Chan Chun Sing: S'porean's trust in public service is earned, not inherited

The trust Singaporean's place in the public service is earned, not inherited, says Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service, Chan Chun Sing.

Chan, also the defence minister, was speaking at the Public Service Festival Opening at One Punggol on Jul. 8, 2025.

In his speech, Chan highlighted the past 60 years of public service, and its contributions towards Singapore's survival and success.

He pointed to three enduring qualities that were shared by all generations of public officers.

1. Boldness in pioneering new paths
2. Relentless pursuit of excellence in execution
3. Unwavering commitment to values and Singapore's long-term interests

For the first point, he highlighted how Jurong Town Corporation had made the then "unprecedented" move to turn swampland into industrial parks.

Pursuit of excellence in execution, Chan said, could be seen in how Singapore built their infrastructure, from flats to roads, as well as how policies such as CPF were implemented.

The focus on Singaporeans and citizenship centricity was amplified during the last two decades, which proved crucial during Covid-19 when different agencies had to work seamlessly together under One Public Service.

Navigating complex changes

Chan acknowledged that Singapore was now entering a new phase of nation building and fundamental shifts were emerging in the world.

He shared three challenges Singapore must confront:

Tightening constraints

Chan noted that by 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be over 65, up from one in 40 in 1965.

This will more than triple Singapore's healthcare spending from 2015.

He also mentioned how climate change, which has led to the carbon budget, is a new constraint Singapore has to manage.

Rising expectations

Public expectations are also rising.

Making a comparison to services like food delivery, and ride hailing, which are almost instantaneous, Chan said government services would be measured by the same standard — an expectation that the sector would have to rise to.

He also pointed out that Singaporeans also have rising expectations of how they can participate in the process, and partner the public service in finding solutions.

This is a good thing, Chan said, as there will be opportunities to leverage on the capabilities and capacities of Singaporeans in general.

But that requires a rethinking and reworking of processes to welcome such contributions.

Chan also said the expectations for businesses are similarly high, and the comparison will not be to the past, but to the competition in the present.

Intensifying competition

The last of the three challenges he highlighted was the intensifying global competition.

While Singapore currently ranks highly in some global rankings, he said others might have overtaken Singapore in some areas.

He pointed to countries like Estonia, who had fully digitised their government services, and China, who serves over a billion citizens with AI-powered services.

Noting that the rest of Asean is also making strides in digital innovation, Chan warned that standing still is not an option for Singapore.

However, Chan viewed these as not just challenges to overcome, but calls to action to keep improving.

Three key priorities

To rise to these challenges, Chan underlined three key priorities for Singapore.

Innovation

He highlighted how things work when people go to doctors nowadays: people expect medical records to be shared with different medical agencies.

"Everyone expects them to tell the doctor once, and the record will be there to be shared across different agencies, and that is the same standards we expect across all agencies."

Chan thus highlighted this seamlessness in ServiceSG.

"...We brought together 600 services from over 25 agencies under one roof. Today, when a senior citizen visits ServiceSG for housing assistance, our officers are able to help them to address related needs like healthcare subsidies, social support, eliminating multiple trips to different agencies."

That seamlessness can also be seen for businesses in integrated platforms like GoBusiness.

While he said these are examples that they have done well, Chan also said more can always be done.

Optimising at the whole-of-government Level

With the tightening constraints, Chan said there must be more optimisation at the "whole-of-government" level.

He said that the government has to constantly look for new opportunities to work together, to use the resources that Singapore has to achieve the maximum good for people and the country.

Pointing to One Punggol, he said things would be a lot different if each agency had not worked together and just did things according to themselves.

"First, it will have cost us much more. Second, it would have required much more land. But most importantly, our service delivery will be fragmented, and what the public can see and enjoy will also be fragmented."

Developing our people

The third priority he mentioned was the development of the people.

"I've always said that we take care of our people, our people will take care of the mission. And our mission is to take care of Singapore and Singaporeans for generations to come."

Chan then announced the launch of a Career Fitness Movement, which helps officers raise their "career health". This is a new series of training programmes that will be launched from July 2025.

Chan also said the government is stepping up efforts to build stronger leadership teams.

He said the government is bringing together officers with deep domain expertise alongside those with broad policy experience to create diverse teams capable of addressing complex challenges.

There will also be an enhanced network of career coaches and better-equipped supervisors and leaders.

This will be in addition to building systems and processes to better empower officers and teams to own their development and careers.

Looking ahead

Chan said these three priorities form an integrated strategy to tackle the challenges of the future.

"But I must say this, strategies do not transform organisations. People do. We will require people at every level to take action."

Leaders must create environments where innovation flourishes and teams thrive.

Chan said his priority as coordinating minister for public services is to build a public service where agencies come together, facilitate trade-offs and ensure timely decisions that translate into better experiences for both citizens and businesses.

"The hallmark of a good leader is not how well we can defend our agency's interest, but how well we can bring people and agencies together to optimise for the greater good at the whole-of-government level."

Therefore, Chan said his personal KPI is not how many projects he coordinates across public agencies, but how well the government can build a culture of everyone thinking to optimise at the whole-of-government level, beyond their agencies.

"The less I need to intervene to coordinate, the prouder I am of our public service. So please don't make me busy," Chan quipped.

Chan ended his speech with a reflection on trust.

"Singaporeans have placed their trust in us, but the trust that Singaporeans place in us is not inherited — it is earned.

Earned by generations of dedicated public officers who came before us. Earned through countless moments where we put Singapore's and Singaporean's interests first before us.

This trust is both the greatest privilege and our heaviest responsibility."

He warned however that trust is not static, and that it must be renewed and strengthened.

He said that trust is earned "every time we dare to do something different for a better Singapore".

Emphasising the need to display the qualities mentioned earlier like boldness and relentless pursuit of excellence, Chan ended off by talking about the extraordinary.

"We may be ordinary people, but together as a team, we will achieve extraordinary things for Singapore and Singaporeans, but never drink our own Kool Aid... that we are extraordinary people, and then we are just hoping to achieve ordinary things.

I will always want to be leading a team of ordinary people able to achieve extraordinary things, rather than to lead an extraordinary people trying to achieve ordinary things."

Image from Khoo Wen-En/Mothership