Govt aims to explain policies more clearly to affected groups
SINGAPORE — With the slew of announcements during this year’s Budget and the Committee of Supply debate concluding last week, the Government has turned its focus on improving policy communication efforts in more targeted ways for different groups like the elderly.
Minister of State (Health and Communications and Information) Chee Hong Tat reiterated yesterday that the Government will be looking at different platforms, languages and channels to communicate its messages more effectively.
“Whether it’s for the elderly or the population in general, one of the things we’re trying to do is to look at ways we can communicate in simple messages that people can understand and can emotionally connect better with,” said Mr Chee.
Noting that some of the communication efforts can get bogged down with too many details, he said it was also important to get Singaporeans to understand the rationale and benefits of various policies.
“We need to look at different ways of communicating different parts of the policy: The rationale, how it will benefit and the details,” he said.
“And this may not be done all at the same time; we may have to split it up and do it at different platforms.”
During the Ministry of Communications and Information’s Budget debate, Mr Chee said in his speech that the Government will be exploring tools such as Telegram and Instagram.
But particularly for the elderly, face-to-face interaction is still important, and he highlighted the success of the Pioneer Generation Ambassadors, who helped create awareness of the Pioneer Generation Package among 96 per cent of the elderly.
Asked if the Government will continue to adopt a communication strategy similar to its promotion of the package, Mr Chee said there was scope to build on its network of ambassadors and expand it to reach more seniors — beyond the Pioneers — to explain a range of policies.
Mr Chee, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a movie screening with Pioneer Generation residents from his Toa Payoh constituency, also emphasised the need to create an elderly-friendly environment and promote active ageing.
“First, we want to have good elder care services and also a community that is elderly-friendly,” he said.
“This will require support from our community partners, from our volunteers to be able to help us to achieve this goal by providing good services within the community.”
Citing the recently announced initiatives such as the National Silver Academy, Mr Chee added: “These are ways to encourage our seniors to continue to pick up new knowledge and skills, stay active and to also make friends in the process.”
