Boring Civil Servant = ME
It’s been two days since I started my DPPS (Developments in Public Policy Seminar), which I thought was going to be propaganda but which I found to be very useful and relevant and surprisingly interesting.
The first day started with an overview of the public service, which sounds boring but it was really interesting. It gave us an insight into the philosophy behind which our government makes its policies. The three principles by which our government tries to abide by when making policies in Singapore are:
1.Reward for Work, Work for Reward
2.Test for Results, Not Political Correctness
3.Leadership is Key
I thought every one of them made quite a lot of sense, but all of us could also pick out quite a few problems with the first two. People from various ministries such as PS21 and IPD came to talk to us, and gave us to understand some of the reasons behind various governmental policies and what went on behind the scenes in Singapore.
It was all very interesting.
Today we had a talk about Singapore’s Economic Strategy during which I nearly fell asleep, not that it wasn’t interesting but just that it was too early in the morning, and then after coffee we played this game: “What would you do if you were the Finance Minister?” At first I thought that to call it a game would be quite a far stretch, but found it fun after all despite my limited knowledge.
We had to take on the roles of the various interest groups in the countries such as the SMEs (small/medium enterprises), MNCs, foreign investors, unemployed and underprivileged, top bracket marginally rich, etc, and work out how much we wanted to tax the top wage earners, the corporations, and how much percentage of GST we wanted to have, and also how much we would allot to the various ministries like education, defence, etc. Woww….. enlightening… especially when we learnt that our proposals would all result in wage deficits. Hahah…
Then this guy from MCDS came down to talk to us (about social policies) and I finally understood why they’ve come up with stuff like the Romance Campaign; I have to take my hat off to them if it really did work… even though it may have seemed funny to the outside world, I have to give it to the civil servants for trying their hardest to keep families together and to try to bolster our aging population… they seem really passionate about what they do and willing to try anything as long as it brings the results they want (Test for results, not political correctness remember?)
Then we went for a visit to social service centres around Singapore. I went to a centre serving the intellectually disabled. It was the first time I was actually really aware of efforts being made to help them and how they were working out. The people in charge at the centre (TOUCH centre for independent learning) told us that they were aiming to help their clients integrate into society in three years.
Apparently MCDS subsidizes 50% of their activities, but many additional costs are also incurred, which they try to meet as best as they can. We got a chance to observe a lesson, and my heart was thumping quite hard before I went into the class. Like having a crush on someone only worse (somehow I always manage to bring frivolous stuff in right?).
Luckily the people there were friendly and they made me feel almost at ease immediately, and the teacher was doing a very relevant topic: roles. He asked: What is your role? How do you help your mother at home? And I felt strangely that the lesson was for me and that the teacher was probing deep into my psyche (Maybe it helped that he was dedicated and patient and young and cute).
I felt strangely humbled after visiting…
Anyway on a completely different note, for people who say Singaporeans are soulless, please catch Singapore Idol. It’s funny, it’s heartbreaking…. It’s very very watchable and the people featured are so human I cried during the second episode!
Ok better stop being the boring civil servant I am!
The first day started with an overview of the public service, which sounds boring but it was really interesting. It gave us an insight into the philosophy behind which our government makes its policies. The three principles by which our government tries to abide by when making policies in Singapore are:
1.Reward for Work, Work for Reward
2.Test for Results, Not Political Correctness
3.Leadership is Key
I thought every one of them made quite a lot of sense, but all of us could also pick out quite a few problems with the first two. People from various ministries such as PS21 and IPD came to talk to us, and gave us to understand some of the reasons behind various governmental policies and what went on behind the scenes in Singapore.
It was all very interesting.
Today we had a talk about Singapore’s Economic Strategy during which I nearly fell asleep, not that it wasn’t interesting but just that it was too early in the morning, and then after coffee we played this game: “What would you do if you were the Finance Minister?” At first I thought that to call it a game would be quite a far stretch, but found it fun after all despite my limited knowledge.
We had to take on the roles of the various interest groups in the countries such as the SMEs (small/medium enterprises), MNCs, foreign investors, unemployed and underprivileged, top bracket marginally rich, etc, and work out how much we wanted to tax the top wage earners, the corporations, and how much percentage of GST we wanted to have, and also how much we would allot to the various ministries like education, defence, etc. Woww….. enlightening… especially when we learnt that our proposals would all result in wage deficits. Hahah…
Then this guy from MCDS came down to talk to us (about social policies) and I finally understood why they’ve come up with stuff like the Romance Campaign; I have to take my hat off to them if it really did work… even though it may have seemed funny to the outside world, I have to give it to the civil servants for trying their hardest to keep families together and to try to bolster our aging population… they seem really passionate about what they do and willing to try anything as long as it brings the results they want (Test for results, not political correctness remember?)
Then we went for a visit to social service centres around Singapore. I went to a centre serving the intellectually disabled. It was the first time I was actually really aware of efforts being made to help them and how they were working out. The people in charge at the centre (TOUCH centre for independent learning) told us that they were aiming to help their clients integrate into society in three years.
Apparently MCDS subsidizes 50% of their activities, but many additional costs are also incurred, which they try to meet as best as they can. We got a chance to observe a lesson, and my heart was thumping quite hard before I went into the class. Like having a crush on someone only worse (somehow I always manage to bring frivolous stuff in right?).
Luckily the people there were friendly and they made me feel almost at ease immediately, and the teacher was doing a very relevant topic: roles. He asked: What is your role? How do you help your mother at home? And I felt strangely that the lesson was for me and that the teacher was probing deep into my psyche (Maybe it helped that he was dedicated and patient and young and cute).
I felt strangely humbled after visiting…
Anyway on a completely different note, for people who say Singaporeans are soulless, please catch Singapore Idol. It’s funny, it’s heartbreaking…. It’s very very watchable and the people featured are so human I cried during the second episode!
Ok better stop being the boring civil servant I am!
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