Transparency of Government

A Singaporean, who has migrated to Australia and continued to visit Singapore regularly, made this observation about transparency of Government.
In Australia, there is a free media that is willing to criticize government decisions that they consider to be bad. The academics, i.e. university professors, are also willing to argue the issues independently.The ministers had to go on television and radio to defend their policies against critics.
He observed that some of the statements made by ministers in Singapore would never survive the debate in Australia.
He made research on certain issues and found it difficult to get the relevant statistics in Singapore. In Australia,t he statistics are produced by an independent agency, are available at a detailed level and are not controlled by the government. The quality of the statistics are much better than in Singapore.
When he first migrated to Australia, he felt that Australia would give a better future for his family. After 40 years, he still felt the same, although the conditions in the two countries had changed considerably. He like the openness, transparency and accountability found in Australia.
Tan Kin Lian