Well, if you give me just one word to describe IPS,
I would say, 'think'.
If you give me two words,
I would say 'think', 'Singapore'.
IPS, to my mind has always been focused about
thinking through issues which are important for Singapore.
IPS has grown through the years, obviously building up its self-confidence,
building up a capacity to be able to tackle a much broader range of issues.
That to me, has been a very good development for IPS.
IPS has correctly tried to help through the policy formation process
by conducting surveys and developing ideas on issues,
which in a way, has already been identified by the government,
and IPS has been very good in building up data to give a sense as to, whether we are
acting in a good way or what adjustment we could be making the policy.
I really don't see that as an important question:
IPS being independent of government, right?
At the end of the day, we have to decide, when you say the Institute of Policy Studies,
what policy studies are you trying to make?
If in the course of your studies, you conclude that these are good ideas
that we should see brought to life in Singapore.
The government is just a big part of bringing it to life.
Who else is going to fund it? Who else is going to make it happen?
So the important point about independence of government,
is whether you have the freedom to think, whether positives or negatives.
I can understand, the question people raise as to whether IPS is really independent or not,
because a lot of the time when you read the IPS reports,
they affirmed the government's statement.
So what have we added to our knowledge about the topic?
So the real test, to me, about independence is:
does IPS have the freedom to look at an issue and think through it?
Whether it be in terms of how the policy can be improved.
And in some instances, how maybe sometimes the policy
should be abandoned or reprogrammed.
If IPS does not have their independence,
then everybody is wasting their time.
The people in IPS is wasting their time, the government is wasting its time
even having to consider input from IPS, why waste everybody's time?
What I would have liked to see was for IPS to consider,
direct their attention to issues which have much longer time-focus than tended to be.
I think that if IPS were to begin to enter into an area which the government has not thought about,
or an area where you see, this, an evolving challenge to the country.
I think that that really would be useful. If you get on that track,
IPS will be here forever, and you will never be under threat of being closed down
because you're going to do something,
which is so fundamentally different.
So fundamentally critical for thinking through the survivability of Singapore.