Government has not 'gone soft' and allowed entire system to become slack: Heng Swee Keat

SINGAPORE — Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has rejected suggestions that Singapore's political leaders have "allowed the whole system to go slack", and gone soft on themselves and the public service in failing to take senior officials to task for lapses under their watch.

Mr Heng was responding to an editorial by Lianhe Zaobao published on Feb 1, which the minister — who is earmarked as the successor to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong — described as raising "serious questions that my colleagues and I will not shirk".

The editorial cited complacency as a factor for a spate of lapses such as the National Service training deaths, SingHealth cyber attack and the data leak at the Ministry of Health which saw confidential information of people diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) put up online.

Mr Heng's response was carried on Saturday (Feb 9) in Lianhe Zaobao and The Straits Times. "Is complacency the cause of our recent spate of distressing failures — from training deaths in national service to the SingHealth cyber attack; from power failures to misplaced postal mail? Have we become so lulled by our success that we have allowed high standards to lapse?" Mr Heng wrote.

"Singaporeans do expect the best of their Government and of themselves. We will not flinch from taking a hard look at ourselves each time there is a failure, and doing whatever is necessary to put things right," he added. "But I reject the suggestion by some that the political leadership has allowed the whole system to go slack. And worse still, that we have gone soft on ourselves and the public service, failing to hold senior people accountable when things go wrong."

He noted that Singapore had experienced "serious incidents in the past too", pointing to the examples of the Hotel New World collapse, the Sentosa cable car accident and the Jurong Shipyard Spyros explosion which resulted in many deaths. "Each time, our pioneers learnt the painful lessons, and put things right," he said. "Thanks to these collective efforts, Singapore has achieved a high level of development. It has not been easy, but we have always strived to maintain high standards and improve upon them."

He pointed out that today, the Government operates "larger and more complex systems". Citing the cyber security threat to the country's Smart Nation drive as an example, he said: "While these new systems have improved our lives, they have also brought new risks. We have had to anticipate and manage them, knowing that nothing can be absolutely risk-free."

MAKING THINGS RIGHT

Following the attacks on government IT systems in 2013, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore was set up. Internet surfing separation was also rolled out in public agencies, "against vocal objections". "These have improved our cyber security but have not eliminated all risks," he said.

Mr Heng also pointed to how the Government sought to rectify the ageing MRT system as an example. "As the train system grew old and problems started to appear, we acted to resolve them. We introduced a new signalling system on the North-South and East-West lines. We purchased new trains and are building more rail lines to increase capacity. We benchmarked ourselves against the best in the world for reliability and service standards," he said.

He acknowledged that the Government "should have started renewing the MRT system earlier". "But we have learnt from this experience, and will keep on improving the system," he said. "We are not yet where we want to be. But surveys confirm that commuters have noticed the less crowded trains and more reliable service."

Noting that failures "do and will occur", he pointed out that these are investigated thoroughly. Committees of Inquiry are convened in serious cases and as in the case of the SingHealth cyber attack, the findings are made public, "however awkward".

THE ISSUE OF ACCOUNTABILITY

"The Prime Minister holds ministers accountable for running their ministries properly, and correcting any shortcomings uncovered. Ministers also have to account to Parliament and to the public," Mr Heng reiterated. "When lapses occur, we deal with them transparently and honestly. This is the way to restore confidence in our systems and maintain the trust of our people. Where individuals are found culpable or wanting, we do not hesitate to take action."

• SingHealth cyber attack: Senior officers were held responsible and disciplined. Officers who had failed in their duties were punished, and some were dismissed.
• HIV data leak: Individuals involved are being investigated and dealt with in court.
• NS training deaths: The Singapore Armed Forces has disciplined senior officers and relieved them of command for training accidents.

Leaders — be it ministers, permanent secretaries or chief executive officers — have to take "command responsibility", he stressed. If a leader has been found to be "slack, negligent or incompetent, then serious consequences must follow, including removal", he said.

However, the Government should not "routinely dismiss officials whenever things go wrong, regardless of the facts or circumstances". Said Mr Heng: "Doing so may give the appearance of solving the problem when that is not necessarily the case. It is more important to do the hard work of resolving the problem at the root, which requires the concerted effort of everyone."

He added: "Neither should our actions deter innovation, the willingness to think out of the box and try new solutions."

Mr Heng concluded by noting that Singapore society has to learn from others like the Japanese and the Swiss, "who have a strong sense of personal responsibility and a meticulous attention to detail".

"We must strengthen such personal mindsets at all levels of society, from the heads of organisations to front-line workers, in the private sector and the Government," he said. "Though this imposes high demands on every Singaporean, we will persist on this path. If we become complacent and slack, we are finished."