SINGAPORE – Minister for Education and Minister-in-Charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing urged Singapore’s 153,000 public officers to perform their duties with conviction and integrity despite the pressures they may face from increased public scrutiny.
He said that, in the light of recent events, some public officers may be unsure of how to handle this heightened scrutiny. He assured them that they will always have his support if they do their work faithfully.
“So long as you do your job conscientiously, do it faithfully based on your conviction, uphold your integrity, have no fear,” said Mr Chan, adding that the public service cannot function effectively if it is constantly afraid of how people perceive it. He made these remarks at the opening event of Public Service Week (PSW) 2023 at One Punggol on Wednesday.
A new Public Service for Good movement was announced at the event. It calls on officers to get involved in new and different ways to do good for Singaporeans, beyond traditional job and agency boundaries.
Mr Chan said he recognised the efforts of many public officers who want to use their capabilities and networks to go beyond their job scope to help more people.
“That speaks to the kind of public spirit that we have within the public service,” he added.
With this new movement, Mr Chan said that public officers will have 40 hours each year to use for their personal and professional development, such as coaching others or helping another organisation.
He said he hopes the 40 hours would refresh and recharge them.
Mr Chan also talked about the lessons Singapore learnt from managing the Covid-19 pandemic, and how different public service departments had to come together in new ways to handle it.
“So, forget boundaries. We will need to invent new products, new processes, new rules and regulations to both seize the opportunities and overcome the challenges.”
Mr Chan thanked public officers for their hard work over the years, and emphasised the importance of contingency operations based on the lessons drawn from the pandemic.
“Tackling Covid-19 was a big contingency operation. It is now scaling down, but I will say this: Going forward, at any point in time, our public service must be prepared to run three types of operations concurrently – current, future and contingency,” he said.
He also called on public officers to embrace challenges, such as mastering new technologies, and encouraged them to remember their purpose when they got tired in their line of duty.
“We are here because we want Singapore to defy the odds of history – to not only survive but thrive. We are here because we want to build a nation that distinguishes ourselves by our cohesion,” said Mr Chan.
Public Service Week 2023 kicked off on Wednesday with the presentation of 115 Public Sector Transformation awards.
These awards were spread across 13 categories. Recipients comprised agencies and officers that have demonstrated exemplary efforts in service delivery, organisational practices and innovation.
