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 Civics





Name and briefly describe the roles of the following appointments
a) President of singapore:

The president of singapore is Halimah Yacob. 

She is the head of state of singapore the president is vested with the general direction of the government which means the president is only able to use their powers in accordance of the cabinet or a minister acting under the cabinets authority.

The president is also jointly vested with the legislative power of singapore and the primary role of the president is to assent to bills passed by the parliament however she cannot refuse bills that have been validly passed for personal reasons and can only use her power in accordance with the cabinets advice,unless in certain cases.
President Halimah yacob


b) Prime minister of singapore

The prime minister is Lee Hsien Loong

The prime minister is usually the leader of majority party in legislature. Since the president is guided by the constitution which has general control of the direction and the government so most of the governing is done by the Prime minister and the cabinet 


Prime minister Mr hisen loong



c) Speaker of Parliament

The Parliament must elect a speaker at the beginning of each parliamentary term after a general election the Parliament has freedom on how to choose how to elect the speaker

The prime minister elects a person for the role. The  person’s name is proposed and seconded by the member of parliament (MPs) before being elected as a speaker. The speaker may not be a MP but must possess the qualification to stand for election  The Speaker presides over the sittings of Parliament, and enforces the rules In carrying out their duties, the Speaker must remain impartial and fair to all MPs.The speaker regulates and enforces the rules of the debate they decide who has the right to speak and put the question on the parliament to debate and voteThe Speaker is second in the order of succession for Should the President's office be vacant, and the chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisers is unable to take up the role, the Speaker will have the duties of the President until a new President is elected. The Speaker sits at the same level as the Chief Justice of Singapore



d) Chief justice of singapore

The chief justice of singapore is Sundaresh Menon

The chief justice of singapore is the highest post in the judicial system of singapore it is appointed by the president of singapore chosen from candidates recommended by the prime minister. The chief of justice presides over the judiciary he is responsible for the entire judicial system he is the president of the court of the appeal he can transfer cases from the high court to the district court if he thinks it is more efficient or applicable.

Sundaresh Menon


e) MPs from my place of residence

(Chen Show Mao,Low Thia Khiang, Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap)

A member of parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament . The members of parliament act as a bridge between the community and the government to ensure that their concerns are being heard in the parliament

Syliva lim


Visit two of the following places( one from cat a and cat b and share with your patrol on the two places)

Category A

Earlier this year I went to the supreme court singapore with my friends (asvind spencer nicholas gabriel and ignatius) in our trip there we learnt a few things about the supreme court


Formation of the court

-In 1868, the supreme court abolished the court of judicature serving penang, singapore and malacca and replaced it with the supreme court of the straits settlements. with the courts ordinance 1873 the court now consisted of the chief justice, the judge of penang, and a senior and junior puisne judge. The court continued to have two divisions - one at singapore and malacca and the other at penang. The ordinance also conferred on the supreme court the jurisdiction to sit as a court of appeal

Effects of japanese occupation on the supreme court

Singapore was invaded by the Japanese forces and surrendered to them on 15 february 1942. The island was renamed "syonan" by the japanese. All existing courts ceased to function during the japanese occupation,which lasted three and a half years. On 27 may 1942,the courts were re-opened by a proclamation which stated: "With the restoration of peace and order in malaya and for the proper protection of the people, the civil, criminal and supreme courts have been reopened to try civil and criminal cases, except military offenders. Without prejudice to the functioning of the Military Administration, the jurisdiction of these civil courts is confined to civil and criminal cases only."The syonan  supreme court or "Syonan koto-hoin" was opened on 29 may 1942. A court of appeal was also created but it never sat.


Architecture heritage of the supreme court building 

The supreme court building was the last of the great colonial era classical buildings in Singapore built between 1937 & 1939 it was constructed under the direction of frank dorrington ward chief architect of the public works department and its facade designed to match the city hall next door completed in 1929 the construction work  was managed by united in engineers Ltd as the general contractor which managed over thirty different aspects of construction  ranging from pilling and precast moulding to rubber tiled flooring and general furnishing to give an idea of the scale of the project would stretch ten miles upon its completion in1939 the building compromised 4 wings surrounding a central courtyard capped by the dome that allows light into the space






Category B

CDAC (back to school programme)

My family volunteered at Nanyang junior college when I was Primary 5 and 6. There was an optional pre-day that we had gone for where we had to set up the booths  and we had to move the tables and chairs and we also had to set up the lines for the booths as it was my first time volunteering it was a new experience for me, we also had to move the tables and chairs to make space for the volunteers to eat for the following day as it is a full day event. During the event I was given a role to take care of the books and show where the specific book that they were finding I had a great time volunteering and my job was not very hectic and I enjoyed helping them during my time volunteering I saw many families enjoying the activities and after the crowd had died down at my book collection I went around and saw many booths I managed to try one of the booths where there was a 3D printing pen. During my time volunteering I saw many underprivileged families and it was a very enlightening experience and I realised that I should not take things that i was given for granted.


Participate in at least two community activities such as block parties

My family went to a mooncake festival which we had volunteered at there was many activities. There were giveaways and lantern making i was part of a booth that allowed kids to throw darts at the board for fun and as there were other teenagers volunteering too so I talked to them and I knew them better overall it was a very fun experience 



Describe some of the significant events in the history of singapore from 1945 to present 


1942- Japanese invaded singapore and british surrendered 


1945-British retook singapore 


1946- Singapore becomes a crown colony


1948- Singapore’s first general election


1954- National service riots of chinese middle school students


1958-Singapore is granted partial independance 


1963-Singapore merges with the federation of malaysia 


1964-Racial riots between chinese and malay (origin of racial harmony)


1965-Separation from malaya, independence of singapore

1967-- Introduction of National service


1969- Racial riots


1971-British forces leave singapore

1981--Devan Nair becomes the third president of singapore

1985--Devan Nair stepping down as third president and Wee kim Wee becoming the fourth president of Singapore

1993--Ong Teng Cheong becomes the fifth president of singapore

1999-- SR Nathan becomes the sixth president of Singapore 

2002- Sars epidemic

2011--Dr Tony Tan becomes the 7th president 

2015--Mr Lee Kuan Yew passes away 

2017-- Halimah Yacob is elected as the first female president and 8th president of Singapore 

2019--Singapore celebrates 200th anniversary of the founding of modern Singapore 


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