ADVISORY COMMITTEES AND POLICYMAKING IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Advisory committees are bodies established by governments for the primary purposes of consultation with citizens or groups and for the provision of advise from specialists and experts. In many nations there are very large numbers of advisory committees. Some are permanent features of governments and others are temporary. This research examines advisory committees in Singapore with attention focussed upon non-statutory specific task advisory committees. It is an area which has received scant attention by analysts of Singapore politics and public policy. The role and place of advisory committees and the literature is reviewed in Chapter One. Chapter Two deals with the Singapore case in general, noting the general nature of policymaking in Singapore and that the nation makes far less use of advisory committees than many other nations. Chapters Three and Four provide case studies of two committees – the Committee on the Problems of the Aged and the Economic Committee. These cases focus attention upon the policy context of the committees, the membership, their operations, recommendations, and in particular, how the committees were influenced and controlled by the government. The final chapter provides as summation of the research.