Speaking at the sidelines of a community leadership event, Minister in the Prime Ministers’ office, Grace Fu, said that it will be difficult for the People’s Association to explain complex, new policies to the public.
She was referring particularly to the Pioneer Generation Package and the new MediShield Life policies saying that the grassroots leaders have their work cut out for them.
She said that the changes to Medishield Life affect all Singaporeans and the PGP will affect older Singaporeans that may not easily understand English.
Ms Fu also said that the ways in which policies must be explained have changed. There are new “fault lines” in Singapore as there are divides between young and old as well as the poor and rich and now even between locals and foreigners.
All these different groups have different information needs and respond differently to the form in which information is shared. Therefore, the PA has to explain policies in a variety of ways to effectively reach out to the public.