To: Editor, Straits Times, Today
c.c. PM Lee Hsien Loong
Dear Editors,
Arising from the malpractices disclosed in NKF and Youth Challenge,
we will need to ask ourselves many questions.
Has the system of meritocracy worked for Singapore?
To me, it would seem that meritocracy or pseudo-meritocracy has
produced the following:-
(1) Scholars engaged in Commissioners of Charity, Ministry of Youth
and Community Development, Regulatory bodies in Ministry of Health
and all the audit firms like Ernst and Young or KPMT for past
twenty years have failed to detect wrong doings and malpractices of
the kind as witnessed in NKF, Youth Challenge. (It will be indeed
be a shame for scholars given their high calibre often painted to
the citizens by leaders to give any excuse of the kind like the NKF
patron Mrs. Goh Chok Tong or Ex-PM Goh were close to Durai who
would be too powerful for them to exercise their respective
professional duties and responsibilities; they should resign from
their jobs if they are unable to make appropriate recommendations
to correct mistakes or get their ministers and even MM or SM to
correct wrong doings)
If our scholars do not have the gut to report wrong doings or
change wrong policies they are not worth being employed to serve us
the people or look after our country.
(2) Scholars at the upper echelon i.e. Ministers, MPs, and the
whole government should have the ability to implement all policies
once they are announced but many of them have failed to introduce
proper efficient and effective system of government, processes for
accountability and transparency.
During the last three recessions, scholars have conveniently failed
to answer to their lack of implementation of past economic
restructuring plans (to broad-based value-adding technology-start
up model like the Koreans or Finnists have done) and were seen only
to be good in giving excuses or blaming the problems on the
people.
If our leaders want to talk so much about meritocracy as their
secrets of success and distinguish themselves as world-class
leaders they must prove by their actions and deed that all the
meritocratic scholars given opportunities to sit on high positions
as strongly recommended by them are people who could solve our
structural unemployment problems and work towards lowering our high
costs of living and avoid such malpractices as now reported.
So the whole system of meritocracy is too theoretical and
conceptual giving rise to hidden malpractices of all kinds as seen
in NKF where eminent directors put on various boards simply
chickened out on their basic moral duties and legal duties to the
people at large.
They were there only to compromise and cover up wrongs and
malpractices committed against the people.
Our system of leadership and meritocracy so often bragged to the
citizens and to the whole world should be overhauled to one where
men and women working as ministers, ministers of state, MPs, Top
civil servants are subjected to checking and supervision by the
people through adoption of key processes which can be examined and
not by audit or other close-door committees which are under the
control of self-interested politicians.
Alternatively, an Ombudsman system incorporating self-checking
processes can be introduced as without such processes, everything
may end up controlled by back-door interested politicians who will
be too afraid to check on their own party's wrong doers.
