The Policy Excuse
If you don’t want to change anything, attribute it to policy. If you cannot change anything, push it to policy. If anything goes wrong, blame it on policy.
Yes, it’s the policy that prevents things from happening, from us progressing forward. But have these policy makers forgotten who came up with these policies in the first place? Men, not dinosaurs.
Policies are formulated by man. They are not cast in iron. They are and should be subject to change.
Take the recent offering of S$1 million dollars bounty for information leading to the capture of the still at large fugitive JI leader Mas Selamat.
The internet forums and coffeeshop talk are abuzz as to why the reward is actually coming from the pockets of two businessmen instead of the government.
In his reply to the Parliament, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng reminded the House that “the Singapore Police Force, as a policy, does not offer cash rewards for information on fugitives and unsolved crimes, or for assistance from the public.” However, any private corporations and individuals wishing to offer cash rewards will be more than welcome. Such is the irony.
I wonder if this is a case of too much too late. Yes, S$1 million is a lot of money to any ordinary folk. But Mas Selamat may have already left our fair shores eons ago. He may even be enjoying himself in Indonesia now. Will this latest juicy money carrot help make us even more alert and flush him out?
Had the government taken more proactive steps earlier to do damage control and change the ‘policy’, I think the sentiments on the ground would be more forgiving. So what if ‘appropriate action’ had been taken to punish those found responsible for this security lapse? Not all were punished. Some were exonerated…
Policy, policy…such is the irony of policy. Policy is so cold blooded that we forget there is a human element behind each and every policy. Were they not crafted by the hands and brains of mankind? Yet, some treat policy as if it was the be all and end all of it. Changing a policy would cost them a limb or worse, their life. Whatever happened to the innovative spirit Singapore was promoting?
