SM Lee Hsien Loong at the Annual Public Service Leadership Ceremony 2024

Minister-in-charge of the Civil Service, Mr Chan Chun Sing;
Chairman of the Public Service Commission, Mr Lee Tzu Yang, and members of the PSC;
Head Civil Service, Mr Leo Yip;
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen;

A very good afternoon

Introduction

The last time I spoke at the Public Service Leadership Ceremony was four years ago, in 2020. I am very happy to be back, this time in a different role as Senior Minister.

I am very glad that the leadership transition has gone smoothly. A new generation of political leaders has taken charge, with PM Lawrence Wong at the helm. In the public service too, every year we welcome new cohorts of Public Service Leaders. I would like to extend a warm welcome to the 30 newly appointed Public Service Leaders and 113 PSLP officers. You are part of our continuing efforts to refresh our leadership cadre with fresh perspectives, talent, and energy. Leadership renewal is key to the public service, but new generations of leaders can expect to build on strong foundations, you do not start from a blank slate. I would like to acknowledge the many years of dedication and service of the two retired Permanent Secretaries – Ravi Menon and Gabriel Lim – and 14 other senior leaders in the public service who have relinquished their appointments this year. We will continue to benefit from their experience and expertise, as they serve or support the public service in other capacities.

When I attended this annual ceremony in 2020, I spoke about the need for the public service to work with the political leadership to deliver good government for Singapore. That was four years ago, but the theme remains salient as we go through this period of transition. So today, I would like to share my thoughts on how both sides need to continue to work together to take the country forward.

What does it take to govern well?

Singapore has come a long way since the tumultuous early days of nationhood. For six decades, we have made steady progress. The economy has been totally transformed. Singapore has become an important regional hub and global node. Rising incomes have enabled everyone to enjoy a much higher quality of life – better education, better healthcare, better housing, and better jobs. We have overcome major crises together as a nation: severe recessions, regional troubles, and the COVID-19 pandemic. And in doing so, we have become a more cohesive and united people. And because we got things right domestically, we could stand tall internationally.

All this has only been possible because Singapore has been well-governed all these years. The fundamental question is, what does governing Singapore well take? In my view, there are three key factors, first, good policies and good politics. Second, a good public service and a good political leadership, and third, the right relationship between the public service and the political leadership. Let me explain.

The public service is principally concerned with making and implementing policies. Getting policies right is crucial, because only good policies can turn dreams and aspirations into reality. As public officers, you know better than most that policy making is very hard. You first need to identify the right objectives in order to tackle the correct problems. Then, you need to devise sound plans and actions to address these objectives. You need to understand the issues thoroughly, come up with imaginative ideas, work out coherent and effective schemes, anticipate difficulties, and plan well ahead. Having settled on the policies, you have to implement them, track how they work out, and how people are responding to them. Then you must revise and improve them, and make sure they continue working for Singaporeans, and so the cycle begins afresh. This is a very demanding task, it takes knowledge, experience, creativity, a practical touch, and organisational ability. But unless this hard work is done, and done well, all our goals and ambitions will remain empty slogans, and the government will fail to deliver results to Singaporeans. That is why it is vital to have a competent, professional, and high quality public service.

The public service has to stay out of politics. Public officers cannot get embroiled in political debates or party politics. You need to stay impartial. But the public service does not make policies in a technocratic vacuum. To function effectively, you must understand the political context within which the government functions. You must understand the external strategic environment in which we exist, the national challenges we face, the hopes and concerns of the people, and the overarching national objectives we are striving to achieve. And you have to embrace these hopes, concerns, and objectives.

For their part, the political leadership are principally concerned with the political aspects. Ministers have to set the overall direction for the nation, with the best interests of Singapore and Singaporeans at heart. They respond to the strategic needs of the country, and the deep aspirations of the population. They make political choices on how the country should move forward. They must hold their own in the political contest, winning the public debate by persuading those who hold opposing views, rebutting wrong criticisms, while adopting useful ideas. They do their best to win support both for the government and for their political party so that at the end of their term, if the Ministers have done a good job of governing the country, they can again secure the mandate of voters and continue to serve the nation well.

But Ministers cannot confine themselves narrowly to politics. Ministers who just preside ceremonially over their ministries, setting grand objectives, and then leaving the hard work of getting things done to the public officers, add no value. To be effective, Ministers must master the policies too, only then can they give clear guidance and direction to their officials, and work closely together with the public service to develop good policies. Only then will they be able to make sound political decisions on which path to take, and how to make the trade-offs which are unavoidable in government. Only then will they carry conviction when they pitch their policies to the public, having been personally involved in working them out, and grasping why things have to be done in one way and not another. This is what we, and the public, expect of Ministers in Singapore. We have held ourselves to this standard all these years. It is an important reason why we have been able to come up with and implement good policies for the nation.

As public officers, you know this already, that to do your jobs well, you need to serve under good Ministers. Public officers are very polite, but they compare notes with one another. All prefer to work for Ministers who have a reputation for decisiveness, give clear directions to the staff, and master the intricacies of their briefs. You also know that it makes no sense to claim that it is easy to be a Minister in Singapore, because we already have such a capable public service, as some people do. Indeed, we have a very capable public service. But on the contrary, the stronger the public service, the better the political leadership needs to be. Because only then can the Ministers command respect from their officials, lead them effectively, and get the best performance out of the team.

Just as important as having good ministers and a good public service, is establishing the right relationship between the two. Each has its respective role and must do it well. The respective responsibilities have to be kept clear, and the lines properly drawn, so that the system can work properly. But at the same time, both sides must work closely together, with mutual trust, respect and understanding, to achieve the ideal combination of the policies and politics to deliver results for the country.

This is how we have been able to maintain political stability, and deliver good government for Singapore, and kept it going through many terms of government. And this is most remarkable, it happens in very few countries. Do not get me wrong, other countries do not lack for talent or ideas. Their public servants are often as committed as ours. They have political leaders who understand the country’s problems and know what needs to be done. Still, often they cannot do it. The problems remain unresolved or worsen, the country stays stuck and cannot advance. And why cannot they get things to work? Jean Claude Juncker, former Luxembourg Prime Minister and later a European Commission President, explained it well. He said “we all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we have done it”. In other words, in those countries, governments find that doing the right thing is not politically feasible, and then political leaders of all parties default to populism or short-termism to stay in power.

Thankfully, Singapore has been an exception to this rule. Take public finance for example, in many countries, politicians are more than happy to promise higher subsidies or increase social spending, but funding these expenses is a different matter altogether. As a result, these countries run up deficits, which grow over time, and eventually things get out of hand. It is not as if Singapore did not face political pressures to spend more or tax less, or did not have people who will come up and make these seductive arguments – “we can afford it”, “spend a little more”, “you will not go broke”. But successive generations of Ministers knew that avoiding the problem and running a deficit would be irresponsible because it would simply pass the burden to future generations. Instead, we did the opposite. We were prudent with our spending, saving a little bit every year, and by investing these savings wisely, we gradually built up our reserves. We also instituted rigorous safeguards to protect these reserves – to make sure we only spent the money when we really, really needed to. These reserves gave us the resilience and confidence to tide us through tough times – whether major financial crises, or more recently, the COVID pandemic.

We have been able to keep our finances sustainable, while delivering high quality public services, only because we run a tight ship. We maintain a lean and efficient government. Government taxes and fees make up only about 15% of GDP, much lower than many other developed countries. 15% of GDP is, like what France or Italy spend on state pensions alone; in France they spend 14% on pensions, and Italy, 15%. But to be lean and efficient requires discipline on the part of political leaders – to spend only on what we really need, including social safety nets that are good and adequate but not excessive. It requires a first-class public service that can come up with policies, implement them well, and in doing so, deliver good results for the people very efficiently. And it also requires political nous and courage, because as our spending needs increase, we need to make sure revenues continue to keep up, and that means taking difficult political decisions to raise taxes when we need to.

Take the GST for example: Our GST system is clean, efficient, and broad-based. It is an important source of revenue – lower only than the Corporate Income Tax, and until this year the Personal Income Tax (PIT); and this year it is a little bit more than the PIT. We have known for quite a while that a GST increase would be needed at some point, in particular to fund more healthcare services to support our rapidly ageing population. We studied the issue carefully together with the officials and the political leadership prepared the ground systematically over a long time.

Honest, consistent public messaging was crucial. In the 2011 General Election campaign, more than a decade ago, we said that we did not need to increase the GST just yet. In the 2015 General Election campaign, we assessed we could still hold on, and said we did not need a GST increase immediately, but we could see the need for one down the road. After that election, Ministry of Finance studied the projections again, and convinced ourselves that an increase could not be avoided within a decade. So the Ministers decided that we would do it after the next General Election. The Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat announced this in the 2018 Budget and to make sure – make absolutely sure – everyone got the message, I said this again the next year at the 2019 PAP Party Convention. This was a political decision. We knew it would cost the ruling party some votes, but we felt strongly that we needed to be responsible and upfront with voters. It was important that people voted fully informed about the upcoming increase, so that we maintain their trust and support. Of course, we also took a political decision to do everything we could to help Singaporeans and reassure them that they would be able to cope with the GST increase. We worked out and announced a comprehensive offset package to cushion the increase, especially for lower income households, and the Minister for Finance announced the details in the pre-election budget in 2020, even before the election was held, and way before the tax increase itself.

As it turned out, the 2020 General Election took place in the midst of COVID-19. After the pandemic had subsided, we still needed to go through with the GST hike, but the question was how to implement it. We then made another political decision, to split the increase into two-steps: from 7% to 8% in 2023, and then from 8% to 9% 1 January 2024. I highly doubt that the public service on its own would have preferred such a two-step increase. It means twice as much administrative overheads, twice the system updates for businesses, and twice the engagements with businesses and the public. But doing it in two steps would acknowledge the public’s concerns about the tax increase. It would show that the government recognised that conditions had not fully returned to normal, and it was doing what it could to give people more time to adjust to a more gradual hike.

Today, the GST increase to 9% – the full increase – is done, the support packages have been rolled out. And I can say in all good conscience, that the government has done the right thing, and in a way which minimises the pain and maximises the acceptance of the change.

Raising taxes is never easy – just look at any other country. But in Singapore, the Ministers and the public service worked closely together. The Ministers doing the political work, preparing the ground, deciding on support measures, providing the political leadership to the population, and political cover for the public service to do its work; and the public service advising the Ministers, executing the increase, and designing and implementing the support package. Neither could have done it without the other. We can be proud that together, we managed to make a difficult move to put our finances on a sound footing for quite some time to come, and secure Singapore’s best interests for the long term.

The political leadership and the public service will need to work closely together like this on a whole range of other strategic issues, whether it is public transport, immigration, or income inequality. Each will need to do its part, so that together the political leadership and the public service can come up with good policies, persuade Singaporeans to support them, and make the policies succeed. And if I may say so, therefore, enable our politics to succeed. We must do our best to keep our government functioning in this way for as long as we can.

What does this depend on? At the national level, we need to maintain and renew a high-quality political leadership, continue to attract good people to join politics, renew the trust and confidence between the political leaders and the population from generation to generation, and ensure a well-functioning political system, which will enable the public service to make its full contribution.

For its part, the public service plays a major role in keeping Singapore exceptional. We place high demands on our public servants, and especially on this group, our Public Service Leaders. You have to set the tone and direction in your respective organisations and show your colleagues and subordinates, by personal example, what the public service stands for. And while you can look forward to good careers in the public service, I am sure you appreciate that this is much more than just a job or a career. Unlike working in the private sector or a commercial organisation, public service is a mission. You are in this to serve Singapore and Singaporeans. The public service must always be driven by and committed to that mission. And what does this mean? It means that you must continue to maintain the high standard of professionalism and excellence in your work. You must uphold the public service ethos, and understand why you are doing this, and why this is worth doing. You must also appreciate the bigger picture - the strategic and political realities the country faces, and the deepest concerns and aspirations of Singaporeans. And you must work closely with the political leadership to deliver results for Singapore.

Our founding leaders understood this right from the very beginning. In 1959, a few months after Singapore attained self-government, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his team set up the Civil Service Political Study Centre – to bring the public service on board with the political leadership, to understand the political urgency to get things right, and to work together to solve the nation’s many pressing problems. Our founding leaders knew they only had one shot to get things right. If they failed, not only would the new government fall, but the democratic system in Singapore would have crumbled, as was happening in many other post-colonial states. As Mr Lee Kuan Yew said at the opening of the Political Study Centre:

“We, the elected ministers, have to work through you and with you to translate our plan and policies into reality. You should give of your best in the service of our people…It is in our interest to show that under the system of “one-man-one-vote” there can be an honest and efficient government which works through an efficient administration in the interests of the people.”

That effort to educate a generation of public servants succeeded. The officers gave their hearts and souls to their task and worked closely with the political leadership to confront the fire. Together, they delivered on their mission, and created what we have today.

Keeping our system going in the years ahead

Singapore has come a long way since 1959. Today, we are in a much stronger position. Our economy is much larger and more developed. The SAF and Home Team vigilantly deter threats to our country and keep our families safe. Our housing, education, healthcare, transport, and social infrastructure all rank among the best in the world. Singaporeans’ lives have improved tremendously. After many years steadily building up its capabilities, our public service too is in a much stronger position. This is so whether in terms of the organisations and institutions that we have developed to fulfil our missions and deal with the issues of the day, or in terms of the quality of our public officers – their ability, development, experience, and motivation.

But Singapore faces formidable challenges in the years ahead. Externally, we live in an increasingly turbulent world, with intensifying great power contestation, deglobalisation, and climate change. This will greatly impact a trade-dependent, open economy like ours. Domestically, we also face difficult challenges – economic transformation, an ageing population, integrating immigrants and work pass holders, and preparing for net zero. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has outlined his plans through the Forward Singapore exercise, and recently in his National Day Rally. We have a full agenda in the years ahead – upgrading our economy, maintaining our relevance on the international stage, caring for an ageing population, and consolidating our racial harmony and social cohesion. The task of preparing for the future never ends, but we must give ourselves every chance to keep on succeeding.

Remember Juncker’s dictum: that governments know what they need to do, but none of them know how to get re-elected after doing it. Singapore has been a counterexample, so far, but we are by no means exempt from the rule. We too are subject to the same political pressures and incentives that other countries face. Singaporeans’ expectations and aspirations are rising, and so too their demands on the government. As growth becomes harder to come by, as revenues becomes less buoyant, and as our politics become more fiercely contested, things can go wrong for us too. If electoral margins get slimmer, the government will have less political space to do the right things. It will become harder to disregard short-term considerations in decision-making. The political dynamics will become very different. Singaporeans must understand the dangers this creates, and so must the public service.

Conclusion

I am sounding this caution because it is a different world out there, as the world changes, and as the generations change, we must do our best to renew our system – to ensure that it continues to work well for us, even as things change. Good policies and good politics will continue to be key. At the same time, we must have a public service that is driven by the right values and ethos, that has the capability and operational know-how to design and implement the right policies, and that continually improves and innovates, working hand-in-glove with a political leadership that has the political courage, conviction, and touch to convince and inspire the people, win their mandate, and to deliver what is very rare in the world, but what Singaporeans have shown we can do – good government and steady progress.

Therefore, let us transmit to the new generation the conviction and sense of mission to serve Singapore, and renew the relationship between the public service and the political leadership. You can depend on the Ministers to do our part, and I trust that you will do your utmost as leaders in the public service, working together with the Ministers to take Singapore forward, with a new generation at the helm.

Thank you very much.