Key Outcome 2: Connected Citizens

Citizens are stakeholders of Singapore. They can and have to place a more active role in developing the combined future of our country. In his inaugural National Day Rally speech in August 2004, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong laid out his vision:

“We should have an open society which is welcoming of talent, which welcomes diverse views, is yet cohesive and has a sense of common purpose. And we should be a community where every citizen counts, where everyone can develop his human potential to the full and everyone participates in building and repairing and upgrading this shared home which is Singapore." 

This propels us further to seek new ways to encourage active involvement of Singaporeans in the re-making of our nation and the bonding of our communities. To meet this challenge, we will exploit ICT to:

• Explain public policies and their rationale online;

• Provide another channel for public feedback on policy formulation and review; and

• Encourage active citizen participation in community building activities.

Engaging Citizens Through Active Consultation & Virtual Communities

Whether they live here or overseas, Singaporeans can participate in the policy making and review process through the use of technology. For those who wish to volunteer in community services, a centralised portal providing electronic matching and information on community services is available. Internet enabling and mobile technologies will be used to form new virtual communities, as well as to support existing ones.

Have your say on national issues...your opinion counts

In April 2003, the Public Service's Consultation Portal (www.feedback.gov.sg) was launched. Yet another channel for Singaporeans to air their views on national issues and policy proposals, the portal supports a more consultative approach in policy making. All government policies that involve public consultation are posted at this portal.

Online public consultation is not new. Many of our government agencies have been putting up discussion papers on national policies on the web. With the Portal, citizens only need to visit this one stop destination to give views on policy proposals by the Government. This Portal has been enhanced to support e-polling; and provide references to related policies so as to enable citizens to better understand public issues. The public can comment on ministry specific policy consultation papers via the e-Consultation Paper channel or debate with fellow citizens on a wide range of current issues in the Discussion Forum. Future phases of development include creating a separate space within the portal for business-related consultations.