Rajiv Chaudhry
When democratic governments make public appointments, it is expected that the candidates will be selected on merit through processes that are fair, open and transparent. Care must be taken not to discriminate on any grounds.
It is extraordinary then, that public sector appointments in Singapore appear to be made with very little transparency and with little or no accountability to those who ultimately pay the wages and to whom the public servants report: the people.
The Online Citizen has managed to obtain a copy of the minutes of the deliberations of the Select Committee (“the committee”) that met between 2 April and 3 July this year to select and recommend the new batch of Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) to parliament. The minutes can only be described, charitably, as “cosmetic”. They are an exercise in opacity and the antithesis of what minutes should be.