On 12th August, my school had the honour of having the Pernament
Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Teo, having a dialouge
session with the students. I was fortunate to be given the chance
to ask him questions. i asked if he was ever against any of the
policies or practices of the government, and how far does he
support PAP.
It seemed like a nonsensical question, like many of my friends and
others think. However it dawned on me the implications of his
answer. He replied that he is not PAP, the civil service is not PAP
and they work for the government. I believed all along that most
people had the perception that the civil service is PAP. Only now
do I realise they are 2 different entities. Should they be
segregated distinctly?(but of course working as 1 collective
unit)
This is because for the 2nd question that I asked, he replied that
PAP is the best and of course he supports them. I didn't expect
such a one-sided answer. It's not that i have anything against PAP,
i support PAP too as i understand it did what was necessary for
Singapore. However, shouldn't the civil service be neutral and not
support any political group. After all, the civil service is
working for the government and the PAP is just a party that forms
the majority of the government. As for the reason why the civil
service should not support any political party, let me use an
analogy. For example, in a singing competition, if a judge supports
a singer, he would be inclined to show some favouritism or find it
hard to find fault with that singer. Although the civil service is
not like the judge who can determine who wins, but its our people's
vote, having a civil service that supports a party can have
detrimental effects. Likewise, the civil service might find it hard
to find fault with the government. Finding fault provides a check
and encourages improvements.
Even in a world cup soccer match, the referee cannot be of the same
nationality of any team. A neutral civil service will also make
competition between politcal parties more fair because the civil
service isn't on anyone's side but just working for the government.
Also, how will the civil service react against the opposition
parties who manage to form part of the government if they were to
be clear supporters of the PAP. So, shouldn't the civil service be
neutral in supporting a political party?
ok well im thinking of sending this to straits times to post in the
forum. can tell me if its flawed or not. like whether got any
loopholes or weak pts in my argument, and will this make pap angry
n kill me? or blacklist me?
also will this have a big impact? or its just a small issue.
btw ah. its damn wasted u noe. i could haf shoot him at the
session. but den i went back to my seat after asking. so i couldnt
follow up. and my principal sucks lah. i keep raising my hand to
ask somemore qns, she dao me on purpose one.
