Chee Hean made a keynote speech to the elite civil servants, or shall I called them govt officials, on the role of govt last night. His key point was the role of government, and the paradox is that some people want more govt some want less. This is nothing new and is really not an issue. He also mentioned about doing the right things and doing them right.
What ever paradoxes there are, the worst paradox is a govt doing what it should not be doing and not doing what it should be doing. Put it in another way, things that the people did not want to govt to be doing but the govt insists on doing and things that the people want the govt to do but not doing. This is the paradox that the govt cannot see. It only believes in the proverbial ‘I’. It is always the ‘I decide, I say, I do’. The govt is the authority to do what it likes and to draw the OB markers.
The govt has never thought that the people also have their likes and their rights and also their OB markers. I recommend that all civil servants, not govt officials, should read JS Mills and try to understand what he meant by the rights of individuals. This may help them to understand that they must not cross into the rights of individuals though the govt has all the power to do so, to violate individual rights in the name of the common good. Think how many individual rights have the govt violated and think how not to do so.
Chee Hean also talked about the govt as a regulator, enabler and provider. As regulator, ‘the govt acts to safeguard the interests of the people, to find the right balance in its intervention’. Think housing policy, think influx of foreigners and population growth. Has the govt failed badly in these areas as a regulator?
Similarly, as an enabler, the govt is to ‘create a conducive environment so that “desirable activities can flourish”.’ This, the govt has succeeded in some areas and not in some other areas, depending on the beneficiaries and the losers.
As a provider, the ‘govt shall provide where there are societal needs non government players are not able to meet, such as national security.’ He agreed that there were debates or unhappiness in areas like education, public transport, housing and healthcare which should be provided by the govt but privatized. So the govt need not be the provider that it should be. And is the govt providing for the aged? Currently to some extent, but eventually may be zero as the aged are compelled through all the compulsory schemes in CPF and Medisave to provide for themselves. This would make the govt’s job easier or even redundant except to be the regulator to ensure the aged provide for themselves.
Very paradoxical indeed. Doing the right things and doing them right are as controversial as affordability. What is right and what is wrong can be very subjective and personal.
Forcing remisiers to sit an exam on derivatives and dangerous financial products which remisiers and clients barely or refused to touch is doing the right thing?
ReplyDeleteIt's either the remisers sit an exam and learn how to advise their clients properly
ReplyDeleteOR
the regulators sit an exam and learn how to regulate and protect their citizens properly.
If remisers don't know how to vote properly, then they will have to study lor.
Work hard or work smart.
GE 2016.
You decide.
The frustration is that no client want to touch these toxic products. They are mainly traded by fund managers for their muppet clients.
ReplyDeleteSo why are remisers sitting for the exams?
ReplyDeleteWhy not the regulators?
Why not the fund managers?
Why not the muppet clients?
Work hard or work smart.
GE 2016.
You decide.
Food products entering the Singapore market need to be checked by AVA to clear them as suitable and safe for consumption. They are the experts and with the expert manpower to do the job.
ReplyDeleteAnother way is to pass the buck to the food sellers, make the sellers sit for exam and make them responsible if the food is unsafe.
Which is a better way? Using experts to check dangerous products or pretend that the food sellers can be trained to check for poison or defective foodstuff?
Another question, why should a grocery shop be tested on poison and questionable medicine when they don't deal with them?
AVA has to do the work because the MIWs (Millionaires-In-Waiting) will end up eating the same food as the Sinkies.
ReplyDeleteAs for toxic financial product.
Who dare to sell the toxic shit to them?
If accidentally langgar, I'm quite sure our local final institutions will very quickly investigate and find out that they have to reimburse.
Joke:
Coming to think about it.
Maybe AVA should not work so hard hor?
Redbean,
ReplyDeletefor all the cock that the PAP govt is nonsensing, did they even account and responsible for the loss of billions of taxmoney by TH and GIC other than insulting our intelligence with excuse of "investing for the long term" ? These same useless clowns not only lose so much money but even dare to say they are extraordinary that are worth millions. WTF.
You know, when I speak to ang moh recently , he is so shocked that our govt are doing things so wrong blatantly against the people of Singapore, and he wonder why we Singaporeans are so tolerant all these years.
"... he wonder why we Singaporeans are so tolerant all these years."
ReplyDeleteFrederick Douglass said it best.
"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of the people they oppress."
You are right. The angmohs are laughing themselves crazy at the crazy things we are doing here. In the Today paper today, one angmoh Singaporean formerly a New Yorker, questioned the thinking of trying to be another New York or London.
ReplyDeleteBut the angmoh is wrong again. We can move our people to Bintan, Batam and JB, just like New York and London and their suburbs. We are a big country with unlimited land.
Believe me, some even think that Malaysia has no right to charge tolls on Singapore cars in their country. Some even see it as provocative. We really think very big.
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ReplyDeleteAnother paradox of governance, claiming to do good but doing bad.
ReplyDeleteVeritas, I respect you but before you react anything about anyone you must study seriously..then speak ok,this is your just self-centeredness, nothing else..I have read your all the comments and you proved that you don't know anything about the world, about the Indian Culture and about origin of buddha. you must read properly then speak ok!
ReplyDelete