Comments on: Civil servants: Take better care of your Minister’s bosses

By: The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week 36

The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week 36 — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:09:29 +0000

[...] – Singapore Angle: US Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944-45 [Thanks ringisei] – geraldgiam.sg: Civil servants: Take better care of your Minister’s bosses – mrbrown: ST Blogs: Internet steals minister’s thunder – TOC: LTA’s “palpable panic” [...]

By: Gerald Giam

Gerald Giam — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:14:13 +0000

Apparently I'm told by mrbrown that your post was changed after you posted it. I'm curious to know if that same civil servant called you up to demand that you moderate it down? (Don't worry, I've suffered the same thing, at the hands of one of your media rivals.) Good that you brought this matter to the public's attention. Keep it up!

By: christopher tan

christopher tan — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:18:09 +0000

True. But I’m willing to give him benefit of doubt. Paying cash upfront for those who convert to OPC is no mean feat. MOF needs to be persuaded.

By: Gerald Giam

Gerald Giam — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:56:43 +0000

christopher – Both you and I don’t know if it was the Minister who drove those changes. Of course the civil servants will always tell you Minister “mooted this” and “mooted that”. In the case of the OPC being opened on Saturday, I think you will agree that it was a result of loud public feedback and plain common sense.

I think the civil servants are going to have to learn to adapt to the new media environment. Also if we had more media competition, ST won’t even bother asking them for permission. You all would have just gone ahead and published it otherwise your rivals would.

By: christopher tan

christopher tan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:38:29 +0000

There is nothing wrong with letting a Minister announce key changes to a public scheme. Especially when he was instrumental in driving those changes in the first place. My blog was really meant to be “a funny thing happened on the way to the Announcement” observation, w/o commentary on the capability of the Govt or the LTA. The latter, in the big scheme of things, has done a creditable job (of course there’s room for improvement), but what I found somewhat objectionable was how one particular officer responded to the press when posed with an innocent question like “can we run the story now that it is all over the Internet”. Even so, the blog was not about this person, beyond the anecdotal mention.

By: The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily SG: 2 Sep 2009

The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily SG: 2 Sep 2009 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:52:59 +0000

[...] Discourse – geraldgiam.sg: Civil servants: Take better care of your Minister’s bosses – mrbrown: ST Blogs: Internet steals minister’s thunder – TOC: LTA’s “palpable panic” [...]

By: George

George — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:36:09 +0000

Anyone who had worked in the civil service will tell you
that the entire preoccupation of the PS of any ministry is just that – to make its minister look good.

Entire careers depended on this!