“The public cannot go away thinking that some people remain protected no matter what mistakes they make. I remember Lee Kuan Yew saying that if things don’t work, he will remove the chief. The 4G leaders must bring back this attitude so that complacency does not seep into our government.”
– Inderjit Singh, a former Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2015
Indeed, political analyst Terence Lee from Murdoch University raises the common concern that the leaders are “cut from the same cloth”.
“No one can say we are confident that they have the wherewithal to manage Singapore in ways that differ from the last 50 years,” he says.
“The ability to draw from [the] reserves disguises the lack of vision, ideas and overall competence,” argues Murdoch’s Lee. “If there’s money in the kitty, it becomes less urgent to seriously think outside the box.”
Mak Yuen Teen from the National University of Singapore reckons it may be time to rethink the way leaders are picked. “There’s a sense that there’s a certain sameness in the way people are selected into the government. That’s my concern, that we have too much groupthink and not enough people to stand up and express a different viewpoint,” he says.
Given the increasingly challenging global climate, what Singapore needs is bold, innovative ideas. Says Mak: “We used to be able to rely on our position in this region and our relationship with the US and China. But now we have trade wars, segmentation of the global economy, a lot of volatility. So, how are we going to cope? If you can’t react to unusual or unexpected situations, how can you react to these situations from an economic standpoint?”
Apologies and independent investigations alone are not enough, says Felix Tan, associate lecturer at SIM Global Education. “The government would also need to be more transparent in the investigations. Creating public trust is not simply apologising or denying that they were not in the wrong, but accepting that mistakes have been made, and they should avoid being always so defensive when questioned by members of the public,” he says.
Source: The Edge
– Inderjit Singh, a former Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2015
Indeed, political analyst Terence Lee from Murdoch University raises the common concern that the leaders are “cut from the same cloth”.
“No one can say we are confident that they have the wherewithal to manage Singapore in ways that differ from the last 50 years,” he says.
“The ability to draw from [the] reserves disguises the lack of vision, ideas and overall competence,” argues Murdoch’s Lee. “If there’s money in the kitty, it becomes less urgent to seriously think outside the box.”
Mak Yuen Teen from the National University of Singapore reckons it may be time to rethink the way leaders are picked. “There’s a sense that there’s a certain sameness in the way people are selected into the government. That’s my concern, that we have too much groupthink and not enough people to stand up and express a different viewpoint,” he says.
Given the increasingly challenging global climate, what Singapore needs is bold, innovative ideas. Says Mak: “We used to be able to rely on our position in this region and our relationship with the US and China. But now we have trade wars, segmentation of the global economy, a lot of volatility. So, how are we going to cope? If you can’t react to unusual or unexpected situations, how can you react to these situations from an economic standpoint?”
Apologies and independent investigations alone are not enough, says Felix Tan, associate lecturer at SIM Global Education. “The government would also need to be more transparent in the investigations. Creating public trust is not simply apologising or denying that they were not in the wrong, but accepting that mistakes have been made, and they should avoid being always so defensive when questioned by members of the public,” he says.
Source: The Edge