government will start counting the first President who exercised the powers of the Elected President as being the late Wee Kim Wee, after taking the Attorney-General’s advice on the matter.

The next presidential election will be reserved for Malay candidates only.

This was what PM Lee said:

We have taken the Attorney-General’s advice

- We will start counting from the first President who exercised the powers of the Elected President, i.e. Mr Wee Kim Wee

- That means we are now in the fifth term of the Elected Presidency

- We will also have to define the ethnic group of each of the Elected Presidents we have had so far

- There is no practical doubt, but as a legal matter we have to define it

- The Act will deem

(1) Mr Wee Kim Wee as Chinese

(2) Mr Ong Teng Cheong as Chinese

(3) Mr S R Nathan, who served two terms, as Indian

(4) And Dr Tony Tan as Chinese

In response to concerns, PM Lee also explained that a candidate in a reserved election must still meet the same qualifying criteria and that the symbolic role of the EP is just as important as the custodial role.

Public discussion on this matter

This somewhat academic discussion about how Ong Teng Cheong is not the first Elected President of Singapore had been made previously in August 2016.

Jack Lee Tsen-Ta, an assistant professor at the Singapore Management University (SMU)’s School of Law has explained why on the Singapore Public Law website.

Lee, together with others from the intelligentsia, who can split hairs and see the trees for the forest, have come out to justify why the common understanding of what an elected presidency is is but just one understanding.

This is so as the Singapore Parliament amended the constitution in January 1991 to allow for the direct election of the president, who could veto civil service appointments and the use of government reserves.

The amendment was carried out during Wee’s second term in office.

Wee was then the fourth president of Singapore from September 1985 to September 1993.

However, others have noted that the common understanding of "elected president" is common enough to enjoy widespread currency for it to be printed in the book, Men In White, which is about the People's Action Party:

As well as acknowledged as such in The Straits Times in an Jan. 31, 2016, article:

However, by Sept. 8, 2016, ST made the assumption that Wee would be considered the first Elected President:

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Top photo via Nanyang Technological University, National Archive Singapore