Occassionally, I get a reply to my suggestion. But that is the end of the matter. There is no attempt to contact or engage me, to ask for more facts, to listen to the suggestion.

This reflects a bad attitdue of Singaporeans. It is arrogance, It comes from our highest level and is brought down to various levels of authority. It is also the reflection of the commercial sector.

Basically, the people in authority treat the ordinary people as “mere digits” to be ignored.

Sigh!

I only expect a small percentage of suggestions to be implemented. But I think that respect should be shown to the people who make the effort to send the suggestion. Usually, many suggestions can be implemented, but one has to wait for the right time. At least, there should be this type of communication.

Sigh! Sigh!

Anyway, whether they will adopt your suggestion, depends on the nature of your suggestion, if it is small and easily done, they will act fast, lile I once complaint to LTA there is a small pit hole in the PIE, the next day I found it is repaired.

I also have suggested to LTA to install a traffic light at a serangoon road small T junction, they reply me that is not nessesary, but in the past 2 years, I have seen at least 3 traffic accidents at the same junctions. Anyway, they do go to this junction to check the situation, I appreciate it, but still regret they do not take any action.

I also suggested to the Police, Case, LTA, NESTS company should inform public to keep the SN. of their cashcard, if this number is recorded, in case of cashcard is stolen, police will be able to trace it. If government does not make
such announcement, nobody will bother to keep a record of their cash card.

Why the thieves never steal your IU ( the value is much higher), only steal your cashcard, it is because they know the IU has a SN in the record, so if there are 20% motorist keep a record of their cashcard numbers, most thieves will not steal cashcard, and motorist can keep their cash card inside the IU, it reduce crime rate, also improve road safety.

The NESTS reply is that they can not discuess this issue with me.
The LTA responsed first, said they are just a merchant of cashcard, can not do much, anyway, they give some information, confirm that if there is a record of SN, the cashcard is tracable.
The CASE reply a few days later, said they will discuss it, no reply.
The police reply is 1 month later, they said “Police encourage members of public through crime advisories to make a note of their cashcards’ serial numbers in case their cashcards are stolen. ” But my problem is I did not see there is any effort from police to pass this information to motorists

Anyway, gerneral speaking, they will response to public feedback, sooner or later, whether they will adopt it, is very subjective.

A colleague said that the editor has been quite busy. So busy – that they cannot give a brief reply?

Wow! This is the typical Singaporean behaviour. It applies to the commercial sector as well.

Singaporeans are just afraid to engage the public. They don’t want to listen. They are afraid that they have to take a decision, e.g. to say “yes” or “no” to the suggestion.

And they like to be senior people in our business or government organisations.

Sigh!

The dumplings industry especially the big food chain did not respond at all.

Recently I purchased the Singapore transport guide 2008 – published by one company called SCIP Enterprise – I wanted to give some feedback and could not find their telephone number although their fax and email address were printed together ith their address in the back page.

I actually like the transport guide and remember it was given free by NTUC Income during Mr Tan Kin Lina’s management.

Often these people think they know best and everyone else are just ignorant fools, no matter how well-meaning we are…sigh

In short, there are certain problems once created have no solutions unless they are willing to do a complete U-turn. The irony is this, and for every turn they make, different sets of problems may arise and different set of people get affected, ad infinitum.

Suggestions ? Nice words to talk about but sometimes the subsequent implementation is not so nice to handle.

Best Regards.

That is why they want you to give suggestions without making any noise (and quitely) so they can claim the credit without anyone knowing that it is your suggestion.

If you are too noisy, then everyone will start to find out that you are much more better than them and lobang will be broken that their high pay is not so justified. With the internet, we now start to know that the lobang is getting bigger and bigger by the day.

Good ideas & information get shared faster and efficiently this way and no one can claim credit for some common & simple ideas that sometimes those highly paid fat cats cannot think off. Talents, Singapore is plentiful with people like you Dan. Just keep up with you good contribution here in TOC. Do not for a moment have the idea those fat cats are better than you and cloud your sight with smoky illusion.

On the mean time, ‘deal with it and keep noting down future improvements’

The government needs to acknowledge that they hear the people, and people needs to know not everyone can get everything his or her way. This is needed to hold a polite fruitful discussion, and eventually, to build a more civic society.

Step 1 – listen and understand the suggestion
Step 2 – act on the suggestion.

We need to train a customer service office on step 1. This should be done for every case where the customer gives a contact.

Step 2 is a different matter. Maybe, only 1 percent of suggestions are feasible to be implemented.

Many people do not know the difference between these two steps. Because many suggestions cannot be implemented, they do not even wish to take step 1.

You see, when these suggestions come in, the person receiving them has to collect them, sort them out and pass them on to some Service Quality Mgr. He/she is probably already overworked as this SQM post is another extra function that carries no extra perks or pay, like extra duty in the Army or acting appointment (honorary). The SQM then has to figure out who has to react on them or even to raise themup at the next Quality improvement circle team meeting or whatever.

Eventually, the suggestions get lost deep in the bureaucratic jungle or conveniently forgotten if nobody chases after them,which I think no one would, as the inaction benefits everybody who finds such things a bother and a buggeration.

That is why at times writing to the press is more effective as the issue gets publicly exposed, and somebody will be wincing and grimacing on the inside of the company, esp.government departments.

I have lived overseas and it is the same thing. When you are up against big organisations, you are up against more bureaucratic layers and the inertia will kill the suggestion. When you are up against a small outfit, everybody knows everybody and the person receiving it is usually the small fry, or receptionist, who opens such letters and after “consultation” with colleagues will probably not want to embarass their colleague, to put colleagues in trouble and so trashes them.

In the end, everyone did their job right but the customer is “killed”.