Gov’t to improve communication with citizens: Dr Balakrishnan
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan says the government will improve communication and dialogue with citizens.
Speaking on the sidelines of a graduation ceremony at Republic Polytechnic, he said that 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.
Citing a medical analogy to explain 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," he said.
When asked about George Yeo's defeat to the Workers' Party in Aljunied GRC, Dr Balakrishnan said that it is not the fault of the GRC system and residents there have made their choice.
He 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 of us have to learn to live with."
Mr Yeo's defeat proved that no politician is 'indispensable', he added.
"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."
Turning his attention to Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, Dr Balakrishnan said that his team will find out why 40 per cent of residents voted against them and sort out any issues residents may have.
In Saturday's polls, the People's Action Party Holland-Bukit Timah GRC team comprising Dr Balakrishnan, Christopher de Souza, Liang Eng Hwa and Sim Ann garnered 48,682 votes while their opponent, the Singapore Democratic Party's 'A' team of Ang Yong Guan, Michelle Lee Juen, Tan Jee Say and Vincent Rene Wijeysingha achieved 32,322 votes.
