With changing times and fortunes, the Singapore citizen has become demanding, expecting better service standards with each new election. Should those expectations be managed?
Excerpts from the brainSTORM session held on 8 July at the Chicago Booth School Of Business. The topic: Is Singapore Ready?
“Since the 2011 general election, people have higher expectations. But the standard of services has not really gone up, if you look at lift breakdowns and failures in the transport system.” – Michael Tay, Founder of Foundation for the Arts and Social Enterprise
“The young 20 and 30 somethings have higher requirements to be engaged, due to the way they are brought up in the world of multimedia and pervasive social networking. You can’t ignore it, you can’t say it is just ‘grumbling’. Especially since 2011, we see views expressed in online media, often teeming with discontent. We’re not saying that all the views are fact-based or relevant, but you have to recognise it for what it is – the need to be heard, to be involved – and we can well use the ways and mediums of the new society to engage the young people.” – Suguna Madhavan, Technopreneur /Innovation Mentor/ Founder of Firesong Initiatives
“I think the people are still looking for small changes in the system, and I think the trigger points are the housing and immigration issues.” – K.C Lau, Chartered Accountant
“We as Singaporeans, whichever class we are, we must declare our views very strongly, with reason, and I think that’s very important. We cannot take this government for granted. That is my point. It was a very good government. I benefitted from this government’s rule. That’s why I can retire. I benefitted from the system and the government’s policies. But I don’t think we can see that again.” – P.N. Balji, Political and Media Commentator
“My view is that both the government and its people must learn the lessons of the past decade, especially leading up to GE 2011 and after GE 2015. Let’s all listen and then Singapore will really be ready.” – Dennis Foo, President of Singapore Nightlife Business Association
More coverage in STORM V28 out next month.
