Public service can better foster understanding between groups for collective action: Chan Chun Sing

SINGAPORE – The public service can do better at bridging understanding between different groups of people towards a common outcome, said Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing on Sept 18.

Officers must listen genuinely to understand different interests and articulate trade-offs honestly, he said to a roomful of newly appointed leaders in the public service.

Doing so will also help them to find new ways to shift from doing things for people to doing things with them, said Chan.

Referencing recent debates on redevelopment plans for Maju Forest and Gillman Barracks, Chan said everyone has their preferred outcomes and personal convictions about the issue, which they hold strongly.

“But there is a need to align on the bigger picture, the trade-offs and the range of considerations – housing needs, land use, energy, transport, and even sewage planning.”

Proposed public housing developments in the Maju Forest and Gillman Barracks areas have in recent months sparked discussions among residents, nature groups and the wider public about their potential impact on the environment and Singapore’s approach to redevelopment. The authorities later announced that they would retain more greenery.

Chan said public servants must go beyond brokering agreements on individual issues to bringing different groups of people together to understand what purpose unites them to create a shared picture of success.

Turning different perspectives and capabilities into collective action was one of three ways Chan said the public service must respond to an increasingly complex and contested world.

Addressing about 800 public servants at the Annual Public Service Leadership Ceremony held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, the minister said that demands on leadership are changing.

“We must be clear-eyed about what the public service can do. We do not need to possess every answer or capability ourselves,” he said.

“We need to know what we must be good at and have a responsibility to decide what others are better placed to do, and how to bring citizens, communities, businesses and Government towards a common outcome.”

Another area Chan urged public servants to focus on was forging new bilateral and multilateral partnerships to carve out a “strategic space” for Singapore.

They should also stay alert to what is happening regionally and globally and pursue development opportunities abroad, he added.

Chan, who is also Defence Minister, said the world has grown more contested as rules and norms that have governed the international system are increasingly under strain, and competition between global powers has spilled into trade, technology, supply chains and the information space.

Domestic challenges have also become more complex, said Chan. For instance, workforce transformation must now navigate the disruption from and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, against the backdrop of Singapore’s ageing population and the need to sustain economic growth.

Where existing frameworks no longer work, the public service has to reimagine new ones, added Chan.

He cited Singapore’s participation in new frameworks like the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, a trade agreement that Singapore co-founded in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent upgrading of bilateral relationships with like-minded partners such as Australia and New Zealand.

He added: “These are not partnerships of convenience. They are deliberate efforts to create space for cooperation and advance our shared interests.”

Chan said Singapore’s chairmanship of ASEAN in 2027 will also present another chance for Singapore to bring its partners together and strengthen the organisation’s relevance.

Public service leaders must hence deliberately deepen external and international exposure across the service, he added.

Chan also urged public servants to develop solutions and capabilities that will be “distinctive value propositions” which ensure Singapore remains relevant not just to its citizens but also its partners.

“Every capability we build, every niche we carve out, they only buy us time to develop the next better one before they are obsolete, and this is the nature of the world that we are in.”

Chan referenced capabilities Singapore has built in its semiconductor ecosystem, ranging from chip design to wafer fabrication, advanced packaging and other parts of the value chain, to become a “trusted and indispensable node”.

These have helped the city-state account for one in 10 chips and a fifth of global semiconductor equipment produced annually, an “outsized contribution” for a country of its size, said Chan.

Beyond the economy, Chan stressed, the public service must also innovate in how it governs, such as in the way public services are delivered.

He noted that many public services worldwide are wrestling with fragmented systems and siloed processes that make it difficult for citizens to navigate government services.

While Singapore’s public service has come up with new successful initiatives such as ServiceSG, it needs to proactively challenge itself to reimagine solutions with courage and creativity, he said.

ServiceSG, launched in 2021, acts as a concierge for nearly 600 public services from more than 25 agencies.

He added: “When we do this well, good governance is not just good public administration. It becomes a form of strategic relevance.”

At the ceremony, Chan also thanked four retired permanent secretaries - Leo Yip, Pang Kin Keong, Ng Chee Khern and Professor Tan Chorh Chuan - and 21 other senior leaders who had relinquished their appointments in the past year for their contributions to the public service.

A new cohort of 33 public service leaders and 79 Public Service Leadership Programme (PSLP) officers were also appointed at the event.

The PSLP is a programme to develop talented public service officers for key leadership roles within the public service.