The Bloated Singapore Government Bureaucracy

The Bloated Singapore Government Bureaucracy

Much talk has surfaced about the PAP’s decision to create yet another unnecessary cabinet post in the form of a Second Senior Minister position along with all its attendant office entourage, and multimillion dollar budget and Minister salary. This is just another step in the long existing aim of creating new departments and positions to feed the growing legions of PAP loyalist and faithful and to reward them for past service.

Here are some other examples:

- Health Promotion Board – Exactly why was this statutory board created in the first place? Its stated goals of health promotion, disease prevention, and patient education were all handled by MOH for decades. Individual hospitals had staff on hand to do all this. At the very most, this should have been a department within the MOH. Instead, it now has its own building, staff, and Board of Directors. An examination of members of its Board of Directors shows only 2 medical professionals, and the board is populated by PAP luminaries such as Oon Jin Teik (Singapore Sports Council), Lucas Chow (Mediacorp), Wen Khai Meng (Capitaland), etc. Yet another total waste of taxpayer money.

- Health Sciences Agency – See above for the same reasons.

- DSTA – This is indeed a huge mystery as to why this organization was even set up to begin with. Its stated goal is to acquire weapons systems for the SAF, like the Boeing F-15SG fighter plane. Is the govt. telling us that the RSAF is so incompetent that it cannot evaluate aircraft for itself, and that it needs an organization like the DSTA to do so? It’s also supposed to develop military infrastructure. Why? Is the SAF not able to do that itself? DSTA also provides engineering and related services in defence areas. Are they saying that SYT Engineering is not capable of doing this? In fact, for every stated mission of the DSTA, some organization is already doing the same mission. I know of no other country in the world that allows a civilian agency to evaluate, dictate, and purchase what weapons its military would use. The only other conclusion that I reach is that is yet another PAP feeding trough.

- Workforce development Agency – This to me should be just another Ministry of Labour department. Helping people to get job, upgrading their skills, etc. is what the Ministry of Labour is supposed to do anyway. This should be under the umbrella of the MOL and should be eliminated. It’s just duplicating infrastructure and overlapping with the MOL’s aims and objectives.

These are just some of the glaring examples that I see. There are many more. The PAP always harps about how Singapore should be more competitive. Yet, by having in placed this bloated bureaucracy, they are sending the wrong message…

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