In his NDR speech, PM Lee announced the opening of the Municipal Services Office (MSO) will be on 1 October. This will effectively create new jobs for the PAP.
MSO’s task is to “get different agencies to work more closely together” and it will be part of the MND. This is a unique feature of our civil service where our government needs to set up an agency just to coordinate other government agencies. Only one of its kind in the world.
But setting up another agency to coordinate government agencies will cost tax dollars. Why do other countries not face a similar issue? Frequently, the PAP government only wants to throw tax dollars at ‘solutions’ without resolving the issue. The tax payers’ funded ‘wayang’ gives the impression that much has been done when in fact there will be hardly any improvement.
PM Lee cited the experience of MP and mayor Low Yen Ling who had received complaints about a walkway managed by 3 different government agencies and her ‘discovery’ of a fishball stick left along the walkway for more than a day.
So Low, who is paid close to $1 million by tax payers, has no suggestion other than to play along with the game of throwing tax dollars?
All public land belongs to the government. It is the government which demarcated the land and created many the different agencies to be in charge. This is therefore a self created systemic issue which cannot be resolved by creating another agency.
It’s a typical PAP approach ie setting up councils and committees to tackle chronic issues which are not only unresolved today but have worsened.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone when the MSO eventually fails. The MSO may just require oversight by another agency in future.
Phillip Ang
*The writer blogs at http://likedatosocanmeh.wordpress.com/