Is This for Real, or Just Another 'LPPL' Initiative?
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Govt wants to step up its engagement of citizens: PM Lee
Oct 12, 2006
AsiaOne
More and more Singaporeans are speaking up or writing in, and stepping forward to serve the community, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said tonight.
The government encourages this as it wants more people to care about issues, take them up and shape the character and life of Singapore society, he added.
Mr Lee, who was speaking at the Feedback Unit's 21st anniversary dinner in Pan Pacific Hotel, also announced that the unit's role would be expanded and its reach widened to engage all Singaporeans from every walk of life. To reflect this bigger role, the unit's name will be changed to REACH or Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry@Home.
Other than tapping the new media, including blogs and SMS, extensively, REACH will have an interesting feature on its website (http://www.reach.gov.sg) in the form of an electronic townhall where Singaporeans can engage government agencies on multiple issues through real-time chats.
The traditonal role of the feedback unit will continue but there are plans to re-organise the various feedback groups to bring in new members and to take into account shifts in focus areas, including cross-agency issues that do not fall neatly into functional silos, Mr Lee said.
The told the gathering: "The government is committed to stepping up its engagement of citizens. But I hope Singaporeans also understand that good government cannot be based on feedback alone. On nearly every issue, there will be a range of views and ideas. Much as we would like to, it is impossible to make everyone happy with every individual policy." He added that at the end, it is the government's duty to decide based on the best interests of the nation.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports released a statement tonight about the revamp and unveiled a logo for REACH.
It said REACH will also extend its bridge to Singaporeans living, working or studying abroad. Keeping in touch with these Singaporeans will enhance their sense of commitment and belonging to Singapore, the ministry statement added.
At home, REACH will work closely with community and grassroots organisations to reach out to more heartlanders.
The revamp follows a month-long public consultation exercise in September on ways to better engage Singaporeans to cultivate a more active citizenry.
The statement said 81 per cent of respondents felt that the Feedback Unit should continue its role in gathering feedback on government policies and issues, while 74 per cent wanted to see the unit continue as a bridge between the government and the people. -
I only have 2 words: lan jiao!
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Yah... looks like another LPPL thing...
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yeah as long is it is citizens who like to carry balls,sure our LHL will like it....
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Can anyone name me one instance when the gahmen wanted to do one thing, but feedback from the public was contary to their viewpoint, and the gahmen took the feedback into consideration and modified or changed their policy? Just one will do. I really cannot remember any such instance. Thanks.
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I've visited the website REACH; the site is slow, loads suspiciously long, and it looks to me that they will only allow you to post 'nice things' about the gov and their policies.
It's the same as ST's Forum page.
Forget it lah...
I think it's only a platform for gathering ideas from public. -
I'll only speak up when I can be ensured that:
1. I don't get sued till I go bankrupt.
2. They actually listen
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The web site already made things very clear; they would only allow you to say NICE things. And suggests things or issues that are relevant to them.Originally posted by kaister:I'll only speak up when I can be ensured that:
1. I don't get sued till I go bankrupt.
2. They actually listen -
Oh yah, thats where they get the ideas and grab all the credit. silly me.Originally posted by ShutterBug:I've visited the website REACH; the site is slow, loads suspiciously long, and it looks to me that they will only allow you to post 'nice things' about the gov and their policies.
It's the same as ST's Forum page.
Forget it lah...
I think it's only a platform for gathering ideas from public. -
REACH?
yeah, that's rich... -
I remeber my first boss telling me her door is always open... I only realise it was to kick people's butt so hard they fly out of her room when they give feedback she didn't want to hear.
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Giving Traditional Chinese Medicine the recognition it deserves
She spoke up, they listened... and said YES
By Clarence Chong
October 14, 2006
SHE was attending a Feedback Unit session for the first time in her life.
Pacific Healthcare nursing home's operations manager, Ms Lim Chea Ngo, with a colleague (extreme left) and patient.
Picture courtesy of MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, YOUTH AND SPORTS
She stood up, held her breath and walked to the microphone as nearly a hundred pairs of eyes zeroed in on her.
Then she spoke up.
Why can't the Government give traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) more credit?
Since TCM has been proven to work, and elderly patients, especially, can benefit from it, isn't it time to allow acupuncturists and other TCM practitioners to set up clinics in nursing homes and hospitals?
Listening intently on stage was then Senior Minister of State for Health, Dr Balaji Sadasivan.
His upfront reply: I think we should allow it.
Less than three months later, the policy was changed.
TCM services started to move into hospitals - side by side with mainstream 'western' clinics - as well as nursing homes, saving patients the cost and hassle of travelling via ambulance to get their acupuncture treatment or traditional massage.
Ms Lim Chea Ngo, an 'ordinary citizen' and TCM aficionado, related this happy-ever-after experience to The New Paper.
Declining to reveal her age, she is now an operations manager at Pacific Healthcare nursing home in Bukit Merah.
Together with scores of doctors, nurses and health administrators, Ms Lim had been invited by the Singapore Business Federation to that eventful Sept 2005 dialogue session to discuss healthcare policies.
'Of course, I don't expect the Government to implement every suggestion,' she told The New Paper.
'But it's good that they're willing to listen to people on the ground.
'It goes to show that policies CAN change - if you bring it up to the right people and not complain, but show constructively how it can make a difference in helping others.'
Ms Lim's 'pleasantly surprising' story was mentioned in a new coffee table book called Your Views, Your Voice: A Feedback Journey - launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last night to commemorate the Feedback Unit's 21st anniversary.
Before they got their way, Ms Lim and her fellow healthcare workers had argued publicly for a change in TCM policy for nearly three years at various health seminars.
But the MOH had always been reluctant to embrace TCM wholeheartedly - due to the perceived lack of patient demand, the book pointed out, and long-held doubts over TCM's effectiveness.
That is, until about a year ago.
Other Feedback Unit 'success stories' resulting in policy changes over the years include:
Allowing singles aged above 35 to buy four-room and bigger HDB resale flats
Implementing a five-day work week and 12 weeks' maternity leave
Reserving a community space exclusively for youth activities in Orchard Road
Preserving and saving Chek Jawa beach from reclamation
Giving the go-ahead to stage the controversial Body Worlds human corpse exhibition and, most recently,
Allowing chronically-ill patients to use their Medisave to pay for outpatient treatment.
The bottomline, PM Lee said, is that the Unit is not just an empty 'post box for complaints' or a black hole where public feedback is sucked in and never sees the light of day.
'I hope Singaporeans also understand that good government cannot be based on feedback alone.
'On nearly every issue, there will be a range of views and ideas.
'Much as we would like to, it is impossible to make everyone happy...
'But just because an opinion has not been accepted does not mean that the process is unimportant,' he explained, saying that consultation ultimately breeds consensus and active citizens.
That's why the agency, now renamed Reach (see report above), will redouble its efforts to engage the silent majority and diversify into youth-friendly 'new media' channels like blogs and SMS.
ELECTRONIC TOWNHALL
Also coming up on its revamped website (www.reach.gov.sg) by the first quarter of next year: an electronic townhall where members of the public can deliver their bouquets and brickbats straight to policymakers via real-time webchats.
And although it already conducts some 50 dialogue sessions and receives over 6,000 letters, e-mails and phone calls a year, Reach will still go ahead and form 'citizen workgroups'.
The workgroups will comprise not government-appointed bureaucrats, but heartlanders and ordinary Joes and Janes who will chair and champion their own pet causes.
In other words, someone like Ms Lim. -
Oh, so it IS useful for something after all. That's good.
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Feedback unit report u see above only states those ideas that were accepted, what abt those not accepted? We got to have balanced views
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aiya..
all these is to better prepare themselves for the next general elections.
they are worried! -
i'm not gonna waste my bandwidth on some gahmen propaganda tool..Originally posted by Ito_^:aiya..
all these is to better prepare themselves for the next general elections.
they are worried! -
haix LPPL
1234 = 4321
LPPL = still LPPL
so its still LPPL -
Not all ideas are good...Originally posted by Rock^Star:Feedback unit report u see above only states those ideas that were accepted, what abt those not accepted? We got to have balanced views -
u missed the point.Originally posted by oxford mushroom:Not all ideas are good... -
But most are not implementable or "cut to recycle bin without restore option"Originally posted by Rock^Star:u missed the point. -
can't get into the stupid site. keep getting a timeout error