Tag: civil service

Singapore Civil Service Asset Declaration Rules

I raised a Parliamentary Question on whether public officials purchasing property based on non-public land-use information violates statutory duties or civil service rules. The query was sparked by a recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. I pressed the government to expand asset declaration requirements to cover immediate family members and co-habitants. I also asked if retrospective checks for anomalies would be conducted on past property transactions near unannounced infrastructure projects.

The Coordinating Minister for Public Services affirmed that public officers must never use non-public information for personal gain. He noted that doing so violates the Public Service Code of Conduct and may breach laws like the Official Secrets Act. The Minister explained that declarations currently cover spouses and financially dependent children. He added that authorities reviewed 191 officers involved in rail planning between 2007 and 2014, referring eight cases to the police for further examination.

Strict rules are essential to maintain public trust in our public service. Asset declarations should extend to all immediate family members and co-habitants to prevent loopholes, and routine retrospective checks must be conducted across all major land-use projects to deter any potential abuse of privileged information.

This was my full question in Parliament on 6 Oct 2026:

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether public officials’ purchasing property based on non-public land-use information constitutes a breach of statutory duties or civil service rules; (b) whether public officials’ asset declaration rules will be expanded to cover immediate family members and co-habitants; and (c) whether retrospective checks for anomalies will be conducted on past property transactions near unannounced infrastructure projects.

Watch my full exchange with the Minister of 6 Oct 2026:

Sources:

https://www.psd.gov.sg/newsroom/reply-to-pqs-on-government-s-response-to-academic-paper/

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/8-public-officers-referred-to-police-after-review-of-property-purchases-near-future-mrt-stations

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

Take care of your Minister, by all means. But take better care of your Minister’s bosses: The people of Singapore who elected him, pay his salary (and yours) and can fire him (at the polls) if he performs poorly.

A blog by Straits Times correspondent Christopher Tan (“Pre-empted by the Internet”) revealed some interesting behind the scenes excitement that took place when the big announcement of the revisions to the Off-peak Car (OPC) scheme got leaked on the Net two days before the Minister for Transport could announce it.

The LTA (Land Transport Authority) gave a closed door press briefing last Friday, banning any recording devices and ordering journalists to embargo the news until Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced it in a speech at a grassroots event on Sunday. But lo and behold, the news got leaked on the Internet that very night.

With this leak, the ST wanted to run the story on Saturday, but was not given permission to by the LTA. So it got run on Sunday morning — still ahead of the Minister’s speech.

What I find disconcerting was the journalist’s description that “the authority’s (LTA) panic was palpable. After all, the leak had stolen the thunder from a Minister’s Sunday speech.”

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