Three new ministries gear up for new portfolios
By Hetty Musfirah | Posted: 31 October
2012 1851 hrs
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SINGAPORE: Three new ministries and
a former backbencher will begin work on their new portfolios on Thursday,
following changes to the Cabinet announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in
July.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry
(MCYS), has had a diverse portfolio since September 2004.
But from
November, it will focus purely on the development of families, social services
and social safety nets.
The new Ministry of Social and Family Development
(MSF) will retain the old MCYS logo.
Acting Minister Chan Chun Sing said
MSF will continue the work of MCYS, though policies will be
re-examined.
Mr Chan said: "In the past, when MCYS was known as the
social welfare department, the kind of help that it is expected to render is
really the social welfare to the really bottom end of the socio-economic
strata.
"But nowadays, you have a new set of challenges because the
income gap has widened between the top and bottom, you will find a group of
people in the middle - they will get quite unsettled, their challenge is not so
much that they are absolutely poor, but they are unsettled because they wonder
if they can meet the aspirations.
"So the question for us is then, as a
society, to what extent we can and should help this group of people, beyond the
people who are at the bottom of the socio-economic scale.
"It is not an
easy question to answer and we would have to find the answer as a society going
forward," he said.
Mr Chan bade farewell to over 120 staff, who will
move to the new Community, Culture and Youth Ministry (MCCY).
Helmed by a
new Acting Minister, Lawrence Wong, MCCY will drive policies to build a cohesive
and vibrant society, while deepening the sense of identity and belonging among
Singaporeans.
Mr Wong said: "We will want to do more with the new
ministry to engage young students, work with the schools to see what more we can
do in the schools, and there's a lot of synergy there because MOE is
increasingly focusing on character and citizenship education, on values in
action, so there's a lot of scope to partner the schools to engage our young
people."
Statutory boards and organisations that will come under the
purview of MCCY are:
Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS)
Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM)
Syariah Court
Hindu Endowments Board
Hindu Advisory Board
Sikh Advisory Board
People's Association
Singapore Sports Council
Singapore Sports School
Staff from MCCY will move to Hill Street,
to join those in the new Communications and Information Ministry
(MCI).
The MCI will take over the role of managing the government
feedback unit, REACH, from MCYS.
One of its primary focus is to sharpen
the government's engagement strategy, in this era of social
media.
Separately, Tanjong Pagar MP Indranee Rajah is leaving her legal
career, after some 25 years.
The new Senior Minister of State for
Education and Law has already set some targets for herself.
She said: "In
MOE for example - depending on what portfolio I'm given, you have to look at the
measurement in terms of - is the system succeeding for the students in that
area? So let's just say it is pre-school for example, do parents generally feel
at the end of it, that students get good quality pre-school education? And are
they generally happy?"
Some adjustments are inevitable, now that she's
moved from the backbench to frontbench.
"I have to get used to being
addressed in acronyms, I am now SMS, and I've never been an SMS before, I have
always been plain Ms Rajah or Indranee Rajah, so yes, I'm getting used to being
an acronym but I think by and large - the job scope is different, the work is
different, at the end of the day, what it is about?
"It is about wanting
to do something good for Singapore, which is good, hoping to give reality to the
aspirations of Singaporeans. The title should not matter, it is the substance of
the job that's important, so that's what I will focus on", she said.
Ms
Indranee said as a minister, she wants to be accessible to those who want to
have their voices heard.
"It's not an automatic KPI, but something that
you feel very much when you get ground feedback, which that people feel that
ministers should be approachable, accessible.
"It's not possible to see
people all the time - to have people walk in through the ministry but people do
want to feel that if they write to you or they speak to you, that they are heard
and they also want you on the one hand to be able to do the job that requires
certain skills sets and on the other hand, feel like one of
them.
"Basically in the end that's what you are elected for, you are
elected from the people to do things for them and the sense of closeness is very
important, and if people feel that there is a distance between them and the
minister, then people feel the disappointment, so that's the other KPI I think
for me," she said.
- CNA/ck
By Hetty Musfirah | Posted: 31 October
2012 1851 hrs
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| • | [TD="class: bodytext, width: 96%"]Getting more youth involvement a priority for new MCCY, says Lawrence Wong |
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| • | [TD="class: bodytext, width: 96%"]Ministry of Social and Family Development's immediate priorities |
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| • | [TD="class: bodytext, width: 96%"]Social service sector set to respond more effectively under new ministry |
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SINGAPORE: Three new ministries and
a former backbencher will begin work on their new portfolios on Thursday,
following changes to the Cabinet announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in
July.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry
(MCYS), has had a diverse portfolio since September 2004.
But from
November, it will focus purely on the development of families, social services
and social safety nets.
The new Ministry of Social and Family Development
(MSF) will retain the old MCYS logo.
Acting Minister Chan Chun Sing said
MSF will continue the work of MCYS, though policies will be
re-examined.
Mr Chan said: "In the past, when MCYS was known as the
social welfare department, the kind of help that it is expected to render is
really the social welfare to the really bottom end of the socio-economic
strata.
"But nowadays, you have a new set of challenges because the
income gap has widened between the top and bottom, you will find a group of
people in the middle - they will get quite unsettled, their challenge is not so
much that they are absolutely poor, but they are unsettled because they wonder
if they can meet the aspirations.
"So the question for us is then, as a
society, to what extent we can and should help this group of people, beyond the
people who are at the bottom of the socio-economic scale.
"It is not an
easy question to answer and we would have to find the answer as a society going
forward," he said.
Mr Chan bade farewell to over 120 staff, who will
move to the new Community, Culture and Youth Ministry (MCCY).
Helmed by a
new Acting Minister, Lawrence Wong, MCCY will drive policies to build a cohesive
and vibrant society, while deepening the sense of identity and belonging among
Singaporeans.
Mr Wong said: "We will want to do more with the new
ministry to engage young students, work with the schools to see what more we can
do in the schools, and there's a lot of synergy there because MOE is
increasingly focusing on character and citizenship education, on values in
action, so there's a lot of scope to partner the schools to engage our young
people."
Statutory boards and organisations that will come under the
purview of MCCY are:
Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS)
Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM)
Syariah Court
Hindu Endowments Board
Hindu Advisory Board
Sikh Advisory Board
People's Association
Singapore Sports Council
Singapore Sports School
Staff from MCCY will move to Hill Street,
to join those in the new Communications and Information Ministry
(MCI).
The MCI will take over the role of managing the government
feedback unit, REACH, from MCYS.
One of its primary focus is to sharpen
the government's engagement strategy, in this era of social
media.
Separately, Tanjong Pagar MP Indranee Rajah is leaving her legal
career, after some 25 years.
The new Senior Minister of State for
Education and Law has already set some targets for herself.
She said: "In
MOE for example - depending on what portfolio I'm given, you have to look at the
measurement in terms of - is the system succeeding for the students in that
area? So let's just say it is pre-school for example, do parents generally feel
at the end of it, that students get good quality pre-school education? And are
they generally happy?"
Some adjustments are inevitable, now that she's
moved from the backbench to frontbench.
"I have to get used to being
addressed in acronyms, I am now SMS, and I've never been an SMS before, I have
always been plain Ms Rajah or Indranee Rajah, so yes, I'm getting used to being
an acronym but I think by and large - the job scope is different, the work is
different, at the end of the day, what it is about?
"It is about wanting
to do something good for Singapore, which is good, hoping to give reality to the
aspirations of Singaporeans. The title should not matter, it is the substance of
the job that's important, so that's what I will focus on", she said.
Ms
Indranee said as a minister, she wants to be accessible to those who want to
have their voices heard.
"It's not an automatic KPI, but something that
you feel very much when you get ground feedback, which that people feel that
ministers should be approachable, accessible.
"It's not possible to see
people all the time - to have people walk in through the ministry but people do
want to feel that if they write to you or they speak to you, that they are heard
and they also want you on the one hand to be able to do the job that requires
certain skills sets and on the other hand, feel like one of
them.
"Basically in the end that's what you are elected for, you are
elected from the people to do things for them and the sense of closeness is very
important, and if people feel that there is a distance between them and the
minister, then people feel the disappointment, so that's the other KPI I think
for me," she said.
- CNA/ck
