Written by Ng E-Jay
27 May 2013
In a media interview to mark Public Service Week, Civil Service Head Peter Ong said that the public service needs to do things differently, putting people at the centre, and moving to a more relational government which is a government with the people, where citizens participate in working at solutions for the country.
Unfortunately, his statements come in the wake of rising resentment against government policies, more frequent threats of legal action against netizens, and the increased use of state power against social and civil activists.
We have had two major rallies at Hong Lim Park against the Population White Paper which projects that the population may be allowed to rise as high as 6.9 million by the year 2030. Unofficial hearsay suggests that the government may be planning for as high as a 7 or 8 million population, which is not out of the question given the government’s propensity at blunting the trauma of highly unpleasant policies by releasing incremental data rather than giving the whole truth at once to the citizenry.
The widespread consultation that was used in the preparation of the Population White Paper turned out to be nothing more than a giant farce, if the planners and the script writers actually thought that a 6.9 million figure could ever be politically digestible. Where is government with the people in this instance?
Peter Ong also said that Public Service will need to get a better sense and understanding of the ground, because of the changing profile of the population, and there is a need to understand the full range of issues affecting the broad citizenry.
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