With all the problems facing Singaporeans nowadays, there seem to be a perception that the problems Singapore faced is not one of governance but of Singaporeans’ expectations of their government. Sorry but I disagree with that assessment.
I think the problem the Singapore government has is not one of expectations but of an inability to fix problems! Take for example the floods that had occurred in the past few years. Orchard Road is Singapore’s premier shopping belt yet for the past few years, there had been floods along the road. Floods the Singapore government seems unable to get a handle on.
Ditto for the faults on our MRT lines! Months after the first breakdown happened, we are still facing breakdowns/slowdowns on the MRT system. It has become so common that newspapers don’t even report them anymore!
Considering that there hadn’t been a flood on Orchard Road in over 20 years and there hadn’t been a continuous system breakdown on our MRT system since its inception, is there any surprise Singaporeans complained about the floods and breakdowns? Even so, I do feel that Singaporeans have been exceedingly patient with the government.
They had months and years to fix the problems but has been unable to do so. In the latest flood along Orchard Road last year, there was exactly an argument between the government and the management of Liat Towers, the building most affected by the flood, on why the flood happened in the first place!
The problem is not Singaporean’s expectations but the fact that the Singapore government has been unable to fix the infrastructure problems our country faced! Not only that, Singaporeans now have no confidence the government will be able to fix the problems. That is where Singaporeans’ frustrations truely lie.
No comments:
Post a Comment