Emphasise values in the public service

• Main Author: EUGENE, Tan K. B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2013
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3758; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5716/viewcontent/today_20130730_1.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

SMU Associate Professor of Law and Nominated Member of Parliament Eugene Tan highlighted the importance of emphasising values in public service, especially in light of the recent series of high-profile and sensational cases involving public servants. He noted that the emphatic assurances given by political and Public Service leaders after each case - that such misconduct is the exception rather than the norm - may lack convincing power, with the public believing that they are but the tip of the iceberg, with lesser misdemeanours not publicised because they were subjected to internal disciplinary sanctions. Associate Prof Tan questioned whether there was something flawed in the way public servants are recruited, assessed, promoted and regulated, while noting that corrective measures could never cover every possibility of misconduct. He thus concluded by saying that a culture of ethics may well be the missing link in the furtherance of good governance.