Four years later, a 30 per cent water tariff increase is announced at Budget 2017, and again the prime minister is acknowledging the government’s shortcomings in communication. “Before announcing the water hike last month, the government perhaps should have spent more time explaining the rationale and what it would be doing to help households cope” (Mar. 25, TODAY), and these remarks echo the frustration and the confusion when the White Paper was rolled out. Then, the 6.9 million figure dominated the discourse. Now, the 30 per cent figure is doing the same. Even if Singaporeans are cognisant of the policy need for the hike – that prices have not gone up since 2000, or that infrastructure investments are expensive, for instance – the details are lost in the noise. Few paid attention to the hike over two phases, or the assistance rendered to the lower-income households too. Continue reading
Talk about trust – and the trust deficit – is not new. In a letter to The Straits Times after the haze last year consultant Mr. Devadas Krishnadas defined trust as “the confidence and conviction that the government is competent and committed to ensuring the well-being of Singaporeans”. At Singapore Perspectives 2012, a conference by the Institute of Policy Studies, academic Mr. Cherian George identified three barriers to building trust in Singapore: the credibility problem of the mainstream media, the lack of independent voices in public debates, and the conflict between national interest and interests of the dominant People’s Action Party (PAP). Continue reading
The basic premise would be for student-leaders to reinvent student governance – to get students actively involved in school affairs – before generating interest in socio-political affairs in Singapore. Continue reading