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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Rejected forum letter published here...</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>4:09 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>35354.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Million-dollar Salaries but Monumental Screw-ups
June 29th, 2010 |
Author: Your Correspondent
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/06/29/million-dollar-salaries-but-monumental-screw-ups/
TODAY (Jun 21) really sets me thinking. I refer to P N Balji’s commentary “New mood, a reality check for bosses” and Second Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam’s split-hairs semantics in “SMRT is responsible, says Shanmugam”.
Mr Balji wrote “In just one month, Singapore has seen two blemishes on its super-efficient and super-safe image. Our chieftains have to make sure that reputation is not tarnished again. The public is not in the mood to accept anything less”.
http://www.temasekreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/screwed.jpgThe MRT Depot break-in can have horrific consequences. Instead of harmless graffiti, the infiltrators could have planted a bomb in an MRT train and simply trigger it off with a handphone during peak hours. In the 2004 Madrid train bombing, some 190 passengers were killed and another 1800 injured.
On the Orchard Road deluge debacle, a tourist victim rightly commented “Never thought that a first-world country would flood like this”. And had it happened during the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, Singapore would become an international laughing stock.
As a tertiary-educated native-born Senior Citizen, allow me to cut through the muddle-headed confusion with these Basic Principles of Public Service.
Good political governance can only come about from the collective inputs of Politicians, Bureaucrats and the People. No one group has the monopoly of ideas nor can claim all the credit for the country’s achievements. Each group has to make its share of contributions, big or small.
Politicians and Bureaucrats are aptly called “Public Servants” as they are paid by the People to serve the People. Serving the people is not demeaning, but a rare honour accorded by the People as taxpayer-voters. The key words are “pro-active leadership” of Public Servants, as rightly expected by the People.
If the People can do everything by themselves, the Government would have made itself redundant and deserved to be voted out of public office.
Conversely, if a “we-know-best” Government thinks it can blatantly ignore the rightful concerns and suggestions of the People, it may as well go and govern a pathetic place like Timbuktu in Africa.
My parting shot for our first-world politicians and first-class bureaucrats comes from this timeless advice of a Raffles Institution teacher: “The biggest mistake you can make is not to admit, apologise or learn from your mistakes.”
See Leong Kit
* Letter was rejected for publication by TODAY Voices Editor, Agatha
Koh Brazil
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http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/06/29/million-dollar-salaries-but-monumental-screw-ups/
TODAY (Jun 21) really sets me thinking. I refer to P N Balji’s commentary “New mood, a reality check for bosses” and Second Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam’s split-hairs semantics in “SMRT is responsible, says Shanmugam”.
Mr Balji wrote “In just one month, Singapore has seen two blemishes on its super-efficient and super-safe image. Our chieftains have to make sure that reputation is not tarnished again. The public is not in the mood to accept anything less”.
http://www.temasekreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/screwed.jpgThe MRT Depot break-in can have horrific consequences. Instead of harmless graffiti, the infiltrators could have planted a bomb in an MRT train and simply trigger it off with a handphone during peak hours. In the 2004 Madrid train bombing, some 190 passengers were killed and another 1800 injured.
On the Orchard Road deluge debacle, a tourist victim rightly commented “Never thought that a first-world country would flood like this”. And had it happened during the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, Singapore would become an international laughing stock.
As a tertiary-educated native-born Senior Citizen, allow me to cut through the muddle-headed confusion with these Basic Principles of Public Service.
Good political governance can only come about from the collective inputs of Politicians, Bureaucrats and the People. No one group has the monopoly of ideas nor can claim all the credit for the country’s achievements. Each group has to make its share of contributions, big or small.
Politicians and Bureaucrats are aptly called “Public Servants” as they are paid by the People to serve the People. Serving the people is not demeaning, but a rare honour accorded by the People as taxpayer-voters. The key words are “pro-active leadership” of Public Servants, as rightly expected by the People.
If the People can do everything by themselves, the Government would have made itself redundant and deserved to be voted out of public office.
Conversely, if a “we-know-best” Government thinks it can blatantly ignore the rightful concerns and suggestions of the People, it may as well go and govern a pathetic place like Timbuktu in Africa.
My parting shot for our first-world politicians and first-class bureaucrats comes from this timeless advice of a Raffles Institution teacher: “The biggest mistake you can make is not to admit, apologise or learn from your mistakes.”
See Leong Kit
* Letter was rejected for publication by TODAY Voices Editor, Agatha
Koh Brazil
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