PM Lee admits govt lacked 20/20 foresight

[Gee]

Are we not adaptive to fast changes? Or policy not in line with capacity?

 

By May Wong | Posted: 28 January 2013 2145 hrs

 

 

PM Lee admits govt lacked 20/20 foresight

 

 

 

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has admitted the government did not have 20/20 foresight, resulting in problems with inadequate infrastructure in the country.

 

He was speaking at the "Singapore Perspectives" conference on governance organised by the Institute of Policy Studies on Monday.

 

Acknowledging the problems of insufficient housing and inefficient transportation network, Mr Lee pointed out that the government was blind-sided by the outcome of some international events.

 

He elaborated that in 2000 and 2001, the 9/11 terrorism attack on the United States plunged countries into recession. Singapore dealt with a slow economy with minimum population growth and local housing prices went down.

 

But by 2005 and 2006, Mr Lee said the mood changed and the economy started picking up.

 

So, he said, the government did what it thought would have been appropriate then. It decided to make up for lost time by growing the population and boosting the economy.

 

He acknowledged that infrastructure like housing and transport didn't keep up with that growth.

 

Mr Lee said: "I decided that we should try and make up for lost time because you want the economy to grow. You want Singapore to make progress and you don't know how long the sun is going to shine. As it turned out, the sun remained shining for longer than we expected. So the population grew faster than we expected, our infrastructure didn't keep up.

 

"Should we have given ourselves more buffer and said let's build and be ready? I think in retrospect, clearly we could have done more. Could we have predicted that we would have five years where the economy would grow brilliantly and our population would increase so rapidly? I don't think we could easily have said that.

 

"Should we then have said, 'I didn't plan for this infrastructure, let's tell the businesses to go away and let's forget about the growth, we don't need the IRs, we don't need these extra jobs, we just stay where we were'. I think that would be very risky. So we went ahead.

 

"The strains showed up. It's quite instructive how they showed up. They didn't show up gradually, progressively but quite suddenly. When the global financial crisis came at the end of the decade, 2007/2008, we expected to go for a very deep dive.

 

"In fact in one quarter, we had minus 10 percent growth. Nobody talked about house prices, there was no shortage. HDB - we watched the market every day, the resale market was dead but we did the right thing with our Jobs Credit and other measures. We avoided a bullet, the world economy recovered faster than expected.

 

"In the middle of 2009, the wind changed...those of you in business, you would remember that in the course of two weeks, during one or two private property launches, somehow the wind changed. It's like the spring breeze touched your face and the market was off. By August, we were thinking of measures to cool things down and we've been trying to cool things down ever since.

 

"So we lacked that 20/20 foresight. Next time, we will try to do better, certainly to have a bigger buffer and not to cut things so fine. But I think it's very difficult to know, 10 years from now, how many you will need.

 

"Even if you know how many persons there will be in Singapore, you can't say how many houses they will need. Will they buy it? Or will they say, 'oh, I'm not certain because the economy is not looking good or the politics are not certain, well, I'll hold off'? But when the market goes up, it goes up with a vengeance and we've paid the political price, we learn from it."

 

In the 90-minute question and answer session, Prime Minister Lee also tackled a number of issues which included whether the wide-ranging social nets in Singapore would encourage citizens to become more dependent and if Singapore needs more space for discussion.

 

Mr Lee is of the view that the government needs to do more but he wants the government to be helping from behind the scenes, as opposed to Singaporeans expecting the government to jump in all the time.

 

On why there is still a need to moderate social space involving social media, for example, Mr Lee said the online community in particular is not moderating itself.

 

Extreme views are put out and responses and disapprovals are also extreme. So this cannot be left to itself.

 

Mr Lee said: "We don't believe the community in the social space, especially online, moderates itself. It doesn't happen anywhere in the world.

 

"You have views going to extremes and when people respond to their views, they may respond in an extreme way, and when people decide to disapprove of something which was inappropriate, the disapproval can also happen in an extreme way.

 

"It's in the nature of the medium, the way the interactions work and that's the reason why we think it cannot be completely left by itself."

 

- CNA/ir

[Gee]

Interesting view on online social space...

 

On why there is still a need to moderate social space involving social media, for example, Mr Lee said the online community in particular is not moderating itself.

 

Extreme views are put out and responses and disapprovals are also extreme. So this cannot be left to itself.

 

Mr Lee said: "We don't believe the community in the social space, especially online, moderates itself. It doesn't happen anywhere in the world.

 

"You have views going to extremes and when people respond to their views, they may respond in an extreme way, and when people decide to disapprove of something which was inappropriate, the disapproval can also happen in an extreme way.

 

"It's in the nature of the medium, the way the interactions work and that's the reason why we think it cannot be completely left by itself."

[Hiphiphoray]

What the.......

 

Population grew faster than expected wor.

 

i thot it was the floodgate opened way too big & too fast ?

 

Their mistake and we suffer.

[Thedream]

You all dunno how to read between the lines ah?

 

"Could we have predicted that we would have five years where the economy would grow brilliantly and our population would increase so rapidly? I don't think we could easily have said that"

 

= No one could have had that 20/20 foresight, so the govt is not at fault.

 

= It is due to our brilliant leadership that grew our economy so rapidly!!!

[Mcscot]

We tend to forget that IT IS the GOVT that is keeping us afloat all these years! The whole world is in economic doldrums but yet we're like in the relative economic fast lane! Of course mistakes were made but can anyone honestly say we foresaw the issues we are facing. Is there an alternative? Is there experience in the alternative? The alternative must provide check and balances but until then ...

 

We MUST be careful as Singapore's current reputation is built on political stability and trust that the ship will not be rocked in the next 10-15 years.

 

IMHO

[WTF]

We tend to forget that IT IS the GOVT that is keeping us afloat all these years! The whole world is in economic doldrums but yet we're like in the relative economic fast lane! Of course mistakes were made but can anyone honestly say we foresaw the issues we are facing. Is there an alternative? Is there experience in the alternative? The alternative must provide check and balances but until then ...

 

We MUST be careful as Singapore's current reputation is built on political stability and trust that the ship will not be rocked in the next 10-15 years.

 

IMHO

 

IMHO....

 

We give credits when it's due but we should also points out the mistakes the garment made.

 

Telling us that they did not expect so many immigrants while it was them who opened the floodgates really made me uncomfortable. Does the different ministry communicate with each other? The increase in population must surely been approved by the PM himself and yet they couldn't see the numbers?

 

Kudos to the garment for keeping us largely dry throughout these years of economic downturn. However it'll be their own performance that determine if the political scene here will be stable 'cos no sane person will want rock the boat unless the captain and its crew are steering the boat into danger.........

[Maseratigood]

We tend to forget that IT IS the GOVT that is keeping us afloat all these years! The whole world is in economic doldrums but yet we're like in the relative economic fast lane! Of course mistakes were made but can anyone honestly say we foresaw the issues we are facing. Is there an alternative? Is there experience in the alternative? The alternative must provide check and balances but until then ...

 

We MUST be careful as Singapore's current reputation is built on political stability and trust that the ship will not be rocked in the next 10-15 years.

 

IMHO

Govt = only pap?

Also, The people and the civil service do not exist? :D

[Carnoob]

Our society is conservative in their thinking thus the failed hindsight. Nobody even the elite can predict the future 100% right, so why are we worried about political instability? We can't even manage and execute policy effectively and to talk about change of government is really too far... But Singaporeans do understand now that if the MPs are all from the same party are they effective enough or BOLD enough to rebuke on the steps taken by their PARTY LEADERSHIP?

 

If WP had not won during the BE, would LHL come out to speak about their lack in vision? I personally don't think so as he also admitted quote

 

"Even if you know how many persons there will be in Singapore, you can't say how many houses they will need. Will they buy it? Or will they say, 'oh, I'm not certain because the economy is not looking good or the politics are not certain, well, I'll hold off'? But when the market goes up, it goes up with a vengeance and we've paid the political price, we learn from it."

 

So they learn, ppl benefit. I don't think there is any political instability to achieve that. Sometimes, it is good to step back, take a second look and this could have been prevented.

Edited January 29, 2013 by Carnoob

[Rncw]

nobody plan to fail.....they all failed to plan.....

they are in full control of the entire country and they cannot forecast the outcum? they have the most highest paid think-tank and ministers and they can say this kind of stupid reason....

they are the ones opening the floodgates for more foreign migrants.....

 

i think during that time, they were too busy thinking how to cut losses when the financial crisis hit the world????

[Vroomtattat]

IMHO....

 

We give credits when it's due but we should also points out the mistakes the garment made.

 

Telling us that they did not expect so many immigrants while it was them who opened the floodgates really made me uncomfortable. Does the different ministry communicate with each other? The increase in population must surely been approved by the PM himself and yet they couldn't see the numbers?

 

Kudos to the garment for keeping us largely dry throughout these years of economic downturn. However it'll be their own performance that determine if the political scene here will be stable 'cos no sane person will want rock the boat unless the captain and its crew are steering the boat into danger.........

 

They did not foresee that immigrants will bring their ah gong, ah ma, lau peh, lau bu, ah jek, ah soh and the hum pah lang relatives along. So dun brame the gahmen dat's what he meant.

[Fcw75]

They did not foresee that immigrants will bring their ah gong, ah ma, lau peh, lau bu, ah jek, ah soh and the hum pah lang relatives along. So dun brame the gahmen dat's what he meant.

 

 

Precisely. First, only the young immigrants come. After that, they bring the whole village over. :angry:

[Beehive3783]

We tend to forget that IT IS the GOVT that is keeping us afloat all these years! The whole world is in economic doldrums but yet we're like in the relative economic fast lane! Of course mistakes were made but can anyone honestly say we foresaw the issues we are facing. Is there an alternative? Is there experience in the alternative? The alternative must provide check and balances but until then ...

 

We MUST be careful as Singapore's current reputation is built on political stability and trust that the ship will not be rocked in the next 10-15 years.

 

IMHO

It WAS the govt keeping us afloat I agree.

 

But it IS the govt now that are screwing us.

 

So I'll take my chances in the water. I don't give a damn about the ship when I can't find much food on it.

[Toothiewabbit]

On one hand, gahmen said we are not having enuf babies. On the other, population grew faster than expected. No square up.

 

I would have emphatise if they admit that FT policy led to strains in infrastructure and increase in higher cost of living.

[Gee]

there is this story from Car Car Away Land..

 

when one paid for a Lambo, naturally one would expect to get a Lambo, a real one with everything and nothing less (more would be a bonus).

But to his surprise the SE said, "sorry ah sir, whole industry not doing well lah, our eyes can't see poperly ah.. so we can only give you a QQ..good FC and whole double tier family can fit in comfy & snugly, I think it has ABS for your extra safety... sorry for our honest mistakes because we (fail) didn't foresee our business gone bad.. or would you like an alternative? a Perodua perhaps? We'll throw in some real Lambo hub caps for free....we promise we'll do our utmost bestest to deliver the real thing at our own convenience... oh and by the way sir,...

the deal can't be cancelled.

 

 

[Babyt]

many dafts associate govt = pap. indeed PAP rules the government but thats because they have received mandate from us (but not me) and we taxpayers pay them their salary. it is their job to keep the country going and to provide assistance to needy using taxpayer money (not PAP money for goodness sake, ppl confused w them).

 

if u cant perform, u are SACKED.

Edited January 29, 2013 by Babyt

[Gee]

"Should we have given ourselves more buffer and said let's build and be ready? I think in retrospect, clearly we could have done more. Could we have predicted that we would have five years where the economy would grow brilliantly and our population would increase so rapidly? I don't think we could easily have said that.

 

cmiiw,

immigrant as well as birth numbers are registered at ICA, one should be able to pluck out how much the rate is (by the second). Same goes with Housing availability, public transport, road capacity, etc.

To me it is very hard to digest that the population growth can't be anticipated to overwhelm the infrastructure.

 

[Civic6228]

OK OK .....

 

Mistake made ..... time to move on .... agree.

 

But what is next ????????????????????? Singaporeans want to see solutions, talk is cheap.

[Tungsl]

Mr Lee is of the view that the government needs to do more but he wants the government to be helping from behind the scenes, as opposed to Singaporeans expecting the government to jump in all the time.

 

 

joking right

 

look the government got a hand in almost everything and anything in singapore

including 7-11 tyoe of business and not forgetting town council software

 

nowadays i learn to take everything with a tablespoon of salt