Good to have more data-driven policies: Swee Keat

SMU Board of Trustees Chairman and Banyan Tree Executive Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping was a panellist with Minister Heng Swee Keat at the Singapore Perspectives conference where they discussed Singapore's future political landscape - and in particular, what it should aim to avoid. Mr Ho, who raised a question about public access to information, aired the view that information is the "lifeblood" of dialogue in civil society. Acknowledging the view that a US-style Freedom of Information Act would be too radical here, Mr Ho had asked whether Singapore should have a code of conduct for civil servants instead. He added that this would lay out a framework to make data and information easily available to the general public - except for special circumstances where security is at stake.