Read another article today that they are going to toy with the suggestion of giving more autonomy to the town councils. One of the example they gave was USA, where different states have some level of autonomy.
Singapore is already a small enough country, and yet now they want to split Singapore into 16 portions. Some of the examples given of the pros of this system I felt is destructive in the long run.
For example, let's say one of the town councils say that all their residents felt that they should not have worker's dormitories in their area. After which, all the town councils will most likely say all their residents do not want to have worker's dormitories in their area (hypothetical). What will then happen? In the end, where will it be built? Or will it be somehow pushed to the opposition wards? What happens if one of the town councils say that the industrial factories should not be in their area? Push it all to IDR?
In fact, if we learned from the current situation where nobody actually knows what the town councils are investing in, there should be more oversight to ensure that the town councils are in-line with the guidelines. It should not be the case that when a crisis happen, everyone goes into damage control mode.
Singapore should be working towards a common goal. We're small enough as it is. Let's not be further sub-divided into 16 parts. Everybody plays a part in the overall progress, not apart. Decentralisation is an over-hyped word and used carelessly by many. The government should always provide clear and transparent leadership, with an overall plan on how things should be. The respective councils will then follow these guidelines and implement the policies.
Remember our National Day song. "One people, one nation, one Singapore". It's not "One people, one nation, 16 town councils".
1 comment:
haha - nice!
Post a Comment