In his opening address, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan cited the debate as an example of how public consultation in Singapore has been "evolving positively over the past few years".Ok, This has to be the dumbest news story I've seen for days.
He added: "One unique feature of this exercise was the fact that we began consultation way before the Cabinet made any decision … many people found it difficult to believe that we had not already decided before consulting."
According to a telephone survey commissioned by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), 62 per cent of the 963 respondents did not believe that the Government was — as it had claimed — ready to abandon the idea of a casino or two.
Sixty per cent felt their opinions did not count towards the final decision and 28 per cent of those respondents who accepted the decision did so because they felt the government had already made up its mind.
In announcing these results, IPS research fellow Dr Gillian Koh said this either indicated that the people had faith in the government decision or that they were already resigned to the top-down choice.
Dr Balakrishnan said that the "unique feature" of Singapore's public consultation, is that it is done before the decision was made by the cabinet.
Wow. It really hit me like a ton of bricks. This could very well be the biggest fucking discovery I've learnt from the newspapers.
You thought you knew what public consultation was, you were wrong.
Dr Balakrishan tells you that, to be effective, you have to consult people before you decide. I thought its so fucking obvious, but to some people, I guess not.
And everyone wondered why Singaporeans are so cynical.
When, for the government, the definition of "positive" evolution is consulting the people before deciding. I guess when we are so backward in this respect, any form of improvement counts as a "positive evolution". I really don't know whether to laugh or cry on such news.
You know what Singapore should do? Patent this idea, and export it to 3rd World Banana Republics. Public Consultation - The Uniquely Singapore Way. I am sure this would make us a ton of money.
The second dumb thing about this article, is about phone survey. The main point of the result, is that most people in Singapore feel that they cannot affect the Govt's decision on the casino.
And guess what the Research Fellow said? - (The results) either indicated that the people had faith in the government decision or that they were already resigned to the top-down choice.
Wow, thats some really good research thats been going on. Do you need a PHD to do this shite?
You did the survey, got the results, and your conclusion is, either people have faith or are resigned to the choice? What kind of 3rd rate ambiguous conclusion is this?
You use tax-payers' money and time to conduct a research with an unclear conclusion.
A conclusion that you can get, by sitting in any kopitiam and taking down what people complain about.
Seriously, I do not claim to be a researcher, but why don't you just ask those surveyed -
"Are you resigned to the Government's decision? or do you have faith in them? Yes/No."
Problem solved. Isn't that easy?
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