Bloated cabinet and rank inflation bear uncanny similarities to the Myanmar military junta
When Burmese Prime Minister General Thein Sein called on his Singapore counterpart last week, we can be sure they did not merely discuss about the name of the orchid our nation has so kindly bestowed on him (we hope that orchid has not wilted yet by the stench of its new name).
A few days later, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a “cabinet renewal”. Well, it’s actually the same old stale soup except that quite a few climbed up the ranks. (read article here)
Did the Burmese general somehow impart their “art of governance” to our Prime Minister?
In a recent article published on Asian Times, the head of the Myanmar military junta Senior General Than Shwe was reported to have fostered rank inflation and growth of the flag officers corps to secure the loyalities of his men. (read article here)
This led to a bloated bureaucracy and rising government expenditure which threaten to saddle the state with an ineffective and expensive government.
The Prime Minister’s move to add more portfolios to an already bloated cabinet bears uncanny similarities to the Myanmar military junta’s self-preservation instincts.
After all, the PAP has admitted its difficulties in getting qualified Singaporeans to join its ranks. Those who do join eventually are probably enticed with promises of leadership positions in the government should they perform credibly well for an initial trial period.
Of the new faces introduced by the PAP in the 2006 general elections, three have been “fast-tracked” to become ministers - Rear-Admiral Lui Tuck Yew becoming the Acting Minister for the Ministry of Information, Communications and Arts, Gan Kim Yong as the Acting Minister for Manpower and Lim Hwee Hua being made a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.
With the senior ministers remaining firmly entrenched in their positions, there is little choice but to create more new positions for the junior leaders to fill up.
The number of official positions within the cabinet is truly bewildering. Besides the ministers themselves, there are second ministers, acting ministers, senior ministers of state, ministers of state, senior parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary secretaries.
Some hold more than one position concurrently. For example, Mr S Iswaran will be appointed as Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, concurrent with his present appointment of Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Why does a tiny island state of only 620 square kilometers in size inhabited by 4.5 million people need so many ministers to govern?
Such a bloated cabinet make governance a more complicated affair leading to reduced efficiency and it is an unnecessary toll on taxpayers as well.
Does a minister get separate salaries for the portfolios he or she is assuming? Is Lim Hwee Hua being paid for her concurrent posts as a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for Transport?
A minister is already being supported by a very capable civil service. Why does he still need a few senior ministers of state, ministers of state, second ministers, acting ministers and parliamentary secretaries to assist him?
These positions are absolutely redundant and can be do away with. If the Prime Minister wants to test out a particular MP, all he needs to do is to put him or her as an understudy to the minister in charge.
Having multiple and concurrent positions is both confusing and cumbersome. Though our PAP MPs are expected to multi-task, surely it will better for them to focus on their present job instead of dabbling their fingers in two or more ministries.
The root of the problem lies in the inherent structural weaknesses of the PAP system which necessitates a constant rewarding of positions to keep the allegiance of the newcomers.
The PAP has ceased to become a functioning political party where members are drawn by its ideals to join out of an innate desire and passion to serve the people.
It is a now a broken pseudo-corporate entity held ransom to monetary rewards in a desperate bid to recruit and retain talents within its ranks.
Talented Singaporeans will not join the PAP just to be an ordinary MP. They will rather ply their trade in the private sector. Therefore, the PAP needs to continue paying high salaries and offer government positions in order to recruit capable people to replace those who have left or retired.
The GRC system was put in place to ensure that these first-timers are not put through the rigors and heat of a political battle. As SM Goh Chok Tong once puts it succinctly, few people are willing to stand for elections under the PAP banner unless they are guaranteed a good chance of winning.
In 1968 when we were besieged by greater crises and dangers, we only have one Prime Minister and his deputy with 58 MPs running the country. Why do we need so many MPs and ministers now? Are we having an inferior team compared to the PAP old guard? If this is so, why should we paying them so much more?
This PAP system of governance is untenable in the long run and unfortunately Singaporeans will end up paying the price for an obsolete political entity which is bent only on preserving its own hegemony and power.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25180.1
Showing posts with label Cabinet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cabinet. Show all posts
Friday, March 27, 2009
Singapore Cabinet Version 3.3
Singapore Cabinet Version 3.3 -- same old, same old?
As most of you all should already be aware by now, another set of changes have been made to Singapore's government line-up.
If I am not wrong, this is the third time since he took over as Prime Minister (PM) that PM Lee Hsien Loong has made collective changes to Singapore's government line-up; by collective changes, I mean that numerous changes are being made and not just one or two changes. Hence, I would see the latest set of changes as ushering in "Singapore Cabinet Version 3.3" ("Version 3.3" because PM Lee is independent Singapore's third PM and because the previous configurations of Singapore's government line-up would be "Version 3.0"and so on).
So what are my thoughts about "Singapore Cabinet Version 3.3"?
Well, I suppose that besides the somewhat noteworthy promotions of Mr. Teo Chee Hean to become Deputy PM and Mrs. Lim Hwee Hua to become Singapore's first woman minister, the rest of the announced changes were not all that significant.
The rest of the changes, e.g. the appointment of Mr. Gan Kim Yong to become Minister for Manpower and RADM(NS) Lui Tuck Yew's taking over of Dr. Lee Boon Yang as Minister of Information, Communications and the Arts, were perhaps, in my opinion, expected by people, in that there have already been talk/speculation about those promoted being earmarked for higher office.
In fact, I would contend that even the promotions of Mr. Teo to Deputy PM and Mrs. Lim to a full ministerial position are not all that unexpected. This is firstly considering that even as far back as when PM Lee was about to take over as PM, people were already expecting that he would be appointing Mr. Teo and/or Mr. George Yeo as Deputy PMs; I guess people were somewhat surprised that he did not do so but instead opted to have Dr. Tony Tan (whose position was later taken over Mr. Wong Kan Seng) and Professor S. Jayakumar as his first two Deputy PMs. Secondly, people have perhaps known that, sooner or later, there will be a woman minister and the list of potential candidates for becoming Singapore's first woman minister was not really that long.
Of course, as many observers have pointed out, PM Lee's strategy towards the renewal of Singapore's government leadership seems to one of preferring incremental and gradual change over radical overhauls. This strategy of PM Lee was perhaps evident as far back as his choice of line-up for his first Cabinet team (i.e. "Singapore Cabinet Version 3.0"), which, as pointed out in an earlier essay of mine, consisted "mainly, if not entirely, of ministers who have served under the leadership of his predecessors".
This strategy of incremental changes, rather than radical and sudden changes, is a prudent one which perhaps inspire confidence in Singapore's political stability in not only the eyes of locals but also that of foreign observers. Just imagine how upsetting it will be if Singapore's Cabinet suddenly jumped from "Version 3.0" to "Version 3.99"; it will be akin to suddenly changing from Windows XP to Windows Vista (or Windows 7, I suppose). [aside: I suppose a change in ruling party would then be akin to switching to Linux and/or Leopard from Windows; whether this would be a good switch, I would leave that discussion for perhaps another time]
However, while this strategy of incremental change is a prudent one, I cannot help but wonder if the current pace of change is adequate enough. I mean, to continue using my analogy about computer operating systems, even if "Windows 7" may be an improvement from "Windows Vista", the changes made in "Windows 7" would not be adequate if the outside world and how consumers use technology have changed dramatically; by then, people may have already jumped ship to "Linux" and/or "Leopard" because they got tired of waiting for "Windows" to update itself.
Hence, a pertinent question to ask would be: can we see "Singapore Cabinet Version 4.0" taking shape in "Singapore Cabinet Version 3.3"? Or would there be more iterations of "Version 3.X" before we start to see the genesis of "Version 4.0"?
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25230.1
As most of you all should already be aware by now, another set of changes have been made to Singapore's government line-up.
If I am not wrong, this is the third time since he took over as Prime Minister (PM) that PM Lee Hsien Loong has made collective changes to Singapore's government line-up; by collective changes, I mean that numerous changes are being made and not just one or two changes. Hence, I would see the latest set of changes as ushering in "Singapore Cabinet Version 3.3" ("Version 3.3" because PM Lee is independent Singapore's third PM and because the previous configurations of Singapore's government line-up would be "Version 3.0"and so on).
So what are my thoughts about "Singapore Cabinet Version 3.3"?
Well, I suppose that besides the somewhat noteworthy promotions of Mr. Teo Chee Hean to become Deputy PM and Mrs. Lim Hwee Hua to become Singapore's first woman minister, the rest of the announced changes were not all that significant.
The rest of the changes, e.g. the appointment of Mr. Gan Kim Yong to become Minister for Manpower and RADM(NS) Lui Tuck Yew's taking over of Dr. Lee Boon Yang as Minister of Information, Communications and the Arts, were perhaps, in my opinion, expected by people, in that there have already been talk/speculation about those promoted being earmarked for higher office.
In fact, I would contend that even the promotions of Mr. Teo to Deputy PM and Mrs. Lim to a full ministerial position are not all that unexpected. This is firstly considering that even as far back as when PM Lee was about to take over as PM, people were already expecting that he would be appointing Mr. Teo and/or Mr. George Yeo as Deputy PMs; I guess people were somewhat surprised that he did not do so but instead opted to have Dr. Tony Tan (whose position was later taken over Mr. Wong Kan Seng) and Professor S. Jayakumar as his first two Deputy PMs. Secondly, people have perhaps known that, sooner or later, there will be a woman minister and the list of potential candidates for becoming Singapore's first woman minister was not really that long.
Of course, as many observers have pointed out, PM Lee's strategy towards the renewal of Singapore's government leadership seems to one of preferring incremental and gradual change over radical overhauls. This strategy of PM Lee was perhaps evident as far back as his choice of line-up for his first Cabinet team (i.e. "Singapore Cabinet Version 3.0"), which, as pointed out in an earlier essay of mine, consisted "mainly, if not entirely, of ministers who have served under the leadership of his predecessors".
This strategy of incremental changes, rather than radical and sudden changes, is a prudent one which perhaps inspire confidence in Singapore's political stability in not only the eyes of locals but also that of foreign observers. Just imagine how upsetting it will be if Singapore's Cabinet suddenly jumped from "Version 3.0" to "Version 3.99"; it will be akin to suddenly changing from Windows XP to Windows Vista (or Windows 7, I suppose). [aside: I suppose a change in ruling party would then be akin to switching to Linux and/or Leopard from Windows; whether this would be a good switch, I would leave that discussion for perhaps another time]
However, while this strategy of incremental change is a prudent one, I cannot help but wonder if the current pace of change is adequate enough. I mean, to continue using my analogy about computer operating systems, even if "Windows 7" may be an improvement from "Windows Vista", the changes made in "Windows 7" would not be adequate if the outside world and how consumers use technology have changed dramatically; by then, people may have already jumped ship to "Linux" and/or "Leopard" because they got tired of waiting for "Windows" to update itself.
Hence, a pertinent question to ask would be: can we see "Singapore Cabinet Version 4.0" taking shape in "Singapore Cabinet Version 3.3"? Or would there be more iterations of "Version 3.X" before we start to see the genesis of "Version 4.0"?
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25230.1
Singapore Cabinet
PM Mr LEE Hsien Loong
SM Mr GOH Chok Tong
SM and Co-ordinating Minister for National Security Professor S Jayakumar
MM Mr LEE Kuan Yew
DPM and Minister for Home Affairs Mr WONG Kan Seng
DPM and Minister for Defence Mr TEO Chee Hean
MFA Mr George Yeo Yong Boon
MND Mr MAH Bow Tan
PMO, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for Transport Mrs Lim Hwee Hua
MTI Mr LIM Hng Kiang
PMO Mr LIM Swee Say
MinEnv and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Dr YAACOB Ibrahim
MOH Mr KHAW Boon Wan
MOF Mr Tharman SHANMUGARATNAM
MOE and Second Mindef Dr NG Eng Hen
MCYS Dr Vivian BALAKRISHNAN
Minister Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Raymond LIM Siang Keat
MinLaw and Second Minister for Home Affairs Mr K Shanmugam
MOM Mr GAN Kim Yong
Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Senior Minister of State Lui Tuck Yew
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25149.1
SM Mr GOH Chok Tong
SM and Co-ordinating Minister for National Security Professor S Jayakumar
MM Mr LEE Kuan Yew
DPM and Minister for Home Affairs Mr WONG Kan Seng
DPM and Minister for Defence Mr TEO Chee Hean
MFA Mr George Yeo Yong Boon
MND Mr MAH Bow Tan
PMO, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for Transport Mrs Lim Hwee Hua
MTI Mr LIM Hng Kiang
PMO Mr LIM Swee Say
MinEnv and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Dr YAACOB Ibrahim
MOH Mr KHAW Boon Wan
MOF Mr Tharman SHANMUGARATNAM
MOE and Second Mindef Dr NG Eng Hen
MCYS Dr Vivian BALAKRISHNAN
Minister Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Raymond LIM Siang Keat
MinLaw and Second Minister for Home Affairs Mr K Shanmugam
MOM Mr GAN Kim Yong
Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Senior Minister of State Lui Tuck Yew
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25149.1
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