Governance in Singapore

1
Governance in Singapore
2
2. Governance in Singapore

• Ensures stability in the government
• Builds a nation
• Meets peoples needs
• Maintains sovereignty

3
System of Government

• Representative Democracy
• Elections held once every 5 years
• People vote for their candidate
• Candidates with the most votes serves as a Member
  of Parliament (MP)
• Leader of the party with the most MPs is invited
  to be Prime Minister
• Prime Minister forms government

4
3. How does the Government work?

• Legislature
• Consists of MPs and President
• Makes laws
• Executive
• Consists of President and Cabinet
• Executes laws made by Parliament
• Administers government policies

5
3. How does the Government work?

• Judiciary
• Consists of various judges and law courts
• Ensures that laws are justly carried out
• Ensures laws passed do not breach the Constitution

6
3.1 The Legislature

• Process of Law-making
• First Reading Proposal
• Second Reading Reasons for the Bill
• Third Reading Bill is passed by Parliament
• Submission to Presidential Council for Minority
  Rights
• Bill is sent to the President
• Presidential Approval

7
3.2 The Executive

• Feedback process to Executive
• Community gives feedback
• MP raises the issue to respective Ministry
• Ministry justifies actions or proposes
  alternatives

8
3.3 The Judiciary

• Composition of the Judiciary
• Chief Justice
• Judges in law courts
• Duties of the Judiciary
• Makes judgements independently
• Not influenced by political leaders

9
4. Guiding Principles of Governance

• 4.1 Leadership is Key
• 4.2 Anticipate Change and Stay Relevant
• 4.3 Reward for Work and Work for Reward
• 4.4 A Stake for Everyone, Opportunities for All

10
4.1 Leadership is Key

• Honest and capable leaders needed
• Good leaders make the right decisions for the
  country
• Good leaders must have moral courage and
  integrity
• Good leaders do what is right and not what is
  popular

11
4.1 Leadership is Key

• Good leadership and governance do not occur by
  chance
• Potential leaders are selected and groomed
• Leaders also selected based on good character

12
4.1 Leadership is Key

• Honesty is highly valued in a leader
• Leaders must be incorruptible
• Incorruptible leaders win the confidence and
  respect of the people
• The law deals with leaders guilty of dishonest
  behaviour

13
4.1 Leadership is Key

• Good leadership needed in every segment of
  Singapore society
• For Example, former chairman of the National Arts
  Council (NAC) Mr. Liu Thai Ker
• Created more opportunities for local talents
• More Arts events were organised

14
4.2 Anticipate Change and Stay Relevant

• Need for government to be forward looking
• NEWater
• Ensure self-sufficiency in water supply
• Presently, Singapore depends on Malaysia
• Agreements with Msia end in 2011 and 2061
• Singapore found alternative water supplies
• Government communicated that NEWater was safe

15
4.2 Anticipate Change and Stay Relevant

• Integrated Resorts
• Tourism has always been important for Spores
  economy
• Recently, Tourism faces more competition
• More Asian countries developing tourist
  attractions
• Singapore needs to improve the tourist industry
• In April 2005, the government decided to build
  two Integrated Resorts

16
4.2 Anticipate Change and Stay Relevant

• Taking Risks
• Singapore has to be open to new ideas
• Singapore needs to be willing to take risks
• Students can come up with creative and innovative
  ideas
• Every Singaporean needs to upgrade knowledge and
  skills to stay employable

17
4.3 Reward for Work and Work for Reward

• Meritocracy is key to this principle
• Meritocracy is a system which rewards hard work
  and talent
• Reward encourages people to do well
• Example Exceptional students are rewarded
• Meritocracy given an equal opportunity to all to
  achieve their best
• Surplus from Singapores growth has also been
  shared as a reward for hard work

18
4.4 A Stake for Everyone, Opportunities for All

• A greater sense of belonging is created when
  people have a say in decision-making
• More opportunities have been created to involve
  people in decision-making
• Example Consultation with the people on having a
  casino

19
5.1 Measures to control the flow of Traffic

• Area Licensing Scheme
• 1970s ? Singapore experienced rapid growth
• Traffic volume was especially high during peak
  hours
• Government made plans to manage traffic before it
  became too serious

20
5.1 Measures to control the flow of Traffic

• Area Licensing Scheme
• Area Licensing Scheme (ALS) introduced
• Motorists had to pay for use of certain roads
• Roads bounded within areas designated as
  Restricted Zones
• Gantries set up to monitor motorists

21
5.1 Measures to control the flow of Traffic

• Area Licensing Scheme
• To support ALS, other measure introduced
• Improving bus services
• Increasing cost of parking city areas
• Providing park-and-ride facilities
• When ALS started, motorists were unhappy
• However ALS reduced the number of cars
• Overall, ALS was successful in ensuring smooth
  traffic flow

22
5.1 Measures to control the flow of Traffic

• Electronic Road Pricing
• ALS successful but room for improvement
• Improved technology more efficient ways of
  monitoring and regulating
• Technology enabled transport system to stay
  relevant
• Inconvenient labour-intensive ALS replaced by
  Electronic Road Pricing (ERP)
• ERP more efficient and effective

23
5.1 Measures to control the flow of Traffic

• Park-and-Ride Scheme
• Introduced at same time as ALS
• Motorists park vehicles at specific car parks
  outside the CBD
• Motorists would use public transport from the car
  parks
• Fewer vehicles in the CBD

24
5.1 Measures to control the flow of Traffic

• Park-and-Ride Scheme
• Seemed like a good idea but not successful
• What went wrong?
• Motorists switched to public transport or drove
  in before 7.30am
• Not worthwhile for motorists to leave cars parked
  outside city all day

25
5.1 Measures to control the flow of Traffic

• Park-and-Ride Scheme
• Serious oversight
• Millions of dollars invested
• Land allocated for car park not used
• Shuttle bus companies set up for this scheme not
  able to survive
• However, scheme still used today
• Needs of people change and what did not work in
  the past may work today

26
5.1 Measures to control the flow of Traffic

• Vehicle Quota System (VQS)
• Sharp increase in car ownership in 1990s
• Urgent need to control car population
• Land Transport Authority (LTA) determined the
  number of new vehicles allowed for registration
• One of the ways to administer VQS was through the
  Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system

27
5.1 Measures to control the flow of Traffic

• Vehicle Quota System (VQS)
• Specific number of new cars are issued based on a
  quota by LTA
• Car buyers must bid for COE before purchase of a
  car
• LTA sets the quota for the month and quota
  premium based on bids received
• Successful bidders will pay for the COE
• COE entitles vehicle ownership for 10 years
• COE must be renewed after 10 years if owner still
  wants to use the car

28
6.2 Why was there a need to promote population
growth?

• Declining birth rate from the 1980s
• By 1980, fertility rate hit 1.82 children per
  woman (replacement level is 2.1)
• Family planning policy to reduce birth rate
  worked
• Other factors affecting birth rate include
• Increasing costs of living
• People marrying later

29
6.2 Why was there a need to promote population
growth?

• Declining birth rate from the 1980s
• More jobs created in industries and larger
  workforce needed
• Manpower also needed for national defence
• Number of babies born was below replacement value
• Need to re-examine the population policy because
  of potential problems of a small population

30
6.2 Why was there a need to promote population
growth?

• Unattractive to Multinational companies
• With a small population, Singapore not able to
  produce enough talent
• Talented people needed to sustain development
• Multinational corporations (MNCs) would find it
  difficult and expensive to recruit Singaporeans
  compared to China
• Singapore would also be less attractive because
  of smaller consumer market

31
6.2 Why was there a need to promote population
growth?

• Ageing Population
• Fewer babies means fewer young people.
• Number of older people becomes proportionately
  larger
• Country will face an ageing population
• More resources would have to used to take care of
  senior citizens

32
6.3 How did the government promote population
growth?

• The Graduate Mothers Scheme
• PM Lee felt that female graduates should have
  more children
• Graduate Mothers Scheme introduced in 1984
• Scheme sparked debate and unhappiness
• Less-educated were unhappy as they felt
  neglected.
• Not all government policies win the support of
  the people
• Scheme was withdrawn on year later

33
6.3 How did the government promote population
growth?

• Three or more if you can afford it
• Changes made to population policy in 1987
• Aimed to bring replacement level to 2.1
• Parents encouraged to have three or more children
  if they could afford it
• Government adopted a cautious approach because of
  recession in 1985
• If too many babies were born, serious problems
  might arise if families could not cope financially

34
6.3 How did the government promote population
growth?

• Three or more if you can afford it
• To relieve financial burden, government
  introduced certain measures such as
• Allowing use of Medisave to pay for delivery
  charges
• However some people felt the assistance wasnt
  enough
• Measures had limited success
• Despite publicity campaigns, many married couples
  continued to have only one or two children
• Many Singaporeans still married later or remain
  unmarried

35
6.3 How did the government promote population
growth?

• Other pro-family measures
• Equalised medical benefits
• Grandparent caregiver relief
• 5-day work week for Civil Service
• Extended maternity leave

36
6.3 How did the government promote population
growth?

• Attracting foreign talent
• Need to enhance competitiveness
• Foreign Talent (FT) helps boost quality of
  manpower
• FT helps create more jobs and boost creativity
• Govt relaxed immigration policy in 1989
• Easier entry, subsidised housing and attractive
  education package offered to FT

37
6.3 How did the government promote population
growth?

• Attracting foreign talent
• Govt hoped that more FTs would take up permanent
  residence or citizenship
• With more FTs, Singapore has become more
  cosmopolitan
• Different nationalities living in Singapore have
  enriched Singapores culture

38
7.1 How will an ageing population impact
Singapore?
Demand for more healthcare and social services
Smaller security force
Ageing of population
Reduction in competitiveness
Strain on working population
39
7.2 Meeting the challenges of an ageing population

• Senior citizens as assets to society
• By 2030, 19 of Singaporeans will be over 65
  years old
• Challenge to ensure that seniors citizens remain
  contributing members of society
• Senior citizens have valuable skills, knowledge,
  talent and work experience
• They can add value to public and private
  organisations and boost family life

40
7.2 Meeting the challenges of an ageing population

• Many Helping Hands Approach
• Everyone has a part to play in helping prepare
  for an ageing population
• Individual, family and community have roles
• Complement govts efforts
• Sharing of responsibility reduces govts burden
• Govt can rely less on increasing taxes to care
  for elderly
• With shared responsibility, resources are saved
  to meet other needs of the nation

41
7.2 Meeting the challenges of an ageing population

• Individual responsibility
• Individual ensures that he ages gracefully
  through lifelong planning
• Maintaining a healthy lifestyle by watching diet
  and exercising regularly
• Be financially prepared for life in old age
• Attending talks and reading relevant materials to
  plan for retirement

42
7.2 Meeting the challenges of an ageing population

• Family support
• Strong, stable families bring social stability
• Family is main source of emotional, social and
  financial support
• Govt introduced measures to strengthen family
  bonds
• Senior Citizens Week held annually in Nov
• Encourages elderly to stay active
• Promotes positive attitude towards ageing
• Grandparents Day also held in Nov
• Bring families together to show appreciation for
  elderly

43
7.2 Meeting the challenges of an ageing population

• Community Help
• Community can give social and emotional support
  and provide healthcare and social services
• Govt provides subsidies to voluntary welfare
  organisations who help senior citizens
• Example Home Nursing Foundation for Elders
• These organisations involve members of the
  community to help look after needs of elderly

44
7.2 Meeting the challenges of an ageing population

• Community Help
• Some community organisations also offer free
  health checks and organise recreational
  activities
• These services and activities help senior
  citizens remain physically, mentally and socially
  active

45
7.2 Meeting the challenges of an ageing population

• Government Support
• Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents
• Tax Relief
• Central Provident Fund (CPF)
• Public Housing Schemes