Why is a non-executive President often seen and not heard?

Why is a non-executive President often seen and not heard?

Ever wonder that our kind has created a head of state position beyond politics that is so dignified that if the President talks too much he or she is likely to say the wrong things? As it is, all our Presidential candidates talk too much even before the campaign proper begins. They are all tempted and unsuccessfully restraining themselves like they were to be an executive President.

The constitutional monarchs, the ceremonial Presidents, these are jobs that often their occupiers are too small for the office. As a result, the safe way to do the job is to keep a low profile and with their private lives away for the eyes of the public. They are lonely jobs.

Occasionally we get a special person occupying the office. King Bhumibol of Thailand comes to mind but as a man he is probably not more virtuous than most of us. After he is gone, the skeletons from the cupboard will pour out. They need a La Majeste law to keep the role viable for imperfect and fallible man. Each of us are too easily impugn against the standards of these lofty offices.

The dignity of the office of our President is going to be severely damaged, if not utterly destroyed by the upcoming contest among the candidates. Can you imagine having won office and conducting himself like any of our past Presidents? Ever thought that it was quite difficult, may be impossible for them to fulfill their campaign promises? Every candidate comes across to me as too eager to win, too worried to be upstaged by a competitor. This is not typical behavior of wise men. Do you see Gendalf or Dumbledore fighting the enemy every time? Why did Obi-Wan choose to be struck down by Darth Vader? They chose their fights, they were wise.

Master Windu led the Jedi Council but the wise Jedi was Yoda whom he often consulted in private. That is the model of the PM-President relationship. My kids told me that in the books, Yoda was the leader of the Council before.

President Nathan has conducted himself well, done a good job but everything is tarnished just by one thing: his high pay. I squirmed when he was called a People's President when he took home $4 million every year. He was an elite President!

The President is a very fragile institution because it is looked upon as bearing a standard of conduct and ideals almost unachievable by mortals. He is supposed to be wiser than the PM but not the PM. Go figure. If he is so wise, why not make him the PM?

To a large degree, the President is fiction. He is what we want to believe; a symbol of perfection that in reality is unachievable. He is a fairy tale and being human we need fairy tales. Now we are going to spite ourselves destroying the fairy tale that helps us achieve. The prestige of the President's awards for teachers, nurses etc., are going down the drain.

We are fools to give up so much for so little. You want to spite the government, there are countless other ways. If SR Nathan is a first class president come out and explain this. Alas, with his high pay and therefore diminished moral authority, he can't. Sadly his predecessors are all dead. We are on our own. Lee Kuan Yew lost the chance to be the TRUE elder statesman.

To the accidental readers of my blog, I am not voting for Tony Tan until he can prove to us his son did not get preferential deferment for NS. If I were Mindef, I would publish the paperwork of Patrick Tan's deferment. If they have done nothing wrong, why not be transparent. We are not talking about MPs or even ministers here; it is the Presidency that is at stake. Guessing what the truth might be, we are probably living a version of  "Yes, Minister" here. Again, my kids could advise me which episode was relevant :-(

Transparency is fiction, a holy grail for dreaming only.