Ministers must renew policies to reflect concerns of
S'poreans: Dr Balakrishnan
SINGAPORE: Minister for Community Development, Youth
and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan said all ministers need to seriously
review policies to ensure that the plans implemented reflect the
concerns of Singaporeans.
Speaking on the sidelines of a victory parade for
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC Saturday morning, Dr Balakrishnan said the
government has to be more flexible in the way it implements
policies.
"We all will have to draw right lessons from this
election, and I think every minister will have to take a deep hard
look at all our policies, everything we do, how we do, how we
execute the policies, how we make sure that our policies reflect
the key concerns and priorities of Singaporeans. That we implement
with the spirit of the policy in mind rather than just more rigidly
by the letter of the law," said Dr Balakrishnan.
Dr Balakrishnan said that based on feedback, the government needs
to be more sensitive to needs on the ground and policies should
reflect that.
The People's Action Party team in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, led by
Dr Balakrishnan, had garnered 60.1 per cent of the votes.
On how his team plans to win over the 40 per cent who did not vote
for the PAP, Dr Balakrishnan said there must be more outreach and
engagement.
Dr Balakrishnan said: "What we want to make sure in our next term,
everything that we come up with, every plan, every project is one
that is co-created with our residents, their ideas are in it, our
residents take ownership for the ideas and for the projects, and
for the trade-offs that sometimes that will need to be made."
- CNA/cc