SMU Associate Professor of Law and former legislator Eugene Tan commented on the continuing drop in the level of confidence in the government, attributing it to rising expectations by the public and to government stumbles. He said that “the government, including the public service, is seen as being less effective and efficient in the face of growing complexity and challenges in the public policy sphere”. He added that “this impacts detrimentally upon the perception of the government’s competence”. He further noted that “the public is also more educated and has higher expectations, especially when senior civil servants are very well paid by local and international standards.”