Member-only story
“I will write to Lee Hsien Loong and complain about you”!!!
During a recent joint visit to a resident’s home with a public agency, the resident was unhappy with the way the public officer was handling his case. The resident raised his voice and shouted that he will email PM Lee and make sure the public officer is fired from her job.
As I reflect on the encounter, it makes me wonder if the Government has sold its soul to the devil. In exchange for the opportunity to lead Singapore and work to improve the lives of Singaporeans, Singaporeans (who have voted for the Government) now think our Ministers are at their beck and call.
While I agree that the public officer could have handled the case better, I found the resident’s thinking that the Prime Minister of Singapore should address his unhappiness over what is essentially a customer service issue troubling.
This is because such expectations are unhealthy as it belies a quid pro quo mentality. As Government policies always entail trade-offs, believing that the Government owes them (as opposed to the country as a whole) something in exchange for their votes, will result in situations where they vote their unhappiness instead of for what is good for the country. When large numbers of Singaporeans vote this way, Singapore, as a country, will be worse off.
I am not sure if anything can be done to reverse this trend, but we need to try.
