Public Administration Singapore-style (Research in Public Policy Analysis and Management, Volume 19)

336 Pages·2010·1.15 MB·English

by  Jon S. T. Quah

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
SINGAPORE-STYLE
RESEARCH IN PUBLIC POLICY
ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT
Series Editor: Lawrence R. Jones
Recent Volumes:
Volumes 1–9: Research in Public Policy Analysis and Management
Volume 10: Public Management: Institutional Renewal for the
Twenty-First Century – Edited by Lawrence R. Jones
and Fred Thompson
Volume 11A & B: Learning from International Public Management
Reform – Edited by Lawrence R. Jones,
James Guthrie and Peter Steane
Volume 12: The Transformative Power of Dialogue – Edited by
Nancy C. Roberts
Volume 13: Strategies for Public Management Reform –
Edited by Lawrence R. Jones, Kuno Schedler and
Riccardo Mussari
Volume 14: Public Ethics and Governance: Standards and
Practices in Comparative Perspective – Edited by
Denis Saint-Martin and Fred Thompson
Volume 15: Comparative Public Administration: The Essential
Readings – Edited by Eric E. Otenyo and
Nancy S. Lind
Volume 16: Cultural Aspects of Public Management Reform –
Edited by Kuno Schedler and Isabella Proeller
Volume 17: Comparative Governance Reform in Asia: Democracy,
Corruption, and Government Trust – Edited by
Bidhya Bowornwathana and Clay Wescott
Volume18: The ManyFacesofPublic ManagementReforminthe
Asia-Pacific Region – Edited by Clay Wescott,
Bidhya Bowornwathana and Lawrence R. Jones
RESEARCH IN PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS AND
MANAGEMENT VOLUME 19
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
SINGAPORE-STYLE
BY
JON S. T. QUAH
Anti-Corruption Consultant, Singapore
United Kingdom – North America – Japan
India – Malaysia – China
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HowardHouse,WagonLane,BingleyBD161WA,UK
Firstedition2010
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CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES vii
LIST OF BOXES xi
ABBREVIATIONS xiii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR xvii
PREFACE xix
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 2 SINGAPORE’S POLICY CONTEXT 15
CHAPTER 3 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SINGAPORE 25
CIVIL SERVICE (1819–1959)
CHAPTER 4 STATUTORY BOARDS 41
CHAPTER 5 THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 71
CHAPTER 6 COMPENSATION: PAYING FOR THE 97
‘‘BEST AND BRIGHTEST’’
CHAPTER 7 ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM 127
CHAPTER 8 IMPLEMENTING PS21 IN THE 147
SINGAPORE CIVIL SERVICE
v
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER 9 COMBATING CORRUPTION 171
CHAPTER 10 THE PAP GOVERNMENT’S 199
PHILOSOPHY OF GOVERNANCE
CHAPTER 11 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 237
SINGAPORE-STYLE
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN SINGAPORE: 257
A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES 279
AUTHOR INDEX 299
SUBJECT INDEX 303
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1 Differences between Public and Private
Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Table 1.2 Growth of the Singapore Civil Service by Division
(1985–2008). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Table 1.3 Singapore Administrative Service’s Designations and
Grade Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Table 2.1 Changes in Singapore’s Policy Context (1959–2008) . . . 17
Table 2.2 PAP’s Electoral Performance (1959–2006) . . . . . . . . . . 22
Table 3.1 StructureoftheMunicipalGovernment(August1942
to August 1945). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Table 3.2 ReorganizationoftheSingaporeCivilServicein1955. . . 37
Table 4.1 Statutory Boards in Singapore by Ministry (2009) . . . . 45
Table 4.2 SIT’s Performance in Public Housing (1928–1959) . . . . 60
Table 4.3 HDB’s Performance in Public Housing (1960–2008) . . . 64
Table 5.1 Workload of the PSC in Singapore (1983–1989). . . . . . 83
Table 5.2 Workload of the PSC in Singapore (1990–1994). . . . . . 84
Table 5.3 WorkloadsofthePSC,ESC,andPCDSCinselecting
candidates to the SCS (1990–1994) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Table 5.4 Structure of the SCS’s Personnel Management
System in 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Table 5.5 Workload of the PSC in Singapore (1995–2008). . . . . . 88
Table 5.6 Workload of the PSC in Singapore (1983–2008). . . . . . 89
Table 6.1 Functions of Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Table 6.2 Comparative Salary Schemes in d per annum for
European Officers in Ceylon, Gold Coast, Malaya,
and Nigeria according to the type of services
performed (1928). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Table 6.3 Monthly Salaries and Proposed Monthly Salaries of
the Top Superscale Positions in the SCS (1947) (S$). . 101
Table 6.4 Monthly Salaries and Proposed Salaries of Top
Superscale Positions in Singapore (1949) (S$). . . . . . . 102
Table 6.5 Reduction in Variable Allowances in the SCS by
Salary and Division, June 1959 (S$) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
vii
viii LIST OFTABLES
Table 6.6 Division I Monthly Basic Salaries for Superscale
Positions in the SCS and the Harvey Commission’s
Recommendations (S$). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Table 6.7 Monthly Basic Salaries of Superscale Grades in the
SCS in May 1979 and New Grades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Table 6.8 Monthly Basic Salaries and Monthly Variable
Component for Superscale Grades in the SCS
(1988). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Table 6.9 Monthly Basic Salary of Superscale Civil Servants in
Singapore (1985 and 1989) (S$). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Table 6.10 Monthly Basic Salaries of Political and Judicial
AppointmentsinSingapore(1985andApril1989)(S$). . 110
Table 6.11 Monthly Gross Salary for Superscale Officers in the
Singapore Administrative Service (January 1994) . . . . 111
Table 6.12 Monthly Gross Salary of Political and Judicial
Appointments in Singapore (January 1994) (S$). . . . . 112
Table 6.13 Monthly Gross Salaries of Superscale Officers in the
Singapore Administrative Service (1995) . . . . . . . . . . 113
Table 6.14 Salaries of Selected Ministers and Senior Civil
Servants (June 2000) (S$). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Table 6.15 Current and Proposed Salaries and Allowances of
Superscale G Administrative Officer (June 2000) (S$). . 115
Table 6.16 Current and Proposed Salaries and Allowances of
StaffGradeIAdministrativeOfficer(June2000)(S$). . 115
Table 6.17 Salaries of Key Appointments (2007–2008) . . . . . . . . 116
Table 6.18 IncreaseintheSingapore’sPrimeMinister’sMonthly
Basic Salary (1959–2008) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Table 6.19 Resignation Rate of Division I Officers in the SCS
(1971–1984). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Table 6.20 Proportion of ‘‘Bureaucrat Politicians’’ in the
Singapore Cabinet (1959–2006). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Table 7.1 ReorganizationoftheSingaporeCivilServicein1959. . 133
Table 7.2 Autonomous Agencies in the Singapore Civil Service
in 1996. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Table 8.1 Terms of Reference for the PS21 Functional
Committees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Table 8.2 SPF’s Service Pledge Statistics, 1997–2002 . . . . . . . . . 152
Table 8.3 SPF’s Service Pledge Statistics, 2005–2007 . . . . . . . . . 152
Table 9.1 Growth of CPIB’s Personnel (1952–2008) . . . . . . . . . 179
List ofTables ix
Table 9.2 Budget of the CPIB (1978–2008). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Table 9.3 Number ofPersons AttendingtheCPIB’sPrevention
and Education Activities (2005–2007) . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Table 9.4 Singapore’s Performance on CPI, PERC, and
Control of Corruption (1995–2009). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Table 9.5 PublicTrustinPoliticians’HonestyinSelectedAsian
Countries (1999–2003/2004 and 2007/2008) . . . . . . . . 185
Table 9.6 CPIB’s Performance Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Table 9.7 Public Perceptions of CPIB’s Performance in 2002 . . . 187
Table 9.8 Comparative Analysis of the Personnel and Budgets
of Eight Anti-Corruption Agencies in Asian
Countries in 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Table 9.9 Ease of Doing Business in Six Asian Countries
(2009). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Table 10.1 Things Wanted Most in Life by Ethnic Group. . . . . . 203
Table 10.2 Singaporean Dreams and Goals (2008–2009) . . . . . . . 203
Table 10.3 Enrolment in Educational Institutions and
Government Expenditure on Education (1960–2008). . 212
Table 10.4 Government Recurrent Expenditure on Education
per Student (1992, 1997, and 2008) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Table 10.5 Representation in the Singapore Legislature by
Ethnic Group (1959–1984) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Table 10.6 NumberofPublicAssistanceRecipientsinSingapore
(1986–1996). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Table 10.7 Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index 2009. . . . . . 226
Table 10.8 Average Monthly Household Income from Work in
Singapore (1995–2007). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Table 11.1 Government Effectiveness of Singapore (1996–2008). . 239
Table 11.2 Government Effectiveness of 25 Asian Countries in
2008. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Table 11.3 Control of Corruption in Singapore (1996–2008) . . . . 240
Table 11.4 Control of Corruption among 25 Asian Countries in
2008. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Table 11.5 Transparency International’s 2009 CPI for 24 Asian
Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Table 11.6 Public Sector Competence of Selected Asian
Countries (1999–2002/2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Table 11.7 PublicTrustinPoliticians’HonestyinSelectedAsian
Countries (1999–2009/2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244