Singapore Together is the brainchild of Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

The essence of the movement is that the 4G leaders “are committed to go beyond just working for [Singaporeans], to working with [Singaporeans], to build our future Singapore”.

Singapore Together has been mentioned on several occasions since its launch last June, including the recent Budget announcement.

During the Budget 2020 speech on Feb. 18, DPM Heng mentioned that almost 1,000 leaders from various sectors and parts of the society had been consulted prior to that which helped shape the budget.

Needs to be executed well

Addressing the Singapore Together movement, Jalan Besar GRC MP Denise Phua cautioned in Parliament that while "Singapore Together is an important direction for the government, it can end up as a "lofty aspiration" on Feb. 26 in her 14-minute speech.

Phua said that if the movement has been executed well, it can be a "powerful driver" that enables Singapore to "weather many storms, much heavier than Covid-19".

Make changes to public service and political system

With that, Phua made some recommendations to DPM Heng to consider in shaping the Singapore Together movement.

This includes having a broader vision as well as changing the culture and deployment of the best staff in the public service and this, to Phua, is important because "there are forces within the public service and political system that could lead to Singapore Together becoming tokenistic and non-impactful".

Ministries to have a wider vision

Phua suggested the government and statutory boards cast a wider vision of their role, beyond their traditional job scopes, citing three ministries as examples of how they should envision their role differently:

"The Ministry of Education should be envisioned as the Ministry of Lifelong Learning. The Ministry of Environment and Water Resources should be our Ministry of Sustainability. The Ministry of Transport is no longer dealing with transportation but connectivity."

Deploying the best to the frontline

Phua also urged DPM Heng to consider deploying the best in the government to the ground as the best staff should not just remain as thinkers in the ministries, citing her past corporate experience.

"Can we get rid of the possible thinking that only the best executives are the thinkers, remain as the head honchos in the Ministries? Can we deploy more of the best brains to the ground and develop their execution muscles?

I remember the days when I was starting a leadership training business in China, many years ago, and I failed miserably at the start. The business only took off after I sent my best top staff to China and when I regularly work with my PRC team in the frontline."

She pointed out that by stationing these capable executives on the ground, this could help them to "learn, facilitate, forge alliances through personally experiencing the challenges in the frontline".

"Similarly, the government should be bold enough to appoint good mid-career practitioners to leadership positions in public service – offer them a bridging learning stint if need be", she added.

"That may make a big difference in the complexion and DNA of SG Together."

Less of a top-down culture

Phua also mentioned that the culture that will drive Singapore Together to success will have to be one that learns to be less ministry-centric; and less controlling, saying:

"The people of Singapore have trusted the Government for so long; it is time for government to also learn to trust the people too – not blindly, not indiscriminately but in a less controlling and more facilitative manner."

You can watch her speech on this segment from 11:48 mark here.

But this is not a new concern.

In 2018, MP Louis Ng also sought changes to the public service appraisal system in Parliament:

Top photo via CNA's video