primer [consultative politics]

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THE National Dayaddress and NationalDay Rally speeches inAugust are traditional-ly a time for some

nationwide introspection, as thePrime Minister takes stock of theyear past and sets a direction forthe year ahead.

Last year though, Prime Minis-ter Lee Hsien Loong took that pro-cess to a different level.

In his National Day address, heraised some fundamental ques-tions that he said were critical forthe country’s next phase of devel-opment.

“What future do we see for Sin-gapore? What kind of home do wewant for our children? I believe allof us want to be proud to be Singa-poreans, and to live in a success-ful country that meets our aspira-tions. What does this mean?”

In so doing, PM Lee set the ballrolling for what was to be the larg-est public consultation exerciseever done here.

The exercise, subsequently giv-en the name Our Singapore Con-versation (OSC), would take inthe views of almost 5,000 Singa-poreans in just its first phase. Dur-ing this phase, people would be in-vited to participate in a series offocus groups where open-endeddiscussions would take placeabout the key challenges Singa-pore faced.

Thousands more would be en-gaged through social media andconversations run by organisa-tions such as the People’s Associa-tion and business chambers.

The core effort would be led byEducation Minister Heng SweeKeat, together with a group ofyounger ministers and a teammade up of people selected from avariety of fields.

A bumpy beginning

OUR Singapore Conversation isnow into its sixth month. Yet, itremains for some a somewhat divi-sive issue.

Many who have participatedhave emerged from the sessionsto expound the value that theyhave gleaned from the process.

But there is a group that re-mains sceptical about the exer-cise.

At the beginning, a minor furo-re broke out online about themake-up of the committee thatwould facilitate the conversation.Many cried foul at the lack of any

opposition figures among the 26chosen.

Mr Heng said that the selectionof committee members was “not apartisan exercise”, and that theviews of opposition memberswould be welcome during the pro-cess. A number of opposition poli-ticians were subsequently invitedto the sessions. Some like Nation-al Solidarity Party chief Hazel Poaattended, while others chose to sitit out.

Beyond the committee, therewere also those who were criticalabout the open-ended format, say-ing that a lack of focus would ham-per the ability of the conversationto produce concrete outcomes.Cynics pointed to the limited effi-cacy of previous attempts at a na-tional conversation.

Yet, Mr Heng and the commit-tee had stressed continually thatthe conversation was not focusedon producing policy recommenda-tions or finding sacred cows toslay.

PM Lee said in September lastyear that the OSC should not be a“culling session”.

“I don’t think we should startour Singapore conversation on thebasis of looking for sacred cows toslay... I don’t think that would bea constructive exercise,” he said.

New era of consultation

PERHAPS the most obvious im-pact of the national conversation

so far came during the two-weekBudget debate last month.

Speeches made by several min-isters, while laying out the direc-tion for their ministries, were no-table for sections that called forSingaporeans to talk about thelong-term direction that policiesshould take.

For instance, Health MinisterGan Kim Yong wanted a conversa-tion about a review of health-carefinancing, National DevelopmentMinister Khaw Boon Wan wantedviews on the future of housing pol-icy, and Mr Heng himself invitedSingaporeans to talk about how ed-ucation policy would change.

In fact, sessions on educationhave already begun as part of thesecond phase of the OSC, and par-ticipants are grappling with ques-tions of stress and the excessivefocus on examinations, as well associal mobility and inclusion.

Even in ministries that did notdirectly invoke the OSC, minis-ters still sought consultation. De-fence Minister Ng Eng Hen calledon the public to give ideas on howto improve national service. Heset up two working groups thatwill canvass views from a widecross-section of society.

The emphasis on consultationand engagement marks a depar-ture from the usual top-down, pre-scriptive style of governance.Even when there was consultationin the 1980s and 1990s, effortstended to focus on getting feed-back on policies proposed, not onconsulting people on the directionto take.

A maturing electorate demandsmore engagement and more ac-countability, meaning that leadersare increasingly less able to decideon policy in isolation.

And the change in style is notjust down to an evolving elector-ate. The nature of policy optionsthat Singapore faces is also shift-ing.

The low-hanging fruits poli-cy-wise have been plucked andthere are precious few decisionsnow that result in clear win-winscenarios.

Combined with an electoratethat holds increasingly disparateviews, the nature of policymakingtoday is often a case of balancingtrade-offs.

PM Lee put it this way in a re-cent interview: “The society is ina different phase now. We are nota teenager; we are maybe a bitmore than a young adult – therate at which you can grow is dif-ferent. The sort of anxieties and is-sues which arise will be different.And we have to be able to addressthose.”

For Mr Heng, even consulta-tion may no longer be enough. Heprefers the format of the OSCwhere Singaporeans get to engageone other instead of just provid-ing feedback to the Government.

He said that the conversationallows a free airing of diverseviews and brings groups of Singa-poreans with differing views to-gether.

“In some countries, the idea ofhaving people come together tosit at a table to discuss their op-posing views is almost impossi-ble,” he said.

Wherever possible, he hopesfor all complex government deci-sions to involve some sort of con-versation and for Singaporeans tomake the open discourse of diffi-cult issues a habit.

In that sense, he hopes theOSC process will live on long afterit is officially closed.

jeremyau@sph.com.sg

By JEREMY AU YONGASSISTANT POLITICAL EDITOR

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat (standing) listening to participants during the first citizens’ dialogue session, part of Our Singapore Conversation, at the National Library last October. ST FILE PHOTO

THE Our Singapore Con-versation (OSC) is byno means the first timeSingapore has em-barked on a national

public consultation exercise.There have been at least three

previous exercises since 1991.None of these though was as largein scope or as ambitious as the on-going OSC.

The first notable public consul-tation exercise here was calledThe Next Lap. It was led by a Cabi-net sub-committee called theLong Term National DevelopmentCommittee and headed by thenActing Minister for InformationGeorge Yeo.

They produced a 160-pagebook that mapped out broad plansto make Singapore a nation of dis-tinction. The recommendations ul-timately led to, among other

things, schools going to a singlesession, the setting up of Edusaveand the establishment of the coun-try’s third university, the Singa-pore Management University.

Five years later, in 1996, camethe next exercise known as Singa-pore 21.

Singapore 21 was an actionplan to take the country into the21st century. The project was anidea first mooted by then PrimeMinister Goh Chok Tong.

A committee chaired by thenMinister for Education and Sec-ond Minister for Defence TeoChee Hean conducted more thana year of discussions with about6,000 Singaporeans from allwalks of life. The findings werethen distilled into a report re-leased in 1999.

Some of the issues raised thenremain relevant today.

For instance, Singaporeansspoke about wanting to live lessstressful lives while retainingtheir drive and also about balanc-ing the need to attract talent withthe need to look after Singapore-ans.

The public consultation in2002, Remaking Singapore, wouldalso deal with some similarthemes, such as an over-emphasison materialism in society.

The committee was chaired bythen Minister of State (National

Development) Vivian Balakrish-nan.

The process threw up some con-tentious suggestions that were dis-missed, like allowing the joblessto withdraw some of their CPFfunds.

Eventually, of the 74 proposalsit made, 60 received the Govern-ment’s nod in 2004.

Among the most popular: Theintroduction of a five-day workweek.JEREMY AU YONG

PRIMER

Setting a new pace for the nation

The cover of the Singapore 21 report(above), which was released in 1999.The Singapore 21 committeeconducted more than a year ofdiscussions with about 6,000Singaporeans from all walks of life.The idea was first mooted by Mr GohChok Tong (left picture, in white shirt)and the committee was chaired by MrTeo Chee Hean (in blue shirt).

ST FILE PHOTO

This is the third of 12primers on variouscurrent affairs issues,which will bepublished in therun-up to The StraitsTimes-Ministry ofEducation NationalCurrent Affairs Quiz.

THE SINGAPORE PERSPECTIVE

A brief historyof nationalconversations

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