Better info sharing will benefit researchers and help build trust in govt
By Janice Heng & Cai Haoxiang, The Straits Times, 25 Oct 2011
THE Government has pledged to share more information - and the people who will make the most use of it hope that it will also be shared better.
Whether it is economists or sociologists speaking, the call is the same: for detailed and even raw data, and regular rather than ad hoc releases.
In Parliament last Thursday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stated the need to 'take a much more open approach to government and to governance'.
Among other things, this would involve sharing more, 'whether it's information on population trends, employment figures or foreign workers'.
Academics whom The Straits Times spoke to welcomed the move, but noted that simply having more information would not be enough. Top of their wish list is more detailed data - or even whole datasets that they can mine on their own.
For instance, employment data could be broken down by income group, suggested DBS economist Irvin Seah.
Economist Tilak Abeysinghe of the National University of Singapore (NUS) observed that many research students analysed data from other countries as it was hard to get data on Singapore.
If they could analyse Singapore data instead, 'this would provide a rich source of information for policy purposes'.
Economist Hui Weng Tat of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) argued that what was publicly available now was 'too aggregated and cannot be used for deep analysis'.
Apart from being more detailed, releases should be also more regular, said academics. They observed that information on topics such as immigration tended to be provided on an ad hoc basis, such as in response to parliamentary questions.
Researchers are not the only ones who will benefit from better data sharing. It will let Singaporeans scrutinise policy - and help build trust in the Government.
It would also aid groups such as voluntary welfare organisations, which need such information to make plans, said NUS sociologist Paulin Straughan.
Providing information would show that the Government had nothing to hide, said assistant professor Eugene Tan of the Singapore Management University.
He observed that, in the absence of information, Singaporeans might feel that there was 'something fishy going on'.
LKYSPP associate professor Tan Khee Giap warned, however, against the public release of potentially sensitive information. The Government would have to trust that people would use the data in a constructive manner before it would share it, he said.
But the Government should learn to do precisely that - trust Singaporeans, argued SMU associate professor Bridget Welsh.
Now, data is released 'selectively in a top-down approach', with the assumption that ordinary people cannot handle data in a sophisticated way. This mindset 'does a disservice to the Singaporean public', said Professor Welsh.
Singaporeans want openness not only in terms of data but also in transparency about decision-making.
In Parliament last Thursday, Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad cited the Electoral Boundaries Report as one example.
Published before every general election, the report sets out the boundaries of the electoral districts. In early years, it included analyses on population numbers, maps and boundary options. But since 1976, the boundaries report committee stopped offering detailed explanations for the changes it had made.
There is 'a need to better justify the changes - and earlier', said Mr Zaqy.
Ms Audrey Wong, former artistic co-director of The Substation Theatre, called for transparency in another area: When the National Arts Council refuses funding.
'At the moment, if you don't succeed in getting funding, there's no explanation,' she said. 'Artists will not know if the reason was something as small as an incorrectly filled form.'
Two areas where information gaps can be plugged
Researchers and university dons on Monday pinpointed the gaps in information for two hot-button issues: foreigners and wages.
They argued that more detailed data would enable them to better gauge trends and evaluate the impact of government policy on Singapore's economy.
DBS economist Irvin Seah, for instance, said quarterly figures on the number of Employment Pass, S Pass, and Work Permit holders would give a better picture of how the Government is calibrating its manpower policy to rely less on unskilled foreign workers.
'We can then tell whether we're moving towards a knowledge-driven economy that no longer focuses on labour injections,' he said.
Currently, the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) annual labour force report gives the number of foreigners and locals employed, but not for the different work pass holders.
Labour economist Hui Weng Tat wants to know the proportion of foreign workers in each specific industry, like cleaning services.
'Trade unions may say wages are being depressed in the industry, but are foreign workers the cause of it? We don't know because separate figures on locals and foreigners are not available,' he said.
Now, one can only deduce the numbers from the quotas set for each industry, he added.
Earlier this month, however, the MOM said it would give the unemployment rate of citizens every three months.
Previously, it gave the unemployment rate of residents, which includes permanent residents.
But its website says its statistics meet the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation and the standards set by the International Monetary Fund.
When contacted, an MOM spokesman said data on different categories of work pass holders is compiled annually and will be given 'on request to the media or public'.
Last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke on the need for the Government to share more information with people, in response to a changing political climate.
'As we go forward, we will review the rules on what we are putting out and over time, we will do progressively more,' he said.
CIMB economist Song Seng Wun calls for monthly information on retail sales and tourist arrivals to be published earlier, instead of two months later, to help businesses make better decisions.
Economist Chew Soon Beng urges the Central Provident Fund Board to 'trust Singaporean academics not to reveal data at the micro level'.
Sociologist Tan Ern Ser wants data on Singaporeans separated from permanent residents, instead of combining and categorising them both as 'residents'.
'This is important to academics and people in policy studies as they are often interested in analysing only citizens, and in some cases, to compare citizens with permanent residents,' said Dr Tan.
CAI HAOXIANG AND JANICE HENG
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