“Satisfied people don’t have time to go onto the Internet. Unhappy people often go there,” so said our Prime Minister, according to the Business Times. Sometimes I feel disappointed at how our political leaders are unable to keep with the times. It’s not just about how the Internet is changing our social environment, but also other areas in cyber security and cyber terrorism.
It’s funny how his statement implied that the Internet is for unhappy people. But I’d give our Prime Minister the benefit of doubt, and perhaps he was quoted out of context. He probably meant that people who are happy with how the government is performing are unlikely to go onto the Internet to say nice things about them; and conversely, those who are unhappy with the government will have plenty of things to complain about online.
That’s probably true. But we all know that already. It happens with products, services and everything you see about on the Internet. It’s more particularly so with certain cultures of people who are not so generous with paying compliments and giving praises.
The key point, however, is how much those unhappiness we’re seeing online is representative of the actual sentiments of the general population of Singapore. I hope our politicians understand that.
Actually, I’m guessing that the politicians know about the growing dissent and they are really worried about it. They are addressing the issue by playing the media to convince people that they really aren’t doing a bad job after all.
So that’s part of the problem. You see, I don’t think the government is doing that badly at all. They aren’t perfect, and surely there are a number of policy mistakes, but they are not completely bad or incapable of running our country. I don’t think that’s what most people are complaining about either. What people are not happy about is that the government is not listening. They are not addressing their needs and their concerns.
For the politicians, or the government, to tell us that they’re doing a damn great job is making people more annoyed, because it reinforces their gripe that our politicians are not listening.
A few moons ago, our Prime Minister said that Singaporeans should not expect the government to solve all problems.
Do not ask the government to solve all the problems. I think there is a certain mindset in Singapore every time a problem comes up. Immediate question is: What is the government going to do about it? What is the government going to do about this mindset? And I think that, yes, the government has to be on top of the game, and be thinking ahead, solving problems. But when issues come up, we really would like people to take the attitude: What can I do about it? What can we do together about it? How can we solve this problem and do something and make a difference in our own lives? AsiaOne, 26 Sep 2013
No, we’re not asking the government to solve all problems. We’re asking the government to solve just the problems that they’ve created, and problems that only they could solve.
If my house floods because my pipe leaks, sure, I need to call my own plumber. I can understand that. If my house floods because the drain outside overflows into my property, what am I supposed to do about it? (Oh yeah, I could build my own flood barrier…)
Housing prices have gone through the roof and it is becoming increasingly difficult for many people, if not already impossible, to own their own home. Is the government’s attitude one of asking all individuals to go figure this out themselves?
It is not the intent of my post here to be an unhappy complaint like what the Prime Minister says people go to the Internet for. It’s more a reminder for the government that we want them to listen and acknowledge our input. Then, where possible (and hopefully that happens more often than not), take concrete measures to act on our input.
Our government runs itself like a business corporation. As a corporation, I think our government has completely failed in its customer relationship management.
When a customer complains to a customer service representative, the latter is usually trained to listen attentively, to acknowledge the customer’s input, and then to offer solutions to address their needs.
When Singaporeans complain about high property prices, the least the government could do was to acknowledge that fact, and acknowledge the difficulty that lower income families are facing. It does not help at all to tell us that fellow citizens who earn just $1,000 a month can buy their own HDB flat, and then insist on proving it to us (AsiaOne, 3 Mar 2012).
Our politicians, and/or our government (honestly sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish between them), should appreciate the utility of the Internet to receive honest, unadulterated feedback, and not dismiss it as a channel for unhappy people to troll.
Instead of welcoming these trolling, I’m now learning that REACH wants to clamp up and start requiring users to log-in. It is apparently being linked to the no lack of trolling, and the need to fight against trolling (CNA, 22 Nov 2013).
Indeed, our government hasn’t been very pleased welcoming of the idea of free speech, instead preferring to go for responsible speech. You can say what you like, but you should identify yourself properly, and perhaps even obtain the necessary approvals (Speaker’s Corner, Internet website licensing).
I’m not against the idea of responsible speech per se. (There are both pros and cons and one needs to look at it in the bigger scheme of things.) But there is some good to allow some trolling. In the real world, if you really wanted to feel the vibe of ordinary people, you’ve got to go somewhere like, say, neighbourhood coffee shops to eavesdrop on the idle chit chat. It’s so labour intensive to go everywhere to feel the pulse of ordinary Singaporeans this way.
The Internet makes it so convenient to feel the pulse of Singaporeans. Do it from the comfort of your computer. You could even have data mining applications automate some work for you. In fact, this is such a good idea that the government should even back and encourage an official channel for trolling.
The government is for the people. That is why it needs to listen to the people.
We are Singaporeans. We make suggestions through complaining. Sure, some are not constructive, but others do definitely make sense.