The need to refresh the political system as Singapore’s circumstances change highlighted by President Tony Tan in his opening address to the 13th Parliament on Friday night (Jan 15) caught some political observers’ eyes, as they suggested the Government could tap new approaches to better capture the full spectrum of diverse perspectives on the ground.

While they acknowledged the Government’s efforts to this end, in terms of dialogues and public consultations, the analysts said going beyond these existing initiatives would go towards Dr Tan’s call for Singapore to stay cohesive and move forward together.

… Dr Alan Chong from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies also flagged the dark clouds over the economy now, citing the stock market turbulence in China and the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates.