S1E107: What the Maju Forest and Gillman Barracks debate showed about policy making and consultation

What kind of involvement do Singaporeans want in policymaking? The Maju Forest-Gillman Barracks issue has seen Singaporeans making their voices heard, offering counter-proposals, and demanding more transparency from the Government. This isn’t the first time Singaporeans have made their views known - remember issues including the Dear You bilingual policy debate, the SimplyGo roll out, and the scrapped NTUC Income-Allianz deal. Are we in a new era of civic participation, and does the way the Government engages Singaporeans need to change? Also, would too much consultation hamper policymaking? In this episode of The Usual Place, I speak with: Assistant Professor of Sociology George Wong, who researches grassroots organisations in urban governance and politics in Asia at Singapore Management University, and Jonathan Ng, an independent consultant with more than 20 years of experience in policy advocacy and regulation, and a former civil servant. He also creates social media content about how government and businesses work. Highlights (click/tap above): 2:17 Reactions to S’poreans speaking up about Maju Forest 6:33 Has the Government responded well? 9:38 Citizens must trust that their voices matter: Jonathan 11:00 S’poreans want to “see how the sausage is being made”: George 13:54 Should policies satisfy every stakeholder? 16:18 Presenting trade-offs without being defensive 18:54 No more “Trust me bro!” 24:09 How does the Government choose whom to listen to? 28:18 Is active citizenry fuelled by social media? 31:43 Do name-calling, political labels hurt engagement? 34:34 Can S’poreans disagree agreeably? 36:19 Is another iteration of Our Singapore Conversation needed? 39:46 Why you shouldn’t scream to be heard Host: Natasha Ann Zachariah ([email protected]) Read Natasha’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm Follow The Usual Place podcast on IG: https://str.sg/8KNT Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN Filmed by: Studio+65 Edited by: Eden Soh & Natasha Liew Executive producer: Danson Cheong Producers: Natasha Ann Zachariah, Elizabeth Law & Zachary Lim Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday: Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/9ijX Spotify: https://str.sg/cd2P YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast Feedback to: [email protected] --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX -- #tup #tuptrfSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.