Ombudsman

SINGAPORE: In his speech debating the Home Affairs Ministry's budget, Workers' Party Member of Parliament (MP) Leon Perera on Thursday (Mar 3) asked how ...

That has advantages in terms of the strength and solidarity of our polity. We institutionalise it such that the CPIB can go straight to the Prime Minister, but where the Prime Minister himself is the possible subject of investigations, or if the Prime Minister doesn't want to do something, the CPIB can go to the President. Being seen to do that has advantages in terms of accountability that is felt by the society. Maybe Mr Perera hasn’t understood the constitutional structure and how the CPIB can go directly to the President. Thank you, sir. And if they believe that the higher authority is not acting properly, they can take it up all the way. They are within that command and control hierarchy, at the end of the day. Mr Perera’s suggestion, if I understood him correctly, is that why not we set up a separate ombudsman with the resources to carry out all these investigations? And I explained how the system works and the Prime Minister can be the subject of independent investigations. Now, take a hypothetical situation - say an organisation where the top leaders engage in wrongdoing, or for example, say they set up a disciplinary committee to cover up what they did rather than actually investigate, I think you can ask “quis custodiet ipsos custodes”. And if Mr Perera was part of any such organisation, we'll be the first one to make such a point. In the current climate, there is more of a need for this. The world is changing and geopolitical tensions are ratcheting up to levels that have not been seen in recent memory. Or for example, say they set up a disciplinary committee to cover up what they did rather than actually investigate, I think you can ask Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?