President Halimah Yacob will be delivering the President’s Address to Parliament on Monday (Aug. 24) evening at 8pm, to open the first session of the 14th Parliament of Singapore.

Her address will lay out the government’s priorities, policies, and programmes for the new term of Parliament, as well as how the government will address the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on healthcare and economy in Singapore.

President's Address always drafted by ruling government

Although the address is read by the President, it was actually written and prepared by members of the ruling government.

Some people may wonder, if the President is meant to be an impartial and non-partisan Head of State, why does she give an address written by members of the People's Action Party (PAP) government?

This is not a new phenomena, and has been true historically; all of Singapore's presidents have delivered addresses drafted by the government of the day.

This started from Singapore's first president, Yusof Ishak, who delivered the first-ever President's Address on May 6, 1968.

In his address, he outlined three key objectives that the government sought to achieve back then: building up defence capabilities, greater economic growth, and the enhancement of a national consciousness.

If another party forms the government, the President would read an Address prepared by them

The reason that the president delivers an address drafted by members of the government is that she is a non-partisan Head of State, and the Address is meant to inform the whole House of the government's plans.

This means that if another party were to be in power and form the government, then the president would deliver the Address drafted by them.

Singapore's one-party dominance

It might seem strange for the president to read to the House a speech drafted by PAP members, because you might assume that the PAP had already discussed it beforehand.

However, one must bear in mind Singapore's unique circumstances.

Singapore's Parliament has historically been dominated by the PAP, with non-PAP members making up only a fraction of the whole.

In the 2020 General Election, 83 out of the available 93 seats were won by the PAP, meaning that they once again formed the government with a big majority.

MPs from other parties will learn about government's plans from the address

However, it is important for the non-ruling party parliamentarians to be kept in the loop about the government's plans as well.

In GE2020, the other 10 seats were won by the Workers' Party (WP), after beating the PAP in Aljunied GRC, Sengkang GRC, and Hougang SMC. In addition, there are two Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) from the Progress Singapore Party.

Therefore, it makes sense for the President to inform the whole House of the plans of the government, as the non-PAP MPs would not know about it before the Address.

So the President's role does not change, regardless of whichever party is in power, or how many MPs it has in Parliament.

Other countries that have similar practices

As mentioned by Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin in his Speaker's Blog on Aug. 22, Singapore's President's Address is a legacy of the Westminster system of government.

The President's Address largely resembles the State Opening of Parliament in the UK, where the Queen gives the Queen's Speech, which is written by members of her government, to her MPs.

This is because the Queen, as the monarch and Head of State, is exercising her constitutional duties in reading the speech.

Once the Queen finishes giving her speech and leaves, a new parliamentary session starts and Parliament gets back to work.

Members of both Houses debate the content of the speech and agree an Address in Reply to Her Majesty’s Gracious Speech.

Debate to follow President's Address

Similarly, in Singapore, MPs have five sitting days to debate the government policies and plans as laid out in the President's Address and the respective ministries' and agencies' statements.

This allows MPs from all parties to raise their concerns or make proposals of their own.

Other countries with Westminster systems of government, such as India, South Africa and Australia, also follow a similar practice, with the Head of State opening Parliament with a speech.

In Australia's case, their Head of State is also Queen Elizabeth of the UK, so her appointed Governor-General of Australia does the honours instead.

In other countries like the US, the President is both the Head of State and Head of Government, so he delivers a similar address to Congress, called the State of the Union.

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Top photo via YouTube / govsingapore.