Chapter 2 Flashcards
Ideas shaping governance: Good leadership
D: Government representatives must be honest and capable. They must also have moral courage and integrity to do what is right, including making decisions that may be unpopular w the people. Leaders of good moral character and who are incorruptible will win the confidence and the respect of the people
Ex: Lee Kuan Yew was the first Prime Minister of SG, leading SG through a period of political unrest and instability in the 1950s and 1960s. His capability allowed SG to proper and her people to have better lives.
A: This ensures that the best decisions are made for Singapore’s continued growth and development, with differing needs, interests and prioirties of the society are addressed, increasing citizen’s confidence in the government and leading to political stability.
Ideas shaping governance: Anticipating change and staying relevant
D: When citizens’ needs and interests are adversely affected in the short term, tensions may arise. However, the government needs to be forward-looking and plan ahead to meet future needs of the country while managing short term needs and tensions.
Ex: Integrated Resorts are built to ensure competitiveness in the world. This encourages toursim and increase job opportunities for many, but there were social costs sucha s addiction that needs to be dealt with. With that, the government started the National Council of Problem Gambling to educate and outreach on problem gambling prevention.
A: This allowed Singapore to have a competitive edge over others in terms of the economy, at the same time serving the needs of citizens through social support, increasing trust and confidence towards the government.
Ideas shaping governance: Providing a stake for everyone
D: Citizens having a say and opportunity to voice their opinion, sharing their views and being involved in many decision making processes which regarding serious matters in the country.
Ex: Our Singapore conversation allows Singaporeans to share their views, hopes and dreams about Singapore, through dialogue sessions, voicing out their concerns, making the government more aware of their needs
A: This allows the needs of citizens to be met, increasing the trust and confidence citizens have for their own government, strengthening their sense of belonging.
Ideas shaping governance: Practicing meritocracy
D: Meritocracy is a system that distributes opportunities to enable future successes, whereby people are rewarded for their effort that they put in rather than their race and religion and socio-economic background. This encourages them to work hard and achieve success.
Ex: Students who perform well in their studies and CCAs are rewarded in ways like the Edusave Scholarship and Merit Bursery schemes which reward the top 10% and top 25% of school students respectively.
A: This motivates Singaporeans to work hard as everyone has equal opportunities of getting recognised by their hard work, causing Singapore to have a pool of talent and maintaining a competitive edge amongst other countries.
Ideas shaping governance: Anticipating change and staying relevant.
D: When citizen’s needs and interests are adversely affected in the short term due to a decision based on more long term considerations, tensions may arise. The government needs to manage these tensions and remain forward-looking. They need to make decisions that will benefit the people of Singapore in the future
Ex: In April 2005, the government decided to build two IRs at Sentosa and marina bay.
