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Civil servants understanding Govt’s agenda is not a bad thing: Ong Ye Kung

SINGAPORE — Some may call it “second-guessing”, but it is beneficial for civil servants to understand the Government’s priorities and work with Ministers to craft policies in the same direction, said Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung on Monday (Jan 8).

It is beneficial for civil servants to understand the Government’s priorities and work with Ministers to craft policies in the same direction, said Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung. Photo: Parliament

It is beneficial for civil servants to understand the Government’s priorities and work with Ministers to craft policies in the same direction, said Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung. Photo: Parliament

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SINGAPORE — Some may call it “second-guessing”, but it is beneficial for civil servants to understand the Government’s priorities and work with Ministers to craft policies in the same direction, said Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung on Monday (Jan 8).

The culture in the Public Service and concerns about its possible politicisation came under the spotlight in Parliament as it passed the Public Sector (Governance) Bill.

Among other things, the wide-ranging new legislation formalises the sector’s “administrative requirements to comply with key central policies”, said Mr Ong, who leads public service innovation efforts.

Statutory boards here comply with a range of policies set by central agencies, developed in consultation with key stakeholders, such as the statutory boards themselves and public sector unions. For example, the Public Service Division and Ministry of Finance issue directives on human resource and finance matters, respectively.

The new law empowers the Minister charged with the responsibility for the Singapore public sector to “issue directions to Statutory Boards to comply with those central policies, jointly with the Minister responsible for the respective policy area”, Mr Ong added. However, it spells out the purposes for which the relevant Ministers are empowered to give “central directions”.

These include “upholding and promoting the values of the Singapore public sector”, “ensuring business continuity in case of emergencies” and “managing risks to the financial position of the Government”. The Ministers’ directions must also be consistent with written laws, and not be specific to a case.

During the debate, several Workers’ Party (WP) Members of Parliament (MPs) rose to speak about the relationship between the Public Service and political officeholders.

Non-Constituency MP Leon Perera and Aljunied GRC MP Sylvia Lim raised concerns about the politicising of the public sector.

Ms Lim argued that while the safeguards in the new law were “impressive on paper”, they were “easy to circumvent”. “For instance, what is there to stop a Minister from speaking to a public officer on the side to get such things done?” she said. She added: “With a public sector that has known only one ruling party for nearly 60 years, how do we entrench a culture of political neutrality, how do we achieve depoliticisation in reality?”

Mr Ong reiterated that public servants “who feel any pressure from the Ministers can report it to their Permanent Secretaries or to the Head of Civil Service, even Public Service Commission or the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau if the case warrants it and I’m sure they know how to follow up”.

Mr Perera noted a “history of public servants moving on to take up roles in politics immediately upon leaving the Public Service” in Singapore. There will “always presumably be some public servants who have the necessary ambition, aspirations and willingness” to join politics, he said.

As a result, a culture among the public servants of second-guessing their ministers may be cultivated. “The risk of subordinates second-guessing their boss and doing what their boss wants in the absence of formal or explicit instruction is not new. After all, becoming a minister is an attractive career option for a high-performing public officer. The incentive for such a culture to grow is there,” Mr Perera added.

In response, Mr Ong said it was “very reasonable” for civil servants “not to be sycophantic”.

But he added: “In all our work, we do have to anticipate what the needs of our customers are, and the needs of the people we work with… to understand what the ministerial direction is, what the agenda and key priorities of this Government are, and work with the Ministers and develop policies in that direction — you could call this ‘second guessing’ and put it negatively, but I think there is value for public servants to do that and for that matter, for everyone working to do that.”

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