SINGAPORE: The number of cases of the public making
tough demands on frontline staff in government departments has been
on the rise in the past few months.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke of this trend
in his National Day Rally on Sunday.
Channel NewsAsia finds out how North West Community
Council deals with such problems.
"The new generation is very well-versed with all the media and
everything, so they know all the assistance that's available. They
want immediate assistance, like on the same day," said Jeyanthi
Jayabala, senior manager of North West CDC.
To protect officers from abusive members of the public, cameras
have been installed in meetings rooms. A "panic button" can also
activate security officers when there's violence.
The North West District's Mayor, Dr Teo Ho Pin, who is also the
coordinating chairman of the 14 PAP town councils, said with the
increased use of phone cameras and social media, residents are
expecting town councils to respond immediately to every
request.
Dr Teo said: "The town councils would like to respond immediately
but sometimes the officers are attending to other matters. We do
have a protocol where we actually prioritise different types of
building complaints and how to respond to it within a certain
time.
"So there are certain issues - we call it "immediate attention" -
because they affect safety; those are the complaints where we will
respond immediately. But the other complaints which we would take a
little (more) time to respond.
"For example, if you complain there's a piece of tissue paper along
the corridor, the town council may not respond within 20 minutes,
because the tissue paper is not a safety issue. We will clean it
but we won't respond in 20 minutes."
The North West CDC said apart from training staff on how to handle
the public, staff also have a buddy system so that they have
another person to turn to when dealing with a difficult
situation.
In addition, the staff will also refer to a manager when they are
faced with demands that they are unable to meet.
- CNA /ls