Tan, John Lester A.

2009998401/PS0922
AB Political Science

POLS4: Comparative Southeast Asian Government and

Politics
March 1, 2011

COMPARATIVE PAPER
FOR FINAL TERM

I. Title: A Comparative Government and Politics on East Timor (Timor-Leste) and Singapore
II. Overview: Each country in the Southeast Asia have their own form of government. These branches of government
are divided into three: the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The division of power into separate branches of government is
central to the democratic idea of the separation of powers. The separation of powers is a model for the governance of a state.
Under this model, the state is divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so
that no one branch has more power than the other branches. The separation of powers system is designed to distribute authority
away from the executive branch—an attempt to preserve individual liberty in response to tyrannical leadership throughout history.
The normal division of branches is into an executive, a legislature, and a judiciary. Executive branch of a government is the part
of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The other role of the
executive is to enforce the law as written by the legislature and interpreted by the judicial system of the government. The
legislative branch of a government is the part of government that can initiate and rescind laws and is the only authority able to
approve proposed laws, although the constitution of many jurisdictions allow persons or agencies of the executive branch to
propose laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures
usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and other money bills. Legislatures are known by
many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings. The
judicial branch of a government is the part of government that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The
judiciary generally does not make law (that is, in a plenary fashion, which is the responsibility of the legislature) or enforce law
(which is the responsibility of the executive), but rather interprets law and applies it to the facts of each case. This branch of
government is often tasked with ensuring equal justice under law. It usually consists of a court of final appeal (called the
"supreme court" or "constitutional court"), together with lower courts. These three branches of the government will guide and
serve as the “aids” in this comparative paper between East Timor and Singapore. This comparative paper aims to see the
similarities and differences the form of government between these two countries. The one who made this comparative paper
chose these two countries which both had similar form of government. But in the end of this paper, he and the readers would
able to see that even though these two countries had the same form of government, there were still similarities and contrasts in
terms of the three branches of the government. And in the end, this comparative paper would be able top in which these two
countries as the Parliamentary Democracy form of government among the Southeast Asian countries. It will be based on the
effectivity of powers of each three branches of the government as used the whole subject and element in this comparative paper.
The given facts of the two countries based also on their three branches of government are listed below:

III. East Timor (Timor-Leste)

Form of Government Parliamentary Democracy
Head of State President (5 years of term)
Head of Government Prime Minister
Constitution 2002
Legislative Unicameral - 88-member National Parliament (5 years of term)

Highest Court Supreme Court of Justice (5 years of term)

Voting Qualifications 18 years of age

IV. Singapore
Form of Government Parliamentary Democracy
Head of State President (6 years of term)
Head of Government Prime Minister
Constitution 1963
Legislative Unicameral - 84 member Parliament (5 years of term)
Highest Court Supreme Court
Voting Qualifications 21 years of age

V. Executive Branch
East Timor Singapore
 The Head of State is the President.  The Head of State is the President.
 The current president is Jose Ramos-Horta.  The current president is S.R. Nathan.
 Executive power is exercised by the government.  Executive power is exercised by the government.
 The President is directly elected to serve a five-year  The President is directly elected to serve a six-year
term of office. term of office.
 Ceremonial power  Ceremonial power
 Candidates for Presidential Elections must be
declared eligible by the Presidential Elections
Committee which is a body of governmental
ministers that its primary purpose is to screens
candidates based on qualifications outlined in the
Constitution of Singapore.

 The President formally appoints the Prime Minister  The President appoints the Prime Minister a Member
who is chosen by the political party or alliance of of Parliament (MP) who, in his personal judgment, is
political parties with a majority in the national likely to command the confidence of a majority of
 legislature.
 The President is the symbol of East Timorese
independence and the guarantor of the smooth
functioning of the republic’s democratic institutions.
 The President is the Supreme Commander of the
Defense Force.
 The Head of Government is the Prime Minister.
 The current Prime Minister is Xanana Gusmao.
 The Prime Minister oversees the activities of the
government and chairs the Council of Ministers.
 Ministers are appointed by the President, with the
recommendations and consent of the Prime Minister.
VI. Legislative Branch
East Timor
 Unicameral Legislature – 88 members of National
Parliament
 The National Parliament is directly elected by
universal suffrage to serve a five-year term of office.
 Legislative power is vested in the National
Parliament.
 The 88 elected members of the Constituent
Assembly are elected directly by universal suffrage
which makes up the National Parliament. The
Constituent Assembly is a transitional body which
drafted the Constitution of the East Timor in the first
place.
VII. Judicial Branch
East Timor
 The Highest Court is the Supreme Court of Justice.
 Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court of
Justice.
 The body of Supreme Court of Justice is headed by
the President, who is appointed by the President of
the Democratic Republic of the Timor Leste to serve
a four-year term. The National Parliament also elects
MPs.
 The President is the Chief of Defense Force.
 The Head of Government is the Prime Minister.
 The current Prime Minister is Lee Hsien Loong.
 The Prime Minister oversees the activities of the
government and heads the Cabinet.
 Cabinet members, also known as Ministers, are
appointed by the President on the advice of the
Prime Minister.
Singapore
 Unicameral Legislature – 84 members of Parliament
 The Parliament is popularly elected to serve a five-
year term of office.
 Legislative Power is vested in the Parliament.
 The 84 elected Members of the Parliament (MPs)
are elected on a plurality voting basis and represent
either Single-Member Constituencies (SMCs) or
Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs). In
GRCs, political parties field a team of between three
to six candidates. At least one candidate in the team
must belong to a minority race.
Singapore
 The Highest Court is the Supreme Court.
 Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and
the subordinate courts.
 The Supreme Court is headed by the Chief Justice,
who is appointed by the President with the advice
and consent of the Prime Minister.
 one member of the Supreme Court, while all other
members are designated by the Superior Council of
the Judiciary.
VII. Rankings of East Timor and Singapore based on the powers of the Three Branches of Government:
A. Executive
East Timor
 I ranked East Timor second based on the powers of
the executive branch of government because even
though they (including the Singapore) had the both
similarities of the head of state and head of
government in the first place, their functions are not
similar. East Timor as pertaining to its President
doesn’t have that clear functions. It means that if
compared to Singapore, the latter had that clear
functions as the head of state. For example, the
president of the East Timor is only the symbolic icon
of the country for its independence. It can be said that
this is the major role as the president in the said
country. But still, this is not enough to prove that he is
leads the state of East Timor.
B. Legislative
East Timor
 The Prime Minister is required to consult the chief
justice on his recommendations for the Supreme
Court.
 The Constitution establishes two levels of courts.
One is the Supreme Court. The other is the
Subordinate Court which oversees the civil and
criminal matters. They were appointed also by the
President with the consent of the Prime Minister.
A. Executive
Singapore
 I ranked Singapore first, based on the powers of the
executive branch of government because I saw that in
their presidential race, the candidate must therefore
survive in the Presidential Committee in the way of
screening which is very constitutional in the sense. In
addition, even though the head of the stare is not
considered as the symbolic icon of the country
compared to East Timor, this is not the way of
determining which power of the executive branch is
the best. Yet, the executive power is both vested in
the government in the two countries.
B. Legislative
Singapore
  I ranked East Timor and Singapore as both the best
based on the powers of legislative branch because
first, they don’t even have that huge contrasts in
their law making body. The only huge difference is
that the number of the members of the unicameral
law making body. Since they are both practicing
Parliamentary Democracy form of government, the
fusion of executive and legislative is exercised in
there. The members of both the one house are
elected directly by the people which show and
pertain the virtue and spirit of democracy. So, there
is nothing huge contrasts in the legislature branch of
government between these two. Yet, the legislative
power is also both vested in the National Parliament
in East Timor while the Parliament in Singapore.
C. Judicial
East Timor
 I ranked the East Timor second based on the powers
of judicial branch because their judicial system is no
match compared to Singapore after reading,
analyzing, and comparing the given informations.
Their judicial system is like only a simple one.
Meaning, their judiciary has less purposes than the
judiciary of Singapore. Yet, the judicial power is also
both vested in the Supreme Court of Justice in East
Timor while the Supreme Court in Singapore. The
only difference is that in East Timor, the National
Parliament elects the members of the Supreme Court
of Justice. But compared in Singapore, they were
appointed by the President with the consent of the
Prime Minister.
VIII. Conclusions on the Comparative Paper:
I concluded that even though East Timor and Singapore is both a Parliamentary Democracy form of government, this is not
absolute when it comes to the powers more precisely in the three branches of government. There are times that they are just
same in the executive branch, differ in legislative, or a total differ in judicial. Yet, it doesn’t follow the principle of the same form of
 I ranked East Timor and Singapore as both the best
based on the powers of legislative branch because
first, they don’t even have that huge contrasts in
their law making body. The only huge difference is
that the number of the members of the unicameral
law making body. Since they are both practicing
Parliamentary Democracy form of government, the
fusion of executive and legislative is exercised in
there. The members of both the one house are
elected directly by the people which show and
pertain the virtue and spirit of democracy. So, there
is nothing huge contrasts in the legislature branch of
government between these two. Yet, the legislative
power is also both vested in the National Parliament
in East Timor while the Parliament in Singapore
C. Judicial
Singapore
 I ranked the Singapore first based on the powers of
judicial branch because their judicial system is
“heavy” enough to show the virtue of earning “justice”
in this country. The reason is that their courts are
establish into two. The one is the Supreme Court
which is the highest court. The second is the
Subordinate Court which is considered as the
“brother” of the Supreme Court. This one of a kind
court mostly tackles in civil and criminal cases. East
Timor doesn’t have this type of court. So, this adds
the other factor of earning the right justice in this
country. However, the judges/members of this kind of
court are not directly elected by the masses but
perhaps appointed by the president himself with the
guidance/consent of his prime minister.
government, same functions and powers of the branches of government. But in this comparative paper, I see that the similarities
of these two countries dominated mostly while comparing. They might differ in the process of executing. Legislating or even
implementing but it is only a little or slight contrasts. So, it became easy for me to compare these two countries because they
have both the same form of government in the Southeast Asian countries. Unlike in comparing different form of government to
another different form of government, it will not be easy for the person to see the similarities and differences of the government
and politics of the countries he or she is comparing to. Following to that, the only chances of seeing the differences in the same
form of government that we are comparing to are the number of the members of the public officials and the year of terms they
are meant to serve to the people. It will be also a lesser time and effort for the person in having a hard time in comparing
contrasting form of government than the same form. I suggest as a student of Comparative Southeast Asian Government and
Politics to do the easiest strategy I have done in this comparative paper. I also wanted to add in my conclusions that after what
all I have done in this comparative paper, I found out that in comparing especially in the field of government and politics, it is too
difficult to compare when the sources are very limited. Meaning, the truth must always prevail in comparing countries. It will
shows that you are just narrating or telling a lie after all in your comparative paper. It would take a long time of hardwork in order
to produce a good quality of comparative paper. Copying and pasting in the internet sources will not greatly help you in your
paper. You are just adding to the number of people who exercised plagiarism in a wrong way. And yes, I’m hoping that I achieve
all of these in my own comparative paper which will lead me to a good grade once the professor read and check this.