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Govt needs to improve communication with citizens: Dr Balakrishnan

Better communications and dialogue with citizens - that's what the government will do more of, said Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan.

He was speaking to the media at the sidelines of a graduation ceremony at Republic Polytechnic.

Dr Balakrishnan said the election has been a good learning journey and at the strategic level, many PAP policies are right but their implementation and communication can be improved.

He gave a
medical analogy to illustrate his point.

He said: "It's not good enough just to do the right operation. We have to take informed consent, which means especially when you are going into an uncertain future, especially when there may be more than one option, and especially when there are trade offs, complications, implications and consequences from different choices of procedure.

"It's very very important to talk to the patient, to explain these choices and the different trade offs and make sure the people of Singapore understand this and participate more actively in the decision-making process."

At the same time, he said Singapore needs a strong government that can make tough decisions.

As for George Yeo's defeat in Aljunied GRC, Dr Balakrishnan said it is not the fault of the GRC system and that the people have made their choice. However, he added it is a loss for Singapore.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "George was one of the people who brought me into politics. I have served under him in MTI and he has been such an inspiration and a mentor, so it was very disappointing but politics isn't fair and politics is not predictable, so in a sense, these are the realities of politics that all have us have to learn to live with."

He said Mr Yeo's defeat proved that no politician is "indispensable".

"It's an affirmation of a lesson in humility for all politicians and never never take people for granted and never take people's feelings, hopes, fears and pain for granted - and beyond policies and implementation, we need to make sure people will trust us."

As for the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, he said his team will find out why some 40 per cent voted against them and sort out any issues residents may have.

12:48 | |

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