Tag Archives: government

For most of my life and career, I have defended the government and the civil service. Even today, I will defend some of my friends within the NLB, whom I know did not agree with the final decision, but had no choice but to comply with the line taken by senior management. But this, I have found, is truly indefensible. This government I have defended, even when I did not agree with its policies and actions, has crossed a red line. It has lost my vote today, but worst of all, I think it has lost my faith.

The govt seems to be putting the blame on bad communications as the source of unhappiness in the people. Is that so? The MSM also have been regurgitating that it was bad communications that have resulted in angry voices heard. The assumption is that policies are good and it was all because they were not well articulated to the people that is causing all the problems. It sounds more like the craftsman blaming his tools.

When the government responded to Catherine Lim's open letter to the Prime Minister about a crisis in trust on 13 June 2014, it chose to cite only one major indicator of the 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer , namely the survey result that showed 75% of Singaporeans trust government institutions; this, it claimed, proved that the vast majority trust the government. But a second key indicator gave a different dimension, namely that only 26% of Singaporeans trust their government leaders to tell the truth

Worse still, the Government has the cheek to classify households with a per capita income of $2,600 as Upper Middle Income. How can Singaporeans earning this sort of money be considered Upper Middle income. Assuming that this "Upper Middle Income" family has 2 working adults contributing to the household income, each working adult would only be earning $1,300 per person per month. Does a $1,300 per month salary look like an UPPER MIDDLE INCOME salary to you? It is far below Singapore's median income of $3,000 per month. How can this be considered Upper middle income?

HAVING read author Catherine Lim's open letter to the Prime Minister that Singaporeans no longer trust the Government ("Govt refutes author's claims over public trust"; last Saturday), I found her comments too sweeping and too heavily based on singular incidents that are independent of one another.

I AM not sure how Ms Catherine Lim would know how most Singaporeans feel about the Government ("Govt refutes author's claims over public trust"; June 14). It was not too long ago that Ms Lim told the BBC that Singaporeans' lack of emotions was due to "authoritarian" government policies. The following year, Singapore appeared near the top of the list. There was no comment from Ms Lim. It is critical that we do not extrapolate one's own opinion to encompass a wider population. There is the danger of a biased sample reinforced by a confirmation bias.

However, I also hope the Government will play its part to allay the fears of growing old. Most Singaporeans hope to be able to grow old in a comfortable – if not necessarily affluent – and carefree environment. To achieve this, Singaporeans and the Government have to manage their expectations. A citizen’s greatest fears as he nears retirement age are not having access to affordable health care and not having a roof over his head. Previously, I wrote about how the Government should foot the lion’s share of the health-care bill (“Retirement village concept not anti-family”; March 4), but I still do not see this happening.

But the problem is not just about our approach, it is also one of capabilities. As I mentioned earlier, we have spent the last few years trying to solve many problems and correct many wrongs, what we in Singapore commonly refer to as fire-fighting. But why did we even have to do this in the first place? The government in the early days of Singapore was well known for its long term scenario planning. They would plan such that they had considered all potential problems and would ensure that such problems are avoided. And even if these problems do crop up, they would already have thought of viable alternatives, which they could implement immediately. They certainly did not spend years fire-fighting to solve problems. So what happened to all our scenario planners in the government? Why are we fighting fires because of poor planning?

People can criticise the government in Singapore but if any allegations are made, they must be backed up with facts. Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam made that point on Friday, adding that there is no rule preventing people from critiquing national policies. He suggested, however, that a sound approach would be to keep debates honest.

In a drastic restructuring of the bus industry in Singapore, the Government today (May 21) announced that it will take over all bus operating assets and bus infrastructure and will contract out the bus services. I believe this new model will enable us to respond more speedily to changes in ridership patterns and commuter needs and provide a better service to commuters.