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MPs say civil service could be more responsive, coordinated By Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 25 February 2008 2233 hrs SINGAPORE : The civil service could be more coordinated and more responsive in the way it deals with queries and requests from the public. This was the view of two MPs who spoke in Parliament on Monday. MP for Aljunied GRC Cynthia Phua urged top civil servants to remember the elements of a good and successful civil service - one of which is listening to the needs of the man-in-the-street. Elaborating, Ms Phua said: "For the older civil servants, many have come from varied and poorer family backgrounds, and many have since retired. They had a greater propensity to empathise with the demands and needs of various sectors in our population. "Many of our key officers presently are returned scholars, some come from well-to-do backgrounds, and many have benefited from a 'helicopter' career path. The lack of opportunities to mix and interact with the various sectors of the population is also now a concern of our education system." Recounting her interactions with top civil servants in the course of her work as an MP, she asked if they are too detached from the realities of the frontline. For example, she said inquiries and correspondences were ignored without the courtesy of an acknowledgement. Ms Phua added: "I believe my experience may also be the experience of others in this House. One senior member has advised me to be 'thick-skinned'. My personal experience is that I have not only to be 'thick-skinned' but also to be tenacious with the requests that I have made." This had led to her to wonder about the responses the man-in-the street would receive when writing in to a civil servant. As for the MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, he called for better coordination among the various ministries in the interest of greater efficiency. Mr Baey Yam Keng cited a media report where two eagles fought in the air and landed on a resident's balcony. He said: "The resident, Mr Chris Lau, called the Ministry for National Development and was directed to the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA). He was advised to call the National Environment Agency, which referred him back to AVA as it concerned wildlife. He was told NEA only collects dead animals. "Apparently, the resident could not be sure whether the two motionless birds were alive, dying or already dead. He called AVA again, which then arranged for the waste collection contractor to clear the birds. The worker turned up but took off after seeing the eagles. "The resident decided to call the Singapore Zoological Gardens, but the zoo said they do not deal with birds, and suggested that he call Jurong Bird Park. A bird handler arrived, but after reviewing the situation, he said he needed AVA's approval to deal with the birds. So it was back to the first agency Mr Lau called." In the end, it took many phone calls and eight hours of anxiety before the birds were finally removed. He said that this merry-go-round was something many people who have called a government body had experienced. Mr Baey said: "In trying to make sure that no child becomes nobody's child, the situation has become overly stringent, like a father insisting that a child goes for DNA testing before accepting his responsibilities as a parent. "I think we need to get various ministries and agencies to work quickly and efficiently, especially on matters where the boundaries are not too clear." He said the "No Wrong Door Policy" needs to be better manifested, both in practice and in spirit. - CNA/ms I think is high time for the public to draft out the roles and responsibilites of a civil servant job description instead of they themselves declare....since they are serving the public therefore they should 1) scrubbing and washing the void decks, public toilets and rubbish chutes instead of employing FTs to do the job 2) reduce the salary, less benefits and bonus as the public is poor yet has to pay income tax...you want more salary...join the private sector and not aligning public sector salary to private sector 3) spend their weekends in markets and neighbourhoods doing public service works and shaking hands with elders and carrying babies, scrubbing market floors and fan cleaning 4)and many more to justify their high salary and grades, they should do more for the public and not dressing well and behavor like an idiot elite goign around telling ppl they work as civil servants.