Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh in Parliament on March 1, 2021. — CNA screengrab via TODAYSINGAPORE, Mar 1 — No particular religious group is favoured when public policy is being formulated, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said today. Neutrality and fairness are essential traits at every level of public service, from Cabinet ministers at the top to civil service officers, to maintain citizens’ trust, he added.
Shanmugam added that the quality of Singapore’s civil service depends ultimately on the timbre of its ministers. “I would like to ask the Government if it has considered such matters and if so whether it intends to roll out strategies to counter such a possible risk to Singapore’s secular principles,” said Singh, who is also Member of Parliament for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency.
As for the updating the White Paper, Shanmugam said that the Government has reviewed it, which led to amendments to the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act. Shanmugam said that many members of the public will interpret Singh’s questions about the possible bias of civil servants to mean that he is, in essence, saying that top civil servants could be biased and act in favour of their religious communities.“If there is evidence of such a lack of integrity amongst current senior civil servants, then I agree. It should be raised, stated and we must deal with it,” he said.
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