Chan Chun Sing Claims He Is A Straight Talker, But Is He Really One?

To advice others in one thing but to do the direct opposite of what you advised? Typical traits of a politician. Chan Chun Sing have shown this aplenty. Do not believe? Read on

At the Public Sector Transformation Awards event, which took place in July last year, Chan Chun Sing emphasised that public servants need to have three traits in their DNA in order for Singapore to thrive in the next 50 years.

So, what are the three traits? They being:

1) A heart to understand the fears, concerns and aspirations of Singaporeans.

2) Strive to constantly do better, but with a slight “tweak”.

3) Spend time and effort to pre-empt tomorrow’s challenges, and not just be happy to do better today.

At the closed door session, did he display those traits? What message did he pass on to the very Civil Servants he was addressing? He definitely did not have the heart to understand the fears of Singaporeans. The government announced on the Friday itself that Singapore was now under DORSCOM Orange, but was sufficient information passed down to ordinary Singaporeans what DORSCOM Orange means? People may have been immediately concerned without the proper information, and the hoarding of essential items started on the same Friday evening. To call these people idiots without finding out the root cause was just unbecoming of a Minister, especially one who is part of the 4G Leadership.

And did he spend time and effort to understand Singaporeans and the challenges they faced? It is one thing if a hard-nosed politician does not mince his words; and it is something absolutely incomparable when politicians use words such as “idiots” on people. The latter not only shows a lack of vocabulary and character, but it also shows he sees the people in the limited way in which his mind identifies them with himself.