The Singapore Public Service and National Development

Singapore’s early leaders, led by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, set out to
transform the fledgling economy and establish a clean, competent and effective
government to implement its policies. The state and its bureaucracy would take a
leading role in enhancing economic growth, generating employment, fostering
industralisation, financing private investment, building infrastructure, and delivering
services to the people.
At the heart of this development experience, which Dr Saxena has so aptly
distilled, is the important role played by the public service in translating the vision
of the political leadership into actual development outcomes for its people. As the
book points out, “Good governance is not only about policy. It is also dependent
on the implementation of that policy. For that, a powerful, honest, and efficient civil
service is critical”.
UNDP is pleased to be able to help provide through this publication a wider
understanding of Singapore’s development experience, and to highlight the
important role played by the public service as well as the positive multipliers this
has led to.
The book addresses both the issues which make Singapore’s public service
effective and seeks to explain why. It also seeks to address the following important
questions: what were and are the policy choices that Singapore made and
continues to make, the institutional arrangements and incentives it has put in
place, and the investment decisions that have allowed Singapore to become an
island of excellence in the management and delivery of public services?
How has it created an enabling environment that empowers public service
institutions to cope with and manage change? How has the capacity of the civil
service been developed and enhanced to keep it at the cutting edge? And finally,
and perhaps most importantly from the perspective of UNDP, what are the
replicable lessons that developing and developed countries alike can learn from
Singapore?
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