Civil servants should not wait for feedback before acting

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean’s speech, excerpted in “S’pore’s Public Service must be in touch, in tune and in time” (May 22), serves as a wake-up call for the public sector to serve citizens as best it can.

In one aspect, civil servants must be less desk-bound and carry out more observations of happenings in public places that may suggest unhappiness, or of facilities that must be improved.

To wait for feedback from members of the public to trickle in takes a tad too long, given that most of Singapore’s citizens are the silent type.

Perhaps even a single complaint should spark immediate attention, rather than waiting for more to come.

It is, however, harder to be “in time” when this involves interdepartmental action or separate ministries unless the Civil Service works as one coordinated agency, and not in silos.