Wednesday 15 November 2017

My "People's Association" Experience

The People's Association or more colloquially known as "PA" has been a major part of my life for the past two-and-a-half years.

I remember the day when I was interviewed by a panel of 3 people at PA HQ and doing my best to land myself a position in this huge organisation. I was really relaxed and casually chatting with the HR manager, Deputy Director (DD) of North-East (NE) Community Development Division (CDD) and my Constituency Director (CD) for about a good 20 minutes? And the rest, as you can say, is history.

Entrance of People's Association Headquarters
I received a phone call about 2 to 3 months later (YES THEY TOOK REALLY LONG) confirming my placement in Tampines North Community Club (CC) as a Constituency Manager (CM). I was hesitant at first, because I was a freelance emcee (and held several other jobs as well) and my gigs are usually on weekends...and this job requires you to work at least 1 weekend every week. So, I initially turned the offer down. But after a few days of discussions with my friends & family members, I called the HR manager back and confirmed my placement. This began my 2.5 year stint at PA.

As I am writing this, I've been out of PA for about 1 week already. Haha. You can read more about my exit management story at http://historymakers-jonnyboy.blogspot.sg/2017/10/exit-management.html.

All my descriptions and observations in this post are not just based on my narrow experience in Tampines North CC, but also based on the sharing of my many friends, colleagues and grassroots leaders in PA HQ, CDCs and CCs all over Singapore. If you're unfamiliar with the acronyms I just rattled off, don't worry, the next few minutes should well acquaint you with them :D

At PA HQ's lift lobby
For those who are unfamiliar with this organisation, let me get you up to speed. On a very zoomed out level:
"The People’s Association (PA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) that was established on 1 July 1960 through the People’s Association Ordinance."
So, what exactly is PA about? In my own words, PA is in the business of reaching out to the community by organizing events, activities and programmes to bring people together in the hopes of building social capital.

PA's mission can be summarized with these 3 key thrusts:
  • Connecting people to people (P to P)
  • Connecting people to government (P to G)
  • Connecting government to people (G to P)
It is usually represented visually with an inverted (equilateral) triangle. With 2 letter "P"s at the top and one letter "G" at the bottom. I'm not allowed to show that visual because apparently, it is restricted information. LOL. So I'll play on the safe side lest I get arrested. HAHA.

"Social Capital" is an important concept in Economics and Sociology which is succinctly defined by Wikipedia as "a form of economic and cultural capital in which social networks are central, transactions marked by reciprocity, trust, and cooperation, and market agents produce goods and services not mainly for themselves, but for a common good."

PA HQ main building. Photo taken from Mothership's website and enhanced for quality and your viewing pleasure.
In a resource and land scarce sovereign republic like Singapore, social capital is of prime significance as it is the bedrock of our economy and the sole reason for our existence. We don't have oil fields and amazing landscapes with mountains and freshwater for us to survive on. All we have is ourselves and our minds to innovate and survive in this rapidly evolving world. So this makes PA's mission one that is of paramount importance.

So how does PA build social capital? As I mentioned previously in bold-ed font: "by organizing events, activities and programmes".

But, to organize events, activities and programmes, you need facilities to do it. So what do they do? They build facilities! Here's a list of the sheer number of facilities they've built (correct as at Sep 2017):
  • 108 community clubs (CCs)
  • 631 residents' committees (RCs)
  • 203 neighbourhood committees (NCs)
  • 7 Water Venture outlets (WV)
  • 8 Teens Network Clubs (T-Net Clubs)
  • 1 National Community Leadership Institute (NACLI)
Our Tampines Hub - Part of the People's Association. It's one of the latest and biggest developments by PA to date. It was also one of my main event ground and satellite office.
All these facilities are spread out across the entire sunny island of Singapore which is organized geographically into 5 districts:
  • Central Singapore
  • North East
  • North West
  • South East
  • South West
And in each of these 5 districts, there is a Community Development Council (CDC) which is, loosely summarized by me, the "caring arm" of PA.

I call them that because the CDCs are more focused on "identifying emerging needs in the community and address community needs such as caring for vulnerable, silver community, environment, and community health to build a caring and cohesive community."

The 5 CDCs' logos and mottos - taken from PA's website
Unlike the CDCs, the CCs are more focused on bringing the community together through common interests like:
  • Sports - basketball tournaments, badminton competitions, PAssion Children's Football
  • Arts - PAssionArts festival, Community Art Gallery, Chingay
  • Festive events - National Day Carnivals, Chinese New Year Celebrations, Hari Raya Dinners, Father's Day Dinner
  • Communal events - Block parties, house visits, excursion trips
The CDCs are just one of PA's task-forces. PA has about 4 main task-forces:

1. People's Association Headquarters (PA HQ)
This where the big bosses sit and where all our directives and most importantly, where our pay comes from. HAHA. Yes, they oversee all of PA's operations.

2. Constituency offices (CO)
The ground team which runs the CCs, and all the Grassroots Organisations (GROs) - elaborated in the later part of this post. The main bosses of the CO team are the Citizens' Consultative Committee (CCC), Constituency Director (CD) and the Grassroots Adviser, which is the PAP (People's Action Party) or the ruling government's (as our govt would word it) MP (Member of Parliament) for that area.

Tampines North CC's Facade Decoration on Christmas 2015
3. Community Development Councils (CDCs)
As mentioned above, the 5 CDCs - the caring arm of PA - will assist the CO team in reaching out to the needy, silver community (old folks), environmental and health issues.

4. National Community Leadership Institute (NACLI)
The training arm of PA. It will develop leadership and alignment courses for staff and grassroots leaders.

At this point, you must be mind-blown already. Yes, PA is a huge and complex organisation with many stakeholders, partners and member organisations. I hope I've painted you a good overall picture of what People's Association is about.

To reiterate, PA is in the business of reaching out to the community by organizing events, activities and programmes to bring people together in the hopes of building social capital.

Now that you've seen the big picture, I shall now zoom in to the small picture, which is my role in PA.

I am a Constituency Manager (CM) in Tampines North Constituency Office. As I am in Tampines, I fall under the North-East CDD (Community Development Division) in their CO team.

These are the staff ranks in a CO team:
  • Constituency Director (CD)
  • Deputy Constituency Director (DCD)
  • Senior Constituency Manager (SCM)
  • Constituency Manager (CM)
  • Constituency Management Executive (CME)
  • Constituency Support Executive (CSE)
There I am, right smack in the middle of the CO food chain. LOL. As a CM, you will manage several committees in the CO. These committees are also known as Grassroots Organisations (GROs). Here's a non-exhaustive list of the GROs that exist within every CO:

1. Citizens' Consultative Committee (CCCs)
The apex committee in which the Grassroots Adviser sits. It sets the strategic direction for all other committees to follow.

2. Community Club Management Committee (CCMC)
The second most powerful committee in the CC. It manages all CC operations - facilities booking and maintenance, room bookings, CC courses, etc.

3. Residents' Committee and Neighbourhood Committees (RCs and NCs)
All RCs and NCs are under a particular CO or CC. And yes, a CO can run 2 CCs. That's where the distinction of CO and CC is. CC is a building, a facility. CO is the staff team that runs the CC.

So, the CC acts as a mini HQ for the RCs and NCs to report to. From there the CCs will consolidate their reports and then report to PA HQ.

Residents' Committees (RCs) usually have a facility of their own. They're usually housed in your HDB's void decks or bomb shelters. Their outreach is to residents staying in public housing. The committee is made up of residents staying within the few block nos. under their jurisdiction. They are responsible for organizing activities for the residents and attending to their municipal issues.

Neighbourhood Committees (NCs) are usually housed in the CCs and have no facility of their own. Their outreach is to residents staying in private estates. Like the RCs, the NCs are made up of residents staying within the particular area or condo under their jurisdiction and they're responsible for organizing activities for the residents and attending to their municipal issues. For condos, the NCs have to work together with the MCSTs (Management Corporation Strata Title) which is regulated by the Building & Construction Authority (BCA) to make the events possible.

Depending on the size of your constituency, your CO may have 8 or more RCs and/or NCs. My CO has 6 RCs under its belt. We have no NCs because we have no private housing in our constituency.

4. Community Arts & Culture Club (CACC)
A sub-committee of CCC, this committee is in-charge of engaging the residents through art. Yes, all forms and kinds of art. But HQ Community Arts & Culture Division (CACD) has a penchant for large visual arts display as you will see below. Why? Well, if it's that big, no one will miss it right?

Flagship programmes: PAssionArts Festival - Facade Art 2015, Flag Arts 2016, Plank Art 2017

My first ever PAssionArts Festival project: Facade Art 2015
5. Community Development & Welfare Fund (CDWF)
This committee is in-charge of organizing your Education Merit Bursary (EMB) Awards. I think most students will recall going down to a CC to collect their cheque. Yes, you have this committee to thank. LOL.

6. Community Emergency and Engagement Committee (C2E)
Also a sub-committee of CCC (if I'm not wrong), they...
"During peace time, C2E Committees develop and maintain the Community EP (Emergency Preparedness) plans, structures and systems. They organize exercises and EP activities to stay prepared and ensure operational readiness during emergencies. The C2E Committees also partner various government emergency authorities to educate public about Community EP."
7. Community Integration and Naturalisation Champions (INC)
Also a sub-committee of CCC (if I'm not wrong), their main purpose is to organize activities to integrate the new citizens/immigrants in our community.

Yes, HQ will give all COs a list of new citizens that are staying in your constituency. Your job if you are staff-in-charge of this committee is to organize events to engage them and then...send reports to HQ.

8. Community Sports Club (CSC)
A sub-committee of CCC, this committee exists to engage our residents through sports - yes, all kinds of sports. That is why my CO has about 25 different sports interest groups -.-"

Flagship events/programmes: Singapore Community Games, Community Sports Day, PAssion Children's Football, One Community Walk

My project - One Community Walk 2015 start point human-umbrella formation of the Singapore flag :D 
9. Active Aging Committee (AAC)
A sub-committee of CCMC, they organize active/sporty activities like briskwalks, woodball sessions, table tennis sessions, etc. to keep our seniors active.

10. Senior Citizens Executive Committee (SCEC)
Also a sub-committee of CCMC, but unlike AAC, they organize more social activities for senior citizens like Teochew porridge get-together, opera, grandparents day dinner, etc.

11. Women's Executive Committee (WEC)
A sub-committee of CCMC, they organize activities for...yes, women. But, it's definitely not a feminist thing.

12. Malay Activities Executive Committee (MAEC)
A sub-committee of CCMC, they organize activities for the Malay community in the constituency.

Flagship event: You guessed it! Hari Raya Celebrations! Those pasar malams aka "trade fairs"? Yes, some or if not most, are organized by PA as well.

13. Indian Activities Executive Committee (IAEC)
A sub-committee of CCMC, they organize activities for the Indian community in the constituency. Flagship event: You guessed it! Deepavali celebrations! Dandiya dance nights too.

14. Youth Executive Committee (YEC)
A sub-committee of CCMC, they organize activities for the youth in the constituency.

Flagship event: Biennial General Meeting (BGM). Most of my friends know YEC or PAYM (People's Association Youth Movement) via their BGM. That's because it usually means a cheap/free movie session or some sit-down lunch/dinner session at a function room. LOL. #TrueStory #SadTruth

My project - SG50 GRC Briskwalk end point human formation of a big heart-shape saying "Tampines SG 50" :D
Yup, that's more or less the committees you'll have in every CC. Some CCs will have some more-unique GROs like Family Life Champions (FLC) or a T-Net Club to manage. FYI: T-Net Clubs aka Teens Network Club are like a drop-in centre or a govt version of PlayNation for youths to just chill out and play games - board games, Wii, Xbox, PS4, etc...It's a place for youths to hangout instead of seeing them causing trouble on the streets. Yeah, that's their philosophy.

So, all in all, about 14 different kinds of committees. Each committee usually has an average size of about 20-25 members. The members are all volunteers from your community. Keyword: VOLUNTEERS. This means they're not paid and they don't owe you a living. LOL.

Your job as a CO staff? Manage them and work with them to use the funding properly to achieve the committee's objective.

On average, a CO staff will manage about 2 to 4 committees - depending on how active your committees are. That's up to your CD and DCDs to decide.

When I first came into Tampines North CO, I was assigned 4 committees - CACC, CSC, MAEC and IAEC. I nearly died from the workload. So after about 6 months, my bosses reduced my workload to only 2 committees: CSC and CACC. Whew. LOL.

Now you must be wondering, "Jon, you have a whole committee of 20 people to help you with your events, what work do you have to do?"

That question is legit. Especially for a church member. If you're a church member or if you've been to a church event, you'd have noticed that EVERYTHING is run by volunteers - the various ministries in the church. From the live feed, to the sound system, to the dance ministry, service operations ministry, usher ministry, worship ministry, etc. The staff - the pastors - is like the "Grassroots Adviser" - setting the direction and inspiring the congregation. In PA, it's inverted. Ok, more on that later.

Terrarium workshop with my colleagues :D
Now lemme give you a legit answer as well. Lemme break my answer down into 2 main points:

1. Not every committee member volunteers to further the cause of the organization

Most of the volunteers or your committee members are in the committee for a couple of reasons:
  • Volunteer benefits - free parking, BTO privilege, Primary School ballot privilege within the GRC, govt goodies and many more
  • Networking - they're here for business and to expand their social circles. And it works, most of the vendors in our PA's approved list of vendors are owned businesses of the PBMs and BBMs*. (I shall not attempt to show proof of this because it may end me up in hot soup. LOL)
  • Recognition - maybe they're not valued where they are in the workplace or in the families, so they come here and do stuff to get praise and recognized by a family. So if you miss out their PBM title in their name, they'll be pissed as hell.
  • Power and status - some wanna get to know the MP better and say things like "Eh, Mr. Baey is my friend ok? I got his number ok?" They'll go around saying things like "I'm the CCC secretary ok? I can get funding and throw you projects hor" Kinda thing.
  • Political affiliation - some of them are potential MPs (so don't offend them) or want to be potential MPs and some of them are in the PAP branch and are here to further the political agenda because either they believe in the ruling party or they want power & status - same reason as above
  • To be in the know - One of my parent's friends' was a RC member and he was telling me why. It went something like this "Very interesting to know what's going on in your estate ma...the town council and police reports very interesting." So, he's really there just to get information and talk about it, not actually do outreach and plan events I guess? So yes, many of your members will be hanging around because information is power.
  • A lot of free time - Most of them will be your retired aunties and uncles just hanging around wanting to occupy their free time.
  • Passion for the community - This is the ideal volunteer that will really help you do the event planning, calling the quotes, meeting the vendors, engaging the residents. But they are as rare as Mew in PokemonGo.
Don't get me wrong here. I'm NOT saying that these reasons are wrong. It's totally fine to volunteer for these reasons.

BUT, is the reason behind why you are volunteering aligned with the organizational objectives? Now, that's the main question to ask.

Celebrating our CSC Chairman's birthday :D
So, most of your committee members will be sitting in your committee with varying degrees of those reasons and that results in the amount of motivation they put in.

The nett result of their motivation? Not much. LOL. If all our volunteers were THAT dedicated and hands-on, then multiply the effect throughout the 108 CCs across Singapore and PA should've changed the entire country on a undeniably tangible level!

But hey, that's not the case right? Has PA changed your life in a significant, if not at least in a tangible way? If yes, then pat yourself on the back and say "Thank you for supporting PA!" HAHA. Or maybe you have a CO with great corporate culture. If your answer to the question is "no", then, that answers half the question.

Therefore, even though you can have 20 over volunteers in each committee, usually 80%-90% of the workload is borne by the staff-in-charge. Most of the time, all that your committee members will do is meet up, chat and laugh about life and pitch a few ideas and that's all. They will leave things at the idea stage and leave all the implementation, execution and outreach to the staff-in-charge. #Truestory #sadlife

But of course, for myself, I refuse to tank that much of the workload. What's the point of doing so much and shagging yourself out over 1 event when there are like 50 events per year? So I will always nudge my volunteers into doing about 40% to 50% of the workload for any event. Will share more on my working philosophy later.

If you're a volunteer and feel that it's unfair that you take so much of the workload, then lemme ask, what are you in the committee for? To serve or to be served? I'll share more on my expectations of volunteers later, because I'm a very active volunteer in church myself.

2. These are the tons of paperwork and people-work that the staff need to do

Implementation, execution and outreach for the event is not all that you gotta do. That's just the bare minimum that you gotta handle to see the event through! There's still tons of paperwork to submit to HQ thereafter.

Let me attempt to categorize and list the work we gotta do:

People management
If you hadn't noticed by now, there are 3 main groups of people you gotta manage (and they're managing you as well):
  1. Your committee members - community volunteers
  2. Your CO bosses - Grassroots Adviser/CCC, CD
  3. Your HQ bosses - HQ's targets/KPIs for your committees
Some of of the people management tasks are:
  • Explain & convince your committee the purpose of doing the events and get an organizing chairperson to take charge of the event
  • Manage any clash of ideas or clash of personalities within your committee
  • Manage your CO bosses expectations VS your committee's expectations
  • Manage your HQ bosses expectations VS your bosses & committee's expectations
Our Grassroots Adviser, Mr. Baey Yam Keng, giving us a lunch treat :D
Yup, the people-management part is the emotionally draining part of your work. Here comes the physically draining part - event management and administrative workload.

Event management
  • Event concept and budget to be passed at committee meeting (Event conceptualization may take up to a month)
  • Program flow (takes about 1 week)
    • Draft administrative programme
    • Booking of your Grassroots Adviser
    • Approval of program by your committee & CO bosses
    • Ensure parking information is made clear to your guest-of-honour(s)
    • Ensure parking lots are reserved
  • Sponsorship management (takes about 1 week - if you don't have a sponsorship list, you need 2 weeks to consolidate a list of viable sponsors)
    • Drafting of sponsorship letter
    • Approval of sponsorship letter wording by your committee & CO bosses
    • Mailing out to your sponsors' list - yes you print and put into envelopes and put into the mailbox!
  • Calling of quotes (takes about 2 weeks)
    • If above $6k, call 3 quotes
    • All quotes must be sent to all vendors on the same day
    • Vendors must be given at least a week to reply
    • Consolidate replies in a quotation evaluation report (QER)
    • Committee or proper approving authority to approve the QER
    • All the paperwork must be documented properly if not, you'll have a hell of a time answering the auditors
  • Publicity materials (takes about 2 weeks)
    • Designing of posters and banners - you can do it yourself or get a designer
    • Approval of publicity materials by your committee & CO bosses
    • Publishing of the publicity materials
  • Registration, rules & regulations and indemnity forms (takes about 1 week)
    • Creating the forms
    • Approval of the forms by your committee & CO bosses
    • Publishing of the forms
    • Commence registration
  • Preparation of tickets (takes about 1 week)
    • Designing of tickets - you can do it yourself or get a designer
    • Approval of ticket design by your committee & CO bosses
    • Printing and cutting of tickets - we usually do it ourselves
    • Commence ticket sales
  • Prizes, trophies, plaques and medals (takes about 1 week)
    • Wording and look of the trophy/plaque/medal
    • Approval of design and wording by your committee & CO bosses
    • Place order and ensure correct delivery details
  • Lucky Draw (takes about 1 week)
    • Creating a lucky draw system - hourly lucky draw? Conditions for the draw?
    • Decide on the list of lucky draw items
    • Getting the lucky draw items
    • Wrapping them up and labelling them
    • Giving out on event day
    • Ensure every prize given out is signed by the recipient
  • Guest List & Seating arrangement (takes about 1 month)
    • Planning guest list
    • Approval of guest list by your committee & CO bosses
    • Confirming guests' attendance
    • Planning their seating arrangement
    • Approval of seating arrangement by your committee & CO bosses
    • Informing guests of their seating location
That's more or less the work that needs to be done. By right, your committee members should be doing at least 40%-60% of the work, but in actuality, they only do about 5% to 10% of it.

Now this is why the staff-in-charge is always physically drained from doing all these hefty volumes of paperwork. And this is why PA's events can never parallel church's events - another volunteer-intensive organisation - because the PA staff are worn out by administrative duties. I'll cover that in the later part.

My project - Active Tampines Peter Lim Community Sports Programme (ATPLCSP) - Bowling :D
Administrative work

Apart from the event management work above, there are also administrative work to be done to upkeep your committees. Here are a few:

Finance (takes about 1 to 3 weeks+ to settle)
  • Preparation of payment vouchers (PVs) and cheques for your committee members to sign
  • Mailing out of the cheques to payees
  • Ensure all payments collected are banked in within 7 working days
  • Ensure all payments collected have a signed manual receipt issued to the person who paid - dates must be within 7 working days of bank statement if not...Get committee's acknowledgement and minute down in meeting minutes
  • Making sure the invoices have all the necessary information:
    • Billing address
    • Entity name for issuing of cheque
    • Services provided
    • Stamped and signed?
    • Dated correctly?
    • Payment mode correct? Not C.O.D! All payments are to be made by cheque.
  • Bank reconciliation
    • All payments accounted for?
    • Any un-presented cheques? Is cheque lost in mail?
    • Any cheque bounced?
    • Keying in of all information into the PA Accounting Template (PAT) System
    • Printing and preparation of monthly financial reports for your office bearers to sign
    • Submission of reports in the PAT system
  • Reports
    • How much money each interest group is spending?
    • How much money each programme or event is making?
    • Event statement of accounts - event deficit or surplus? With supporting documents.
Committee meeting minutes (Takes about 1 day to settle)
  • Are all the event budgets and statement of accounts minuted down accurately?
  • Are the income and expenses reported in the minutes accurately?
  • Are the reports of the IG spending minuted down accurately?
  • Event turnout - no. of pax attended, no. of tickets sold, number of winners for the competition, etc. minuted down accurately?
  • All the reports in the minutes must tally with the hard-copy archived reports and it must tally with the information submitted to PA HQ
ECP outing with 2 of ma 133rd cohort mates
Post-event reports (Takes about 1 day to settle)
  • Event statement of accounts - ensure all income and invoices are documented and consolidated properly
  • Event details to be keyed into the OnePA system to get a serialized activity statement report
  • Event turnout report - How many Chinese, Malay, Indian and Other races turned up? To be updated in the activity statement report
  • Photos to be edited and uploaded on your various Facebook pages with a good caption
  • Photos to be edited and uploaded on Instagram with a good caption
  • Event statement of accounts to be submitted to HQ for grant disbursement or proof of proper grant usage
  • Event report - essay with photos to be submitted to HQ for grant disbursement or proof of proper grant usage
Interest group management (Takes about 1 day to 1 week to settle)
  • Existing members particulars updated in the OnePA system?
  • New members particulars keyed into the OnePA system?
  • Attendance of IG members taken?
  • Monthly submission of IG members attendance to PA HQ done?
  • Income and expenditure of IG tracked?
Handling of customers/residents (Takes about 1 hour to 1 day to settle)
  • Appease a dissatisfied resident at your CC counter
  • Appease a dissatisfied resident over the phone
  • Answer to event queries at your CC counter
  • Answer to event queries over the phone
  • Random government-related queries or municipal issues faced by residents at your CC counter Random government-related queries or municipal issues faced by residents over the phone
  • Dealing with residents that just need someone to talk to because they're emotionally needy or just trying to find trouble because they're too free
That's more or less the work that every CO staff will have to do.


Looking at the list above, you might think, that's easy! No problemo dude!

Nope. Not when you have to go through many levels of approval. Your boss may not like this, your committee may not like that, HQ may not want this and that. So after all the bureaucratic ding-dongs and back-and-forths, you will realize that your event is already next week and your publicity is barely done. LOL.

Our jobs would be easy if the approval process is smooth. But it always isn't. That's because people have temperament and mood swings, so your work is always at the mercy of their emotions. And sometimes, your vendors screw up - they don't meet your timeline or they don't produce quality work resulting in a lot of back-and-forth changes which eats up a lot of time.

Add on the countless number of phone calls and customer enquiry at your CC counter demanding your time and attention. Add on the GRLs that walk into your office and comes and chat with you. *BAM* your whole day has just passed with you barely finishing any paperwork.

Yup, now you're getting the picture of what working in PA as a ground staff is like. Paperwork, reports and adhering to financial and administrative guidelines. That's not all.

The best part is, PA HQ still throws compulsory courses at us - as if we hadn't got enough on our plate - they make us attend courses that teach us CPR, iCare workshops - how to care for people, communicating effectively, volunteer management courses, etc.

DUDE! If we are drowning in paperwork, no amount of courses is gonna help us with the people-work. In fact, it is because of the paperwork that leaves us no time to do the people-work!

If you want us to be effective in our people management, you, first, gotta build a good corporate culture that encourages it and you, second, gotta cut down our paperwork! I'll touch more on that shortly.

Alright, before we get into the more analytical part of my post, lemme highlight some of the memorable events I was a part of during my time of service. As much as there's a lot of paperwork and people-work, I also had a lot of fun and meaningful activities:

Memorable event 1: Tampines North Golden Jubilee Celebrations

This was when I just joined the TN CO team not long and they entrusted a huge responsibility to me - EMCEE the event with the AH BOYS TO MEN 3 cast!

They don't even know my emcee aptitude and they simply put me as host for one of the pinnacle events of the SG50 year for the CC. Ok, this was partly due to the lack of budget for an emcee, but still, it showed a great deal of faith from my bosses in my untested hosting skills. LOL.

As expected, I didn't disappoint. HEEHEE. #haolian. LOL. Had a great time hosting the cast and the cool thing about them is, they don't really carry an air of superiority.

In fact, when I was backstage with them discussing the games and program rundown, upon first seeing me, they were like "Whoa, he look like one of our 导演 sia...*mentions some name*" and they all proceeded to judge me. LOL. I was like "Really ah? Next time ask him to cast me in the next Ah Boys to Men series leh. XD" and we all had a good laugh...much to my dismay :(

I envisioned them going "Yeah bro. Should totally get you on. What's your number? We'll let our 导演 know." or something like that...LOLOL. #InMyOwnWorld HAHA

Instagram post: "Backstage" with the Ah Boys to Men 3 cast members Tosh, Wei Liang, Joshua and Maxi :D

Oh and when I was backstage with the Ah Boys, I remembered my friend Took Kee was a big fan of Joshua. LOL. So I got him to do a Snapchat dedication vid to her. HAHA. If you're her friend, you can stalk her insta and go see the video. If not, this screengrab will do:

Snapchat dedication video that I got Joshua to do for my friend Took Kee XD He basically said "Hi Took Kee, thanks for your support! And I wish you all the best👍
I actually had tons of more stuff to ask them and chat with them but time was tight so...Sadly, Jill, I didn't manage to ask Tosh if he still remembers and loves you. HAHA. I'm pretty sure he does. If I get the chance to meet him again, I'll definitely ask him and get him to do a video dedication to you. Heehee.

Hosting the Ah Boys to a packed out crowd!
Playing National Day games with the Ah Boys - from left: Weiliang, Tosh, Joshua and Maxi :D
Instagram throwback :D

Ohh yes there was also this epic moment when an aunty couldn't control her urges and she rushed up to Joshua to take a close-up photo of him!

EPIC MOMENT. HAHA.
In the photo, you can see Joshua in his defensive stance. LOL. And him holding the paper that says "Separation" makes it even more epic. HAHAHA! In the background you can see Weiliang looking amused and Maxi at the side just laughing at what was going on. HAHA.

Me? As the host, I was trying to control the situation. HAHA. Epic moment is epic XD

Yeah, that was one hell of an addition to my emcee portfolio man. Thanks bosses for allowing this unproven emcee to host such an important event :D

Memorable event 2: PAssionArts Festival 2015: Facade Art

This event was memorable for me because it was my first big-ass budget event. The budget was not only big, the logistics were huge as well.


Every piece you see on the HDB facade is HAND-PAINTED by our community partner East View Secondary School's students! Thanks so much for your help! Without your help, this event would've died.

I remember all the arrangement of dates and timings - the students' CCA timing, the school hall available timing, etc...

And just imagine the logistical mess! Bringing these huge-ass heavy-AF canvases over to their school. And bringing several dozen litres of paint to the school and back. Waterproofing the school's flooring before painting. Then transferring the canvases to a location to let them dry. Putting them up - yes we even got a Professional Engineer to certify it safe to be put up on the HDB facade...DAMNZZ.

But the result was worth it. Isn't it a work of art? Well, at least my committee members, bosses, residents and Grassroots Adviser, Mr. Baey thinks so :D

 Memorable event 3: Tampines North Volunteers' Get Together 2016 (VGT2016) =

This was one of the most successful event in my opinion. Why? Firstly, because I have 2 fantastic organizing chairmen! They brainstormed and put together the entire concept for this event really well.

They conceptualized everything from the hall decorations, to the superhero aprons, to the mannequin challenge, committee video collage, thank-you video speeches from our volunteers, etc...And the best part is, the entire working committee was involved - like really involved in the planning and execution! I was in PA heaven! LOL.

My amazing VGT organizing chairmen with our event GOH, Mr. Baey
Now this is the ideal case of how every GRO and every event should work - 70% volunteer effort - 30% staff effort. Committee pools together the resources and gives the staff-in-charge the contact. My job is to send out emails and invite quotations - the administrative aspect. The conceptualization, outreach and resources are from our committee members.

And in this event, this was the case! If only every event was so well-supported by our GRLs...then we PA staff wouldn't be so overwhelmed by our administrative workload and we as staff would have more time to think about building corporate culture and branding!

Oh and here's the most fun part of the event - the mannequin challenge! It was so good that it went semi-viral, with video hits of more than 10k views!



The sweetest part about this event is that my VGT2016 organizing chairmen went around interviewing a lot of GRLs saying their thank-yous to the CO team and they put it all together in a nice, somewhat mushy video and played it towards the end of the event :')

The irony of it is this event is supposed to thank the volunteers and not the staff, therefore it's called "Volunteers Get Together". I made clear this point to my organizing chairmen from the start but they still wanted to do this to appreciate us staff :') ❤

Group photo of our volunteers at our VGT2016. Guess what apron did Mr. Baey wear?
Mr. Baey chose the Batman apron! Did you guess correctly? Haha.
Now this is what I call ownership of event! Not just a bunch of volunteers coming together to chatter and blabber about some vague idea and leaving all the dirty work to the staff - but actually seeing the idea through.

Memorable event 4: PAssionArts Festival 2016 - Flag Arts 2016
What made this event super memorable is my arts chairman's amazing idea. While every CACC was just taking HQ's instructions and using flag-sized canvas to decorate their HDB block's facade, she was thinking "Hmm...How about bunting flags?"

At the same time of course, we also did what HQ proposed. Because if we were too unique or special, it might not sit well with HQ CACD.

After working out the technicalities of getting big-ass triangular bunting canvas pieces, it was showtime.

This year, Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School came on-board to support the bunting flags painting. And Tampines Junior College came on-board to support our PAssionArts Festival Flag Arts project.

Cut the long story short, here's the end result:

PAF2016: Bunting Flag Art Display at Tampines North Blk 480 & 481 walkway
Side-view of our bunting flags
Wide-angle view of the entire walkway :D
So pretty right? This is totally what I call Flag Art! However, we did receive mixed reactions to this artwork display. Some were saying it looked like hanging dirty laundry and some were saying "it's so colourful! Love it!" You win some, you lose some. Haha.

But then again, so long your committee, bosses and grassroots adviser is ok, you're fine. LOL.

The above bunting flag arts project was completed thanks to my arts chairman, and of course the students and teachers from PRCSS!

Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School students and teachers came down to paint the flags!
Another flag painting session. My arts chairman is briefing the students :D
Completed bunting flags :D
As for our other flag art block, we followed HQ's instruction more closely and the result wasn't as boomz as the bunting flag display. Not that it wasn't nice. But it looked pretty similar to last year's Facade Art 2015 project. Here's the goods:

Bottom-up view of half the Flag Arts project done in collaboration with TPJC :D
Overall Flag Art view of Block 496G :D
We owe our thanks to our Tampines Junior College students and teachers for being so keen to take up this project!

Group photo of some of the TPJC students with their completed canvas segment :D
You can tell that they love painting flags. LOL.
This project was featured in their school's National Day celebrations. And we were invited to celebrate with TPJC!

My CACC chairman addressing the TPJC students :D
Their National Day sing-along session was OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD. It felt like a live concert! The students were arm-in-arm, holding hands and singing the National Day songs as if it was our last National Day. LOL. It was a really surreal moment standing there and seeing all the students sing national day songs wholeheartedly.

The best part was when they flashed the slide showing the completed artwork on the block itself. There was a resounding "WOW" by all the students when they saw the finished work. The sound of the students going "WOW" made it all worthwhile for them and for us as project managers. So kudos to the teachers and students from TPJC! :D

Group photo with some of the TPJC students who made the project a success! :D
As memorable as this Flag Arts 2016 project may be for me, my chairman, and my bosses, it wasn't really a memorable one for HQ. LOL. How do I know?

That's because HQ CACD awarded the PAssionArts cum Singapore WOW awards to other divisions. Their decorated blocks can be seen in the photo below.

Photo of the blocks of the award winners above
Doesn't it look like last year's Facade Art Project? So when we innovate and do a bunting flag art that's more unique, and not aligned to what HQ wants us to do, we don't win an award? Or is it they only award the prize to ministerial ward? Those were the questions my arts committee were asking each other when the results came out.

Well, it's kinda clear that our Flag Arts 2016 project was really unique. Even CM-CACs from other divisions and from the winning division itself told me that our Bunting Flag Art project should've won. But oh well, 我们做的开心就好 XD

Memorable event 5: Tampines North Pokemon Amazing Race 2016

I think this is one of the most logistic-intensive and coordination-intensive event I did in my entire life in TN CO. That's because we turned the constituency of Tampines North into an amazing race playground. There were checkpoints littered all across Tampines North and each checkpoint will pose a sport challenge to the participants.

My organizing chairman's main purpose for doing this is to let our residents know that are many sports interest groups in Tampines North and many public sports facilities scattered around our constituency.

Each checkpoint is manned by one interest group that will lead the station game. E.g. Woodball station - players have to score a certain number of points before receiving the clue to the next station.

Pokemon Amazing Race 2016: Participants at our Woodball station
Along the way, participants are to take photo of themselves at Pokestops and take photo of themselves with Pokemon that they see using the iPads issued to them and they're to send it back to us.

The team that won the "Best Picture with Pokemon" category
This amazing idea was conceptualized by my organizing chairman. The use of iPads to track the teams' location and send and receive clues is genius. One of the beautiful aspect of this idea is that we didn't need to hire photographers for this event! Why? Because the participants are to use the iPads to take photo of themselves doing the activities and send it back to us before they get the clue to the next station! So, in short, they are our event photographers. LOL.

If we hired photographers, it would cost us a bomb. Because we would have to deploy like 12 photographers to be tagged to each team for a period of 3 hours. And hiring a photographer for 3 hours usually costs $300 to $500.

Tampines North Pokemon Amazing Race 2016: They each won themselves a Gengar! Shipped from Japan!
Not all our interest groups were supportive of this amazing event though. So the main bulk of the event work was borne by my organizing chairman and myself -.-"

Instagram post of Tampines North Pokemon Amazing Race 2016 - With my CSC volunteers who helped run the event

We needed A LOT of manpower to man the stations. If we hired an event company to run it, it would have easily cost us about $5k. But thanks to our community partners - Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School and Tampines Secondary School - who saw this event as an opportunity to groom leadership in their students, sent their students down to run the event!

Moral of the story? You may have great ideas. But you need a dedicated team of people to execute it.

End point of Tampines North Pokemon Amazing Race 2016: Wefie with our student helpers from Tampines Secondary School :D
Wefie with our student helpers from Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School at our event's end point :D
Wefie with some of our participants :D
Now here's the best part. This event won us the "Community Engagement Awards 2016" at HQ level! And this award was presented to my CSC committee in front of all the CSCs in Singapore during the Community Sports Night 2017!

Of course that wasn't the only award we won. We also came in tops for CSC Awards 2017 under the bronze category.

Now, that's the best gift I could leave with my committee before I left PA. Haha. That's because winning these awards meant receiving a lot of GRANTS! Yes, up to $50k worth of grants per year!

Memorable event 6: Tampines North IPPT Kakis
This event is a really memorable one for me because it's something that I believe in! It's basically a weekly group workout session led by our volunteer fitness instructors. This programme is entirely free-of-charge and signing up with us gives you a free IPPT kakis singlet! You can see our participants wearing it the group photo below :D

Tampines North IPPT Kakis - My last perpetual project I worked on before I quit
If you're interested in joining us, we're at Tampines Sunplaza Park Amphitheatre every Tuesday, 7:30pm to 9pm. Mr. Baey will also drop by occasionally to join us for a time of workout! :D Here's a lil' video of what happends every week:


Oh and our programme name Tampines North IPPT - stands for Improve Physical Proficiency Together and not MINDEF's Individual Physical Proficiency Test. #Wordplay Heehee.

This is the one event I'll be going back for because it's a free workout cum training session! What's more you get to make friends around your age group (NSmen) that stay in Tampines!

Ok, so now that you are more or less clear on what PA's history and mission is and clear on a CO staff's job scope, it's now time to dive a little deeper and critically analyze this complex and unusual organization.

THE GOOD

1. The reason and purpose for PA's existence is compelling, meaningful and relevant

Apart from just dishing out PAssion cards to every Tom, Dick and Harry, Sally, Mary, Jane in Singapore and organizing heartland events for residents, PA exists for a reason much more profound than that.

If we dig deeper and look into the real reason behind why PA is created, then shall we actually feel the heartbeat of this organization.

People's Association was founded in 1960 at the behest of then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew with the goal of building racial harmony and social cohesion:

Founding Chairman of People's Assoication - Mr. Lee Kuan Yew - on PA. Taken from the People's Association Facebook page - 24 March 2015 post.
Racial harmony and social cohesion? Isn't Singapore is a very peaceful nation? Why the need for PA? Well, that's the Singapore you know now. But back then, PA was absolutely necessary, as HistorySG puts it on their write-up on PA (at this URL: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/3bb16631-968b-460f-b92b-8495f1941c81):
"This (PA) was necessary to blur the sharp divisions that existed in Singapore society then, when the different ethnic communities were living in their own enclaves. At the time, race, language and religion largely determined who the people mixed with, which schools they attended and how they earned a living."
When everyone is living in their own enclaves, racist, supremacist ideologies will fester. Communism was a huge threat back then and they weren't the only threat - The threat posed by Malay supremacists was also a significant destabilizing factor back in the 50s and 60s.

There were many racial riots back in the day if you can recall your social studies subject in secondary school:

Wikipedia summary of the riots in Singapore
If the government didn't step in to unify these different groups using PA, we probably wouldn't see the racial harmony and social cohesion which we often take for granted today.

Yup, that is the official purpose of PA - the noble aspect of it - It's the part of it that the government wants you to know. But there is also a political purpose to it, as the government itself admits on its "Singapore Infopedia" website at this URL: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/INFOPEDIA/articles/SIP_2013-10-18_183012.html
"Politically, the PA was created to help the People’s Action Party government develop and maintain links with the people at the grassroots level through centralised control over the community centres. Initially, activities organised in such centres were meant to compete with those run by left-wing unions and associations for grassroots support."
Put aside the noble intentions of PA and here's the pragmatic part of it - it's the government's tool to "control" and monitor the ground and to "compete" with opposing non-governmental grassroots forces.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a somewhat similar description about the "Singapore's People's Association":

CIA's report on "Singapore's People's Association"
"Singapore offers a unique case history of counterinsurgency in an urban setting, where the leadership early recognized the problem in its political form and developed programs of a political nature with which to stunt insurgent growth."
Yes, PA is so unique that even the CIA is writing reports about us! LOL. You can check out their full report at this URL: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol12no4/html/v12i4a05p_0001.htm

At its core, PA it is a form of "counter-insurgency". It's the government's arm to keep the people in check, to maintain social & political stability, AND at the same time, build social capital.

All in all, pragmatic and political, I fully agree with the government's decision to enact this organization. Its intendment is compelling and relevant even to this day.

Let me end this pointer with the sapient words of PA's founding chairman, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew in his speech at the opening of People's Association conference on 8 January 1966:
In a multi-racial society, the community centre has emerged as a multiracial organism at street level or kampong ground level. So it was that in community centres vigilante corps were formed, and volunteers were registered for the People's Defence Force. And so too, it was in community centres when communal difficulties broke out whilst we were in Malaysia that the goodwill committees met to sort things out. The emergence of citizen leadership to take over the direction and control of the 180 community centres spread throughout the island is an important landmark in a process which started over 100 years ago when Singapore began to grow from two or three fishing villages into one of the big cities in South Asia. Beginning as migrants and transients with no sense of ownership and no rights of citizenship, our people who toiled and worked to make this city have become very conscious and proud of their collective achievement in having built one of the most well-equipped and well-endowed cities in Southeast Asia with all the amenities of a modern civilized community.
Tribute photo of PA's founding chairman, former Prime Minister and Grassroots Adviser to Tanjong Pagar GRC, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew at his resident CC for their National Day Dinner 2014
2. The induction programme, compulsory courses and staff events make for fantastic bonding and networking

Some of the most indelible memories and moments from my PA stint are undoubtedly sculpted in my induction programme and courses.

If you're a sharp and perceptive reader, you'd have went "Wait a minute, weren't you dissing the compulsory courses earlier?" I'll touch on that later in the "The Bad" analysis of PA. For now, I'll leave it as "Did the compulsory course fulfill its intended objective of inspiring, enriching and educating us? Or it did it fulfill our objective of taking a break from work and meeting other colleagues?"

So what is the induction programme? Every new PA staff will go through this rite of passage called "Induction Programme". It's an intensive 2-week course that has 2 parts: 1st part of the induction programme is a 1-week classroom-environment where we learn about PA's mission, vision and purpose.

First few days of my induction programme in NACLI with my group mates from the 132nd cohort
Ice-cream with the entire 132nd induction cohort! The ice-cream was a treat from our NACLI lecturer :D
That was just the first few days of the first part of the induction programme. The next few days is a 4D3N (if I remember the duration correctly) overnight camp at NACLI's main building near Buona Vista MRT, aka NACLI west coast.

We basically played games around NACLI, attended lectures, had discussions and learnt about the systems of PA. Most importantly, we were establishing friendships with one another. That's important because we're all staff in different offices, some in HQ finance, Building Estate & Management (BEM), CDCs, etc. and the rest of us are ground staff in different COs all over Singapore.

BBQ session during our induction course :D
Classroom discussions :D
Birthday celebration! :D
Oh, this cake wasn't bought from a cake shop my friends. It was baked by our very own 132nd cohort mate Hugo! So sweet right? (not talkin' bout the cake yo...LOL)

Birthday cake for errbady! :D
If you're even using your eyes to read this post, you'd have noticed that it says "131.5". What does that mean? You guys are from the 132nd cohort aren't ya? Awesome observation there. (自导自演HAHA)

You see, some of the new inductees from the previous cohort - 131st cohort - aren't able to make it for their entire induction course because they took leave or called in sick so they'll have to join the next cohort to complete their induction programme. Yes, they're that strict. This induction programme is 10000% compulsory. Like how National Service is to Singapore guys. HAHA.

So, in our 132nd cohort there are a few 131st cohort peeps. So when we average that out, what number do you get? 131.5! So smart! You passed your primary school maths I see! LEL.

Anyway, the cake looks pretty...normal from the outside. But when we cut the cake open, we were mind-blown:

It's a rainbow cake! DAYUM!
This lil' scene where we got mind-blown when we cut open the seemingly plain-on-the-outside rainbow cake brought to life the age-old adage "Don't judge a book by its cover". Or rather, don't judge a cake by its icing. LOL.

Lessons end at around 6pm so after that, it's free and easy for us. After that, we're supposed to go back to our rooms, wash up and sleep. Talking about our rooms, the rooms in NACLI are DAMM NICE. They're quad-sharing rooms that are squeaky clean & fully air-conditioned. Totally awesome. Like chalet rooms but cleaner. Haha.

So yes, we're supposed to go back to our rooms, wash up and sleep. But, you think that happens? Heehee. No. Some of my friends got out, got drinks brought it back and...you know what happens next. LOL.

The best part of the whole story is, we got caught. HAHA! And because of us, NACLI made drinking officially illegal in its campus. You will find the sign plastered around now. LOL. Our cohort became famous for this. HAHA.

Alright, that's just the first week of the induction programme. The second week of our induction programme took place at NACLI east coast campus and Pasir Ris Water Venture.

This is an adventure camp unlike the first week was a classroom-intensive seminar-like kinda camp. So we all reported with our backpacks, camping and sleepover stuffs to NACLI east coast campus.

Our first few days was spent at NACLI east coast campus doing a lot of team-building games and high element activities.

133rd cohort at our abseiling station! :D
My cohort mate Hui Xian killing it! LOL (actually she nearly got killed by it HAHAHA)
The NACLI east coast campus is pretty huge. So we spent the entire day running around the place doing team-building and station games. We were really sweating it all out.

That night we slept in some tree house - no air-con, but thank God they built fans into the tree house. There were hell lot of ants though. So you gotta find a spot where they did not like. Haha. It wasn't really a house on top of a tree per se, it's just an elevated dome-shaped shelter with wooden doors and flooring. You could only enter it by climbing a flight of wooden steps.

So after the first few days of activities at NACLI east coast campus, it was time to move out. They gave us backpacks and told us to pack light as we'll be heading out of a 2D1N event at Pasir Ris Water Venture.

All packed and ready to go to Pasir Ris Water Venture!
So, how were we supposed to get to Pasir Ris Water Venture from NACLI East Coast Campus? WALK. Yes, you got that right. WALK. Thank God I packed light! HAHA! If you're thinking "Oh, it's walking distance ah? Ok cool." lemme show you the map below:

NACLI east coast campus to Pasir Ris Water Venture walking route
Now that's a 13km, 3-hour+ walk with our BACKPACKS! Just when we thought we ORD-ed from army and don't have to do route march already...Ta-dah! PA makes you do it all over again! Just in civilian attire this time.

So yes, walk we did. AND IN THE HOT SUN. We left NACLI east coast campus around 10am I think. So, this really is a test of our mental endurance and also a test of teamwork - how are we going to encourage and help one another to reach our destination.

Embarking on our 13km journey to Pasir Ris Water Venture from NACLI East Coast Campus. LOOK AT HOW HOT AND SUNNY IT IS! DAYUM SUN! Get the pun? HAHA #Okcan
The 13km walk with our backpacks was actually pretty enjoyable thanks to the many conversations and selfies (taken mostly by Shaun...LOL)

Still road-marching to Pasir Ris Water Venture :D
I remember that we all took a pit-stop at my CC - Tampines North CC. HAHA. We used the toilets, water coolers and sat around my CC for a lil' rest before continuing our arduous journey to Pasir Ris Water Venture.

WE REACHED! WHOO HOO! LOOK AT OUR SHAG FACES! XD
So yay! We reached! Time to have some lunch, chill and have a little nap! Or so we thought...Yes, we had lunch...A really quick one before the kayak instructors came over and took over the show.

With barely any rest, they basically equipped us with kayaking 1 star skills. We rehearsed the capsize drill like a dozen times until we got it.

From there, the NACLI instructors gave us tomorrow's mission. Vicky and I were supposed to plan our kayaking trip the next day from Pasir Ris Water Venture to Punggol Point jetty and back. They gave us the timing of the tides and a map and we're supposed to put it all together to lead our cohort to victory! LOL. I mean, to lead our cohort on this kayaking expedition.

Kayaking distance from Pasir Ris Water Venture to Punggol Point Jetty - 5.71km!
A one-way trip would mean we'd have to cover 5.71km. But we can't possibly leave the kayaks there right? We gotta return the kayaks to Pasir Ris Water Venture! So it's a compulsory 2-way trip which means we gotta clock about 11.42km on the waters!

If you haven't been exercising regularly or haven't paddled in a long time or have never paddled before, covering 11.42km on a kayak is going to pose a considerable degree of physical difficulty. And I'd say that all of us would fall under 1 of the 3 categories above! LOL.

Yup, difficult as it may be, we had no choice. It was compulsory for us to do it. Because we're getting paid to do it! HAHA! That's the amazing part actually. We're getting paid to do fun stuff like this! Totally love it man. HAHA.

So yeap, with the planning done, we were supposed to go to sleep in our tents. Yes, we slept in tents in Pasir Ris Water Venture. But hey, the night is still young. So, just like my previous cohort mates, we didn't do what we're supposed to do. We ordered supper and stayed up later than we should. HAHA.

Supper at Pasir Ris Water Venture! :D
Shaun as usual, initiating the wefie :D
After all the chomp-chomp, chit-chat and late night HTHT-ing, we crashed into our tents one-by-one. It was a 2-man tent and I fondly remember sharing tent with my 最爱 Ashton XD Heehee. Alright, so fast forward to next morning...

133rd cohort all ready for our kayak expedition! :D
Yup, that's us all prepped up and ready for the kayaking expedition! :D As you can see in the above photo, I'm one of those gung-ho dudes that didn't wear a tudung. HAHA! You can see that several of them wearing their bandannas like a Tudung. LOLOL.

So off we went on this expedition, in the morning sun which will transit into a crazy fireball afternoon sun before become a more gentle evening sun, which by then, would've already left us burnt and barbequed.

Kayak wefie :D
PA's 133rd cohort posing for a kayak group photo in the scorching afternoon sun :D
According to Google Maps in the screenshot shown earlier, it would have taken us about 1.5hrs to get to Punggol Point Jetty. But on the waters, it took us about 3 shag-balls hours!

When we neared Punggol Point Jetty, we all "parked" our kayaks on the mini beachfront and went to get drinks and relieved ourselves in the toilet. After chilling around the area for about 30mins+, it was time to complete our expedition. Only another 5.71km back!

And what happens next goes without saying. We all made it! So we went back, washed the kayaks, bathed and packed up our stuff and headed back to NACLI East Coast Campus. I really can't remember how we went back there...We DID NOT WALK BACK definitely. LOL. But neither did they charter a bus for us. I don't remember being treated so well. HAHA. We probably took public transportation back to NACLI East Coast Campus. Can my 133 cohort mates confirm this? LOL

Back at NACLI east coast campus, we did another few more days of games and team-building segments. I clearly remember this activity:

We were supposed to break into two groups and do a skit. The skit will later illustrate certain learning pointers and stuff. Now, that's the unimportant part. LOL. The important part of this activity was - during this skit, I earned myself a new name: JOANNA. HAHA!

I played a lady called Joanna in this skit. HAHAHA!
One of my cast members squeezing my tits during the skit. LOLOL
My female persona will be forever fixed in my cohort mates' minds as Joanna. LOL. Oh, and that's my 最爱 Ashton by the way ❤ (the dude on the extreme right in the photo above) heehee. Sorry, I'm always making bfs and bffs along the way...LOL

One of the last and more sentimental activities involved us drawing our most memorable part of our camp on a piece of styrofoam jigsaw.

Drawing (or more accurately, painting) out our best camp memories :'(
133rd cohort masterpiece!
Guess which is the piece I drew? :D I drew the piece with the sun, waters and all of us on kayaks - the extreme left piece, 2nd from the bottom - as the kayaking expedition was the most fun and memorable activity for me.

This is a pretty sentimental end to the adventure camp because this activity kinda teaches us that we're all different - we see, appreciate and remember different things. But as different as we are, when put together, we make a beautiful collage of memories and experiences. And without one or the other, this masterpiece will never be complete :') Yes, Hui Xian, I'm expecting you to cry when you read this. HAHA.

Yup, that was the end of our week-long camp at Pasir Ris Water Venture and NACLI East Coast Campus. There's no better way to end it than to have a wefie :D

End of camp shot with the PA's newly minted 133rd cohort! :D
It's the end of camp, but not the end of the induction programme! Our induction programme will end off with a sharing session with some of PA's big-big-big-big bosses and it also involves the cohort preparing and giving a presentation to our big-big-big-big bosses.

And if you hadn't noticed by now (blindy), I was from 2 different cohorts. That's because I went on overseas vacation leave after the classroom 1-week camp. So, I missed the adventure camp with my 132nd cohort and thus, I had to join the 133rd cohort for the adventure camp. Which was really a good thing because I made another group of friends in this cohort ❤

So I ended my induction programme right back with my 132nd cohort mates! Oh, and for the presentation to our big-big-big-big bosses, the cohort needs to choose 2 people to represent the cohort and emcee and present the presentation. Guess who was chosen?

Yours truly. Presenters for PA's 132nd induction cohort! :D
It was an obvious choice for them since they all knew I'm a freelance emcee. LOL. And I really love Siti and my outfit's blue and yellow colour combination :D Makes the stage look so colourful :D

After the sharing session and presentation, the highest ranking dude in the room will personally present everyone a group photo of the cohort on a photo stand. So that somewhat symbolizes a badge or trophy I guess? Haha.

Group Director (GD) of the People Cluster, Tan Kim Kee presented the group photo to me :D You can actually see the microphone sticking out of my pocket. LOL.
POP LO! LOL. Yup, with that, we are officially inducted into the People's Association and we are officially PA staff! What's next? We spammed photos non-stop. So here's a few to mark the occassion:

YES! WE PASSED THE INDUCTION PROGRAMME!
Group photo with the panel of big bosses from PA that did the sharing session with us
Oh and in the above photo, the guy standing on the extreme right of the photo, right beside the PA flag, is actually the Director of Our Tampines Hub! Little did we know!

But he didn't attend the courses and camps with us because I think he's rank is too high to mix with us kiddos. Haha. He's considered PA's senior management and the rest of us in the 132nd cohort are only in junior management - not event mid-level management. Haha. So, with rank, comes exclusivity and power distance I guess.

That's it for the induction programme! It's definitely the most memorable memory of my PA life! What's so awesome about this induction programme is that it integrates you into the organization. It gives you a family and a sense of belonging in this huge organization.

And I think this is of UTMOST importance. So this is one of the things PA did right. However, I feel it should also be done on a GRC/CO/department level every time a new staff comes in. Because you need to foster a sense of belonging with your immediate office colleagues as well and not just colleagues within this vast organization.

I know...You must be thinking "SIAO AH...SO MUCH WORK LIAO STILL WANNA DO TEAM-BUILDING EVERY TIME A NEW STAFF COMES IN!"

Well, if you want lesser new staff coming in, you gotta reduce the old staff going out. How? One of the ways is by creating a solid bond amongst the colleagues by using events - LIKE TEAM-BUILDING EVENTS - to create memories and experiences.

I also did a few team-building events with my GRC colleagues. Both times at NACLI east coast campus. We did the high-elements obstacle course and discussed real-life work scenarios and how we could better improve our day-to-day situations.


At one of my GRC team-building event - Me trying the high elements obstacle course :D

Wefie with my GRC colleagues while waiting for our turn to attempt the high-element obstacle course :D


Wefie with ma colleagues at our GRC team-building session :D
All I could say was - IT WAS A LOT OF FUN! It was through this sessions that I really got to know the crazy, fun and intellectual side of my GRC colleagues instead of only knowing them through their emails. Haha.

Apart from induction programme and team-building sessions, there's also the compulsory courses: PA-wide courses and portfolio specific meetings like CSC team-building sessions and CACC networking sessions. Here's some of those moments:

On iCare course with my 132nd cohort mates! :D
CPR+AED course with my 133rd cohort mates! :D
On course in NACLI :D
On another course at NACLI :D
On course at HQ CSD team-building session - learning how to play Kin-Ball

Instagram post: HQ CSD team-building session on how to play kinball :D

As you can see in the above photos (and videos), we're on course with many of our cohort mates. That's because all of us are required to attend the same courses and we usually sign up for them together :D

So really, going on course is a fun thing because it's like a compulsory catch-up session with all your cohort mates! HAHA!

In-between course catch-up meals at Paddy Hills cafe, a 5min walk from NACLI :D
Post-course makan session with my 132nd cohort mates at The Star :D
Outside Paddy Hills with my 133rd cohort mates :D
But of course, if you actually noticed in the pictures above, there are several new friends made as well. If you're wondering, doesn't everyone attend courses with their cohort mates then? Well, there are a variety of reasons.

Some of them are lao-jiaos and have outlived all their cohort mates so they attend courses alone OR they come from very small cohorts OR they couldn't make it for the date and time that their cohort mates joined, etc.

So, yes I also made many new friends through these courses which is great because it's always a fun thing getting to know people and their stories.

Lunch-ing with our newfound friends at The Star after our CPR+AED course :D
Made a friend at HQ CSD team-building session - learning how to play basketball. She happened to be my friend's colleague so we took this selfie to send our mutual friend :D
And sometimes the friends you meet hold the same portfolio as you. So you guys can exchange best practices and ideas on how to better run your committees. Best of all, knowing someone that has the same portfolio as you means you can attend those PA-wide portfolio meetings together :D

Attending a HQ CACD networking session with a friend I made during other PA courses :D
So apart from just induction programme, compulsory courses, team-building sessions and portfolio meetings, there's also PA-wide staff events like dinner & dance, briskwalks, work-outs, workshops, etc.

PA staff club (PASC) also organizes events for staff to chill out together like movie screenings and drinking sessions. I was never able to make it for the movie sessions because somehow, the dates always clash with my committee meetings -.- But I did make it for one of the drinking sessions :D

At one of PA Staff Club's drinking sessions :D
The most memorable one will be our 2015 Dinner & Dance with my cohort mates :D Why? Because, that's where I got my new persona...again. LOL.

At PA's 55th year's Dinner & Dance. Theme: Magick
Team Peter Pan group photo with our big bosses: Minister of MCCY, Grace Fu, Former Deputy Chairman (DC) of PA, Minister Lim Swee Say, and Former Chief Executive Director (CED) of PA, Mr. Ang Hak Seng
A post shared by Jonavan Lee (@jonavanlee) on
Instagram post: Yes, that's me in my Tinkerbell costume XD

With that, I will forever be Tinkerbell to my colleagues. LOL. And yes, I cross-dressed. I was the famous drag queen that day that even celebrity host Michelle Chong took notice of me...HAHA. See her comment on my instagram post above. HAHA.

I became like a photo booth prop that day because everyone kept wanting to take photos with me. HAHA.

Photo with the friend that sowed the seeds of joining PA into me :D
Photobooth shot with my GRC colleagues :D
Photobooth shot with my 132nd cohort mates :D
Anyway, since I'm talking about this, let me justify my OUTFIT. IT WASN'T PLANNED THAT WAY. IT TURNED OUT THAT WAY.

My cohort mates and I were on course that day. After we were done with the course, we all rode in my van to the costume shop to try and find costumes for ourselves on that day.

Van wefie :D On the way to get our costumes :D Throwback to when I still had my van :'(
When we were there, the guy in the shop recommended we go with a Peter Pan theme as he had sufficient costumes that were to that theme for a big group like us. So off we went trying on the costumes.

So, naturally, the guys tried on the guy costumes and the ladies, their girl costumes. I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DRESSED AS A PIRATE!

In my pirate costume with ma fellow pirate!
Team Peter Pan with ME IN MY PIRATE COSTUME!
As you can see in the photos above, I was SUPPOSED TO BE A PIRATE ON THAT DAY!!

However, an essential character was missing from our troupe - TINKERBELL. BUT, NONE OF THE SEVEN LADIES WANTED TO DRESS AS TINKERBELL!!! They all opted to be the red Indians and the kids in the Peter Pan movie -.- *ROLLS EYES* see photo below.

Team Peter Pan in da hause yo!
If we had a missing character, then Team Peter Pan wouldn't be complete and our chances of winning the best-dressed competition would be dashed. And Tinkerbell IS a significant character in the plot! So they were like "Jonavan you be Tinkerbell leh!"

Since I was Joanna to them previously, it was expected that they would ask me to play a female character...AGAIN. LOL.

After some debating and back-and-forths, I tried on the costume. I thought they would be appalled at a Jonavan-Tinkerbell, but NO. They were utterly delighted when I came out in my Tinkerbell outfit. LOL.

Trying out the Tinkerbell outfit XD My friend couldn't resist ma voluptuous boobs HAHA
From then on, I was confirmed Tinkerbell. Well, I take it in stride for the good of the Peter Pan team...HAHA!

My "sacrifice" was worth it ok! Because WE WERE FINALISTS FOR THE BEST DRESSED COMPETITION! They shortlisted 10 best dressed teams and we were one of them! The reward? We get to go on stage for a performance and a group photo with celebrity host Michelle Chong! :D


Yeah, that was the most boomz D&D ever because it was PA's 55th anniversary and it was SG50 year! So they really put a lot of budget into it. Oh I forgot to mention, PA55 D&D was held at Suntec City Convention Centre. I think there were over hundred tables of 10 that were filled that day. Massive turnout!

Contrast it to 2016's D&D, you could see that the budget dropped drastically. LOL. It was held at Orchid Country Club...From Suntec to OCC...Guys...Be less obvious can or not? LOL

We didn't care about the theme this time round since it wasn't as boomz as 2015's one. And very little people went this time round since there wasn't much hype about this one. Haha. Nonetheless, we still had a nice time :D

Group photo with PA's Deputy Chairman, Minister Chan Chun Sing :D (The rest of the table went to the toilet -.-)
Group photo with PA's (then) CED Ang Hak Seng :D
Photo with the PA friends I made during PA's compulsory courses :D
We didn't have enough fun at D&D so we went for more drinks XD
Yup, that's about it for point number 2. I know, you probably forgot the point I'm tryna make. HAHA! #Longwinded #detailed

Lemme give you a refresher - I'm talking about "THE GOOD" stuff about PA. The first was its compelling and relevant purpose.

And the 2nd thing that is good about PA is: The staff induction programme, PA-wide compulsory courses, team-building events and staff events because they make for fantastic bonding and networking.

I'm sure I brought that point across with the numerous photos and videos spammed above. You probably took 5 minutes to scroll through the enitre portion. LOL.

All these friends made and stories shared among each other is really therapeutic. Because you're meeting people who understands the shit you're going through in PA. Haha. So this sort of creates a sense of belonging towards PA - Through shared suffering. Kinda like army. LOL.

So yes, congrats PA! You scored well for this one on the Jonavan-measuring-scale! HAHA. Let's move on now to the third point of the "THE GOOD" part of PA.

3. The structure of the organization is systematic and logical

PA's 2011 organizational chart
Did I just disprove my own description of "systematic and logical" with that chart above? LOL. Actually, it's much more complicated than that. HAHA.

BUT, the systematic and logical part comes from the way they group the organizational roles - via geographical and operational segregation.

I'll focus more on the Grassroots Cluster. Remember the 5 CDDs/CDCs? Yeah. Nicely divided right? So let's say, like me, you work in a Tampines CC and you wanna know who your bosses are.

Your big-big-big-big-big bosses you'll definitely know - The Deputy Chairman (DC) of PA and the Chief Executive Director (CED) of PA. At this time of writing, PA's DC is Minister Chan Chun Sing and the CED is Desmond Tan Kok Ming.

They are the "untouchable" bosses. Meaning - you can work your whole life in PA or even 2 lives in PA and still never will attain their job position. LOL. These roles are reserved for the elite - the elect - of the ruling party.

So when one of them actually writes a personal email to you, it's a very shocking and touching thing. Yes, CED Desmond actually replied my resignation essay email to the entire organization. You can read more about that in my previous blog post here: http://historymakers-jonnyboy.blogspot.sg/2017/10/exit-management.html

Christmas 2016 chalet with ma colleagues & grassroots leaders at Changi Civil Service Club :D
Now, let's say you wanna find your big-big-big-big boss. All COs are by default under the Grassroots Cluster. So right there, you see the Group Director (GD) Han Tan Juan. That's your big-big-big-big boss.

Tampines is under the North East CDD. So you find that box and there you go, your big-big-big boss Ms. Tan Mui Hwoon, Senior Director (SD) of the North East cluster. There's another 2 bosses assisting her actually - the Director and Deputy Director of NE CDD.

From there, you go down to the GCD (Group Constituency Director) offices. Since you're in a Tampines CC, you'll fall under the GCD of Tampines, which is not listed in the chart above because if they list it, they'll need 10 pieces of mahjong paper to actually fit everything in. So yup, the GCD of Tampines is my big-big boss.

Go down that line, you'll find the Constituency Director (CD) of a specific Tampines CC. Since I'm in Tampines North CC, the CD for Tampines North is my big boss.

Go down another level and you'll reach my immediate boss, Deputy CD of Tampines North CC. There are two of them.

Go down another level and you'll reach the managerial level of which I am in - Constituency Manager.

Systematic right? So, you use this method to find anyone in PA. Of course, PA has an intranet system that allows you to simply type their name or location or job title, etc...and their contact details will pop up. So, all in all, the configuration is understandable.

The group photo below contains most of my very big bosses. My big-big-big-big-big boss CED Desmond is in the middle of the entire photo, my GCD (big-big boss) is in white, my big boss CD is the 3rd lady from the top left of the photo and my DCD is right beside her. This was taken in my CC's conference room and yes we're all decked in the PA corporate attire :D

CED's visit to my CO. Saluting our ex-general and new boss XD
We have another boss that is not listed in PA's organizational chart as this boss isn't employed by PA. That boss is our Grassroots Adviser Mr. Baey Yam Keng. He is employed by PAP - extra one "P" LOL. Every CO has a grassroots adviser aka political boss that is the PAP MP of the GRC/SMC.

Instagram post: Wefie with our Grassroots Adviser, Mr. Baey Yam Keng :D

Our political boss sets the direction of what kind of events and programmes we will do in our CO whereas our PA bosses sets the deadline for our reports and they also ensure that we adhere to all the guidelines set out by PA when doing our work.

All in all, this systematic and logical structure is good because it makes clear for us who to go to for help. Our roles are pretty clear and it allows us to see how unique each one of us are in this gargantuan organization.

Yup that's all for point no. 3. Surprisingly short right? Nothing will be as long as point no. 2 don't worry. Haha. That's because point no. 2 is the highlight of my PA life.

4. PA's work benefits the community by and large

PA is a very unique governmental organisation because it gives ordinary citizens like you and I the power and funding to influence our community.

As a committee member, you are free to use the funds that the committee has to organize programmes and events to achieve its intended purpose.

Let's say you are passionate about table tennis. So, you join a CSC as a committee member or interest group (IG) member. As a committee member, you are free to organize a table tennis tournament. Just put up a budget and get it approved at committee level and there you go, you got a budget of about $3k to $4k to do it, with the help of the CO staff team.

My project: Tampines Sports Challenge 2016: Table Tennis Tournament at Our Tampines Hub (OTH) Organized by my passionate CSC table tennis volunteer
You won't see such easy access to government resources elsewhere in the world. In fact, no other government in the world would pump so much money into building grassroots activities.

Let's say you are a Malaysian, Indonesian or China citizen and you want to organize a table tennis tournament for your community. Who do you go to for funding? Will you even get funding for your passionate idea? Will the funding come from the government? Wait long-long ah.

My project: Baey Yam Keng Basketball Cup 2017. Organized by my passionate CSC basketball volunteers
Or let's say you want to organize an overseas durian trip to Malaysia. Just suggest this to an RC and if the committee buys the idea, they'll put up a budget, pass it and get the necessary funding to organize it.

Now, let's say you're an American, Brit or Canadian wanting to organize a road trip to a neighbouring country with your friends and neighbours. Will you go to the government for funding? Will the government even give you funding for your very small-scale idea? I don't think so.

I can hypothesize many more examples but you get the idea. Try to do any of these in any other countries in the region like Philippines, Korea, Japan or Australia and you will discover how beautiful PA is in this aspect.

My project: Tampines North Free Kick Saturdays. Soccer field is booked for our residents on a free for all, first-come-first-play basis.

The above scenarios may not strike a chord with you as you may NOT be thinking in terms of an organizer.

So now, let's say you are not the organizer, but an event participant - You also have huge benefits to gain!

Tell me where can you get a SGD$2 briskwalk package that consists of:
  • 2-way bus transport from Tampines North CC to Gardens by the Bay
  • Warm-up conducted before the briskwalk
  • 3km briskwalk to Marina Barrage
  • 1x bun
  • 1x bottled water
  • Cool-down conducted after briskwalk
  • Board bus - there will be bus coordinators to assist
TWO DOLLARS PEOPLE! Booking the 2-way bus will already cost you about $100! Not to mention the water and buns. Almost every CC in Singapore organizes briskwalks (because it's one of the easier events to organize LOL)! So you can go to any of your CC to take part! Multiply this expense across the 108 CCs that organizes briskwalks - that is how much deficit PA is absorbing nationwide!

And FYI, the above example is not a suppositional one. It's one my projects as well - GRC briskwalk. And this GRC briskwalk takes place every quarter. So if you are interested, you can find out more on "Tampines North CSC" Facebook page. #SponsoredPost LOL!

GRC briskwalk spearheaded by Tampines North CSC. Group photo at briskwalk end point - Marina Barrage green roof :D
Still not convinced? Let us take another example then. Where can you get a $30 Chinese New Year Dinner package that includes:
  • 9-course sit-down dinner at Bliss Garden Restaurant (or any good Chinese restaurant)
  • 2-way bus transport to and from Tampines North CC
  • Door gift
  • Entertainment and performances throughout dinner
  • Games and game prizes to be won
  • Over 100 lucky draw chances
SGD$30 per head! This means that if you want to buy a table of 10 for your friends and family members, it'll cost you ONLY $300.

For those who have booked wedding dinners at hotels or Chinese restaurants, you know the going rate for a table of 10 is about $1000! And what do you get? A simple 9 to 10 course dinner that's all! Emcee not included! Lucky draw not included!

In fact, a Straits Times article mentioned that the average price of a hotel table (for 10) costs $1000 IN 2008! And rates are rising 5%-10% yearly! The article link can be found here: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/price-of-wedding-tables-hits-new-high

The article also mentioned how much to pack in your angbao so that you can at least cover the newlyweds' cost for having you.

Per pax cost to cover your meal
A $30 ticket is a far cry from a $150 ang bao! You might be thinking "But weddings are usually at posh hotels and restaurants what. Your CNY dinner venue so kilat meh?"

Well, yes, my event's dinner venue - Bliss Garden Restaurant is actually quite kilat - complete with a huge LED screen display and sound system, it'll beat any hotel you can find. Many hotel ballrooms don't have a huge customize-able LED screen display for you to display your slides and stuff but this place has. And their table cost is not cheap either.

Here's a few photos of our event:

Tampines North Lunar New Year Celebration Dinner 2017 with our organizing chairman, Mr. Wong and our Grassroots Adviser, Mr. Baey Yam Keng (the guy on the left is our event participant not VIP...LOL)
One of VIP tables. Wefie of our table hosts and community partners while waiting for more guests to arrive
Of course for our high-key events we usually invite other guests too like our community partners which include school principals, church pastors, VWO directors, event sponsors, childcare centre directors, etc. The above photo includes some of them.

Yes, we also assign table hosts that consist of our grassroots leaders. They're usually the chairman, vice-chairman or an office bearer of a GRO in our CO and their job is to make our guests feel welcome :D

Yum Seng segment of our event :D
I'm pretty sure you're convinced by now. The amount of deficit for such lavish sit-down dinner events can usually go up to $20k to $50k - Just have a casual chat with any CCC chairman/treasurer or Chinese New Year organizing chairman and they'll let you in on how much PA is subsidizing your meal: all in the name of community building.

One of my NTU juniors who joined my sports event - Frisbee Competition - was also mind-blown by my event's super low registration fee.

Registration for a team of 5 costs them only $10! You do not need to be Frisbee player to know that joining a Frisbee competition would definitely cost more than that!

And the prize money for a $10 registration fee for a team of 5?
1st prize: $400 worth of vouchers
2nd prize: $200 worth of vouchers
3rd prize: $100 worth of vouchers

And we have a maximum number of 10 teams for this competition! This means you have a 30% chance of turning your $10 registration fee into at least $100! The ROI for you as an event participant is VERY HIGH.

Unfortunately for my friend's team, they came in 4th. So they didn't win the prize :( But nonetheless, there were a lot of other event freebies for them too...like shoe bags, umbrellas, brunch buffet, etc. So here's a happy wefie of us :D

Instagram post of my project: Tampines North Community Sports Day 2017. Wefie with my NTU juniors who joined the Frisbee competition :D

I'm pretty sure I've made my point clear. Whatever PA is doing will definitely benefit the community by and large. Yes, these are just very superficial & immediate benefits. But benefits nonetheless.

And there's also the intangible benefits too. When people come together for events, bonding and networking happens inadvertently.

Here's a classic example:

While residents are queuing up to take food from the buffet spread - they will almost always talk to each other about the tickets and food. And if they're queuing up with their kids, they'll chat about their kids. Sometimes, a familiar face will float by and they'll be like "Hey, how come you're here!" and they'll start introducing friends to one another.

Another classic example:

During bus journeys in an excursion, families sitting around each other will first chat superficially about the event. Usually the starting point of the conversation will be about their kids. And if they hit it off, they'll become trip buddies and stay nearby each other throughout the briskwalk or throughout the visit to Istana, etc.

Our Tampines North KopiTalk with Mr. Baey is a great place for building bonds over conversations. Basically, every 3rd Saturday of the month, he will be at Koufu coffee shop hosting an open-mic question & answer session with anyone who is there.

Had such an engaging and productive KopiTalk session last Saturday we went into overtime! :) There was a lot of feedback shared on PM's National Day Rally. Some of the issues raised included: 1) pre-school - ensuring a Singaporean teaching core within the pre-school education sector; 2) diabetes - the cost of healthy food; 3) Smart Nation - the need to strengthen cyber-security and supporting infrastructure. I appreciated the frank sharing and was very heartened by the level of engagement. The government is listening very closely to public feedback as we look to start right, stay healthy and work smart. Thank you all for your participation both 'live' on FB and IG, and in person, if you attended the session. If you have any further comments or questions, do leave them below. #ndr2017 #kopitalk #tampinesnorth
A post shared by Baey Yam Keng 马炎庆 (@baeyyamkeng) on
Mr. Baey's instagram post of his KopiTalk session

Yup, I'm no sociology or economics student, but I'm sure that this is definitely building some form of social capital! It may not be intentional but PA creates the environment necessary for social capital to be built.

So, as an event participant, you'll leave the event knowing you made a new friend and your conversations would have definitely shaped your view of the world.

Yup, this is the 4th and last pointer of "The Good" of PA that I can think of. With the good news covered, let us now uncover some of the bad news.

THE BAD
1. PA or PAP?

 This is probably one of the most hackneyed yet pertinent questions to ask and the answers won't be that pleasing to someone who believes in democracy, justice and a level-playing field.

As covered earlier, PA ultimately is:
At its core, PA it a form of "counter-insurgency". It's the government's arm to keep the people in check, to maintain social & political stability, AND at the same time, build social capital.
So in seeking the answer to the "PA or PAP" question, you will find that the answer leans more toward the political purpose of PA rather than the missional purpose of PA.

One of my last high key events: Tampines North National Day Celebration 2017 - Mr. Baey cutting the cake with residents
The main area of contention with PA is that the CCs that are situated in opposition wards still serve the PAP, or rather, the government of the day. That means the grassroots adviser for that CC will be the PAP representative (usually the losing electoral candidate or a PAP-endorsed senior grassroots leader) and not the opposition MP for that area.

Now, this is because, PA is here to serve the elected government of the day. This means that unless Worker's Party wins more than half of the 89 constituencies, then they shall become the government of the day and then shall PA serve Worker's Party.

Will this day ever come? I highly doubt it. Just look at how hostile the environment is for the opposition. I shall not go to deep into this because it's becoming very political and I wouldn't want to be sued till my underwear is my last asset. LOL.

But I shall leave you this article which sees WP leaders accusing PAP of double standards. What you can do is to research more into what WP leaders have to say and you'll start to see the politicking for yourselves: http://www.straitstimes.com/politics/ge2015-singapore-future-about-getting-politics-right-workers-party

Back to the issue of having an opposition ward grassroots adviser. This news article pretty much summarizes the debate: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/opposition-question-pa-stance-on-grassroots-advisers.html

My last staff retreat with my colleagues at Marina Bay Sands Hotel :D
In summary:

Opposition's Accusation:
"I can only conclude that the PA is partisan," said Hougang SMC MP Yaw Shin Leong, pointing out that organisation seemed to be equating the government with the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) in its forum letter.

"The government and the said political party needs to be separated in terms of identity," Yaw said. "Over the decades, however, the two seem to have been increasingly seen as the same."

The Singapore People's Party echoed this view:  "By choosing not to work with duly elected Opposition MPs, the PA is confirming that it is working for the interest of the PAP, not Singapore," the party's central executive committee said in a statement.

PA's Response:
As GRO advisers guide the organisations in carrying out such functions, "it is not possible to appoint Opposition MPs as advisers because we cannot ask Opposition MPs to help the government to connect better with the people," said Ooi, responding to recent concerns over the neutrality of the organisation.

"Nor can we reasonably expect them to help the government explain, implement or improve its policies," she continued. "This is especially true of policies which they oppose, such as restructuring our tax system when we introduced the GST and relying on ComCare instead of unconditional welfare."

Ooi said the body performs its duties "in accordance with the policies of the elected government of the day".

Opposition's Response:
Yaw told Yahoo! Singapore that he found it strange for the PA to comment that an elected opposition MP, being one himself, is unable to fulfill the role of connecting with people and promoting programmes such as anti-dengue and active ageing.

Drinking session with our interns :D
There's more to it as you will read in the article. But this is a brief summary of what's going on in the PA sphere pertaining to grassroots advisers.

What's more important is what's your response?

Let us practice some empathy for a moment. If you put yourself in an opposition MP's shoes, you will discover that as an opposition MP, you do not have access to the resources that PA has.

Your PAP MP which is your competitor, can organize many events such as National Day Celebrations under PA's budget and have easy access to the CC's facilities and network whereas you as a member of the opposition party, have to organize such events at your own party's expense.

And remember, PA's budget is a budget that comes from us taxpayers. So as a taxpayer, would you want your money to be used this way?

Now, you might argue that "Aiya, the grassroots adviser as the PAP representative is only one person what! The committee is made up of 20 to 30 other members that are politically neutral. So no issue ma."

Well, let me burst your bubble on this one. If you actually go and compare the name list of the CCC members to the PAP branch members, you'll see a lot of repeated names.

Or if you don't like looking at words and names, just look at your CC's group photos of their grassroots gathering and compare it with the PAP branch group photos at their outings and trips.

You will find that many of the PAP branch members are also CCC members and more often than not, office bearers. They're the decision-makers at both sides.

So, because of this, how can PA ever be non-partisan? I shall leave you with one more article before I give my conclusion: http://leongszehian.com/?p=13896

Christmas Party 2015 with my Tampines North CO team :D

So here's my take. If you want to silence your critics, make PA party-blind. Level the playing field by allowing the opposition party to tap on PA. It's totally unfair for the opposition party because they are not given access to PA's grants, funding and network which, in the first place, is really the people's money. Those residents staying in opposition wards are also taxpayers yo.

Or if you don't want it to be political at all. Then make it entirely a-political. Remove the role of the grassroots adviser and let the CCC and the CO team run the CC. If it is really for the people, then let them run it. The CO staff will be there to ensure that the financial guidelines and all the necessary rules are adhered to.

If anytime the GROs or committee members are doing things that are not aligned with the organizational objectives, the Director has every right to remove them and re-shuffle the committee.

Now here's my suggestion. To be truly democratic, LET THE PEOPLE VOTE FOR WHO GETS TO SIT IN THE CCC and RCs!

This follows the school's model of doing things. When I stayed in NTU halls, the JCRC (Junior Common Room Committee) which manages the hall and organizes events and activities, is made up of members that are VOTED IN.

Hall members that are interested can go and run for a position in the JCRC. Once they submit their documents, they start their canvassing period where they paste posters of their faces and JCRC position everywhere and they go door to door to garner support.

Every school CCA practices this! They have Annual General Meetings (AGM) to vote in the next committee.

If such democracy can be practiced in our local schools' CCAs, then why can't this democracy be replicated in PA? Isn't PA supposed to be for the people?

Christmas 2016 chalet morning shift with my colleagues, GRL and most awesome intern - the one taking the selfie XD
I know, you're gonna say that it's gonna be real messy. If we do a voting system, there's gonna be a lot of fights and the entire organisation will disintegrate.

Well, I haven't seen NTU, NUS, SMU or even TP, RP, SP, NP, NYP disintegrated from using this system for their CCAs. I grew up in a school system that teaches me democracy. You want to be in a position of power? You want to be the president of the student union? You want to be the hall president? Sure thing. You make sure you win the hearts of the people such that they will vote you into power.

Or you might say "School is different. Everyone is in the same stage of life. They can identify with one another thus the voting system will garner the students' interest."

Well, a lot of students aren't interested in all these voting things as well. But the main argument isn't about whether school communities are different from residential communities. The main question to ask is "Are you involving your COMMUNITY in the action?"

If you actually implement this system, it will make our residents much more involved in PA and in the CC activities because they have a stake in it! They get to vote for who they want! There is ownership!

Currently, people don't really care about PA and its events because PA is not involving its residents in issues that matter! Let them vote for their RC representatives! Let them vote for the CCC and CCMC committee members!

Once you let this happen, you'll see a huge rise in participants' activity and involvement. Why? Simply because you're involving them in your decision-making process. Simply because you're involving them in issues that matter.

Celebrating our boss' birthday at Changi Airport :D
I've actually floated this idea of having a voting system for the key positions in our GROs with several of my PA colleagues and many of them have these 2 inward-looking, resistant-to-change responses:

Rebuttal 1: 
"When you have this election system for GRLs, you will see a lot of jiao lang (rubbish people) coming forward to run for these positions and it will waste a lot of time! We don't want to open a can of worms! And for all you know, people probably will not be interested!"

Well, if you are in the business of associating with people and building social capital, then opening cans of worms is really part and parcel of your job!

 And this is a really negative view to hold. Because, what makes you think when you open the community can, you will only find worms?

As much as you will find worms, you will also find DIAMONDS! And when you find these diamonds, cherish them, take care of them and they will be exceptional leaders who will lead your community well!

When you just sit there and leave the cans un-open, you are NEVER going to discover people's true potential!

Is that PA's role in the community? Maintain status quo and treat people as potential problems? Is that what the multi-millions of dollars of staff salary, grants and funding is supposed to achieve?

And what makes you think people will not be interested? Imagine your community candidates going door-to-door and giving out flyers saying "Vote me for CCC Chairman", "Vote me for CCC Treasurer" and really walking the ground!

Imagine on the "Grassroots Election Day" you have your candidates giving passionate speeches on how they can bond the community. And just imagine your residents queuing up to cast their votes!

It will create quite a buzz! People won't be interested? You sure? People can't help but get interested! And this is how you raise the awareness of PA! Good or bad, at least PA is now known for its members or potential members walking the ground!

 If you really want to impact your community, let them have the power. Let them vote for their CCC, CCMC and RC chairmen! You are rejecting this idea only because the power is now not in your hands!


My last PAssionArts high-key event: Tampines North PAssionArts Festival Village 2017! :D

Rebuttal 2:
"We already have so much work still ask us to do this kinda election thing...A lot of administrative work leh"

Such a response is natural. Because you are responding with your body waist-deep in the shit-load of work you have to do. But if you actually take yourself out of the pile of shit and think, you will see how this will solve the shit problem.

You see, once you have your grassroots leaders standing at podiums, making promises to the people and rallying votes, they will become much more accountable because they have made their promise public.

Once this happens, when the grassroots leaders take office in your committees as chairpersons, secretaries and treasurers, there is more ownership and accountability simply because it has been made known to everyone their level of commitment and purpose of joining!

When there is this sense of ownership and accountability, your GRLs are gonna work much harder and YOUR WORKLOAD WILL GET MUCH LESSER!

Why are most of our GRLs generally so nua and ineffective in their outreach? Because no one voted them in! They did not run for office! They did not state their level of commitment and their reasons for joining! This unquestioned and unchallenged entry of "volunteers" into our committees results in a lot of cala-fares given important titles but doing practically nothing.

I hope you now see clearly how this election system for GRLs will greatly benefit the organization and the system in toto.

 Once again, this is exactly, how schools work. They are engaging their student community. Is PA engaging their resident community with the same vigour and in the same fashion?

So, my answer to the question of "PA or PAP?" is...PA - A politically neutral PA where grassroots advisers and committee members are voted in.

Once you do this PA, you will forever shut the traps of those who are accusing you of being partisan.

CNY2017 with my colleagues! We're all holding CNY cookies given to us by our CCC chairman :D
2. Poor alignment of organizational values and poor propagation of a healthy culture

Putting the politics aside, let us look into the operational aspect of this organization. Let's do a little exercise:

Exercise A
Try going to any PA event and just hang around. See if anyone comes up to you and really welcomes you to the event and from there stays in touch with you and keeps you in the loop of their activities.

If you were warmly welcomed and they really stayed in touch with you, you must either be a celebrity, really good-looking or you're in an exceptional constituency with a remarkable team.

Trust me, I've been to A LOT of my PA friend's CC and RC events. And almost all the time, their volunteers, grassroots leaders will be hanging out among themselves, not bothering to engage their residents. The staff? They're too busy running around ensuring the logistics and vendors are settled properly.

In contrast, try going to a church during their church service and just hang around. The moment you step in you'll be warmly greeted by their volunteer ushers who will usually hand you a church bulletin or magazine and they'll show you to your seats.

From there, the church members sitting nearby will usually chat with you and invite you back again for events or for their cell/connect/life group meetings. Disclaimer: If you go to one that doesn't do that, then that's a bad church. They're an anomaly that have dropped to PA standard...LOL. I've been to about a dozen churches in Singapore and all made me feel welcome and comfortable.

Exercise B
Speak to any church leader (church leaders are almost always volunteers - they're not paid staff) and you will see the passion in their eyes, fire in their words and warmth in their countenance. They know what they are here for. They know why they're called "leaders" and are devoted to fulfilling the task. They know the state of their members and have deep relationships with them. They can even tell you how God has changed their members' lives.

On the contrary, speak to any grassroots leader from PA. Most of them don't know what's the name of the next event "they" are organizing. Heck, they probably haven't attended a committee meeting in 3 months. I can confidently say they have not initiated conversation with a resident at their event and talk to them about government policies or invite them to future PA events in the past month. Ask them why are they a GRL and you'll probably hear the volunteer benefits list being read out.


Instagram post: Boomerang of my drinking session with 2 of my 133rd cohort mates at a PA staff club event :D

Exercise C
Let's say you're PA staff, a CM like me. You try to do an event and most of the time, you'll be handling a lot of the work and not getting a lot of emotional, moral and physical support from your volunteers or from your bosses - I've mentioned this is my above pointers already.

Now, compare this to churches. You're now a church staff and you wanna do an event. The working committee of volunteers in church DOES 100% of the work and USUALLY WITHOUT ANY CHURCH FUNDING or minimal funding.

Above and beyond that, the church committee or ministry will meet and pray together. They will encourage one another with gifts, food and words of faith and encouragement! What an environment to be in!

The church staff are really just there to anchor the administrative aspect. Their main role is to build the church culture, sense of belonging and making effective policies to better groom and manage the volunteer pool. You see true leadership and devotion in church volunteer organisations.

I've been comparing PA to churches several times in my discourse so far and this will be pinnacle of the comparison.

In case I offend any Christians or Catholics, let me say now that I'll be putting spirituality aside in my evaluation. I know, a lot of the successes in church are attributed to the Holy Spirit and the truth of His word. Yes, I believe that. But right now, I'm just gonna look at things operationally. Good management and operations will definitely account for the success of a church as well, am I right to say that?

Many of my colleagues and volunteers always say "You can't compare PA and Church la, they're different!" If you really think about it...

How different are they? Both PA and churches are volunteer-intensive organizations with about 10 times more volunteers than staff headcount. Both exist to reach out to people and convert them to support the organization's cause.

Both PA's and the church's aim is to engage the community and from there integrate them into their committees and be part of the organization!

How is it then, that PA, with all its multi-million dollar government funding, can't even get the initial touch-point right?

My colleagues and volunteers main rebuttal will be "There's a God-factor Jonavan. People are devoted because of God - faith."

Well, my immediate reply would be "So you believe that God is the One made the organization successful? Good. Come to church with me then." Isn't that true? They believe that God is the One who gives the increase and success! Even some Christians have problems believing that! LOL.

 At first hearing, their reply seems like a legit rebuttal. But if you really think about it. Really? If the church has a God, then who is PA's "God"? Isn't PA's "God" the government?

Is it really easier to get people to be devoted to an invisible God rather than to a visible Government? If it were that easy, why isn't everyone starting churches then? Try starting your own church then - with ZERO FUNDING and we'll see how you fair.

On the other hand, try starting your own CC with all the million-dollar government funding (from Tote board, MCCY, etc.) and what are the odds as compared to starting a church? Pretty clear to you right?

Ok, fine, yes - not all churches start with zero funding...I KNOW...Especially Catholic churches. LOL.

But here's the irony. Churches that start with funding from their parent-organization usually don't do as well as the ones who don't - just take a look at Methodist or Catholic churches. (By "do well" I mean numbers. The most quantifiable way is to look at how many people are in your organization. If you are good, you attract. Period. You suck, no one comes. That's life)

Take for example, Heart of God Church, Hope Church and of course, the current bad-egg, City Harvest Church - ALL STARTED WITH ZERO FUNDING and look at their bank accounts today!

You might say, oh these churches are brainwashing people! Well, my immediate response would be "If you actually know how dirty your brain is, you'll know that it DESPERATELY NEEDS WASHING."

Ok, sorry, I love to drop witty comebacks. HEEHEE. Back to the point...

If you say they're brainwashing people, then it's clear that you haven't stepped into any church before. Many eminent professors, scientists are all devout Christians.

Just take my own NTU Provost for example - Professor Freddy Boey. He's one of NTU's big guns and he's a faithful member of Covenant Evangelical Free Church. You can check out his profile here: http://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/Pages/StaffProfile.aspx?ST_EMAILID=MYCBOEY

In fact, many successful businessman, multi-millionaires, lawyers, doctors, even our PAP ministers are faithful church members!

I guess it's because their brains have been washed clean (aka brain-washed) that's why they're so successful!

 Brainwash? Really? On a very practical and frank level of assessment, the church is a FANTASTIC place to do networking with these "brainwashed" successful people. LOL

So, do yourself a favour - if you actually do more research and answer-finding rather than just spout your groundless doubts and thinking that your doubts are the answer, you'll actually be much closer to the truth.

If the act of reaching out to people and trying to convince them of your beliefs or your organization's belief is called "brainwashing", then I'd say every organization is guilty of brainwashing, especially the marketing department.

Wait a minute, aren't you also trying to *brainwash* me into believing that the church is brainwashing people? What a *brainwash-er* you are!

My project: TN ND2017 - The NDP 2017 logo on the floor is made by all our residents using Rangoli rice!
For the sake of argument, let's say the churches are brainwashing people for their cause.

This begs the question then: Isn't PA also brainwash-ing people for their cause? Why are they less effective? Is PA's cause not as convincing as the church's?

Fine, yes, the church's cause is eternal and PA's one is temporal in the cosmic scheme of things. But, as I've mentioned in my 1st point under "The Good" portion of my discourse, PA's cause is still a very compelling, meaningful and relevant one. It doesn't make it any less important than the church's cause.

In fact, most of what PA is doing will be sanctioned by the church - bonding, building of social capital, community, are all very church-y themes as well.

Now that I've answered all of the questions I think that a general pleb-thinker can think of pertaining to this PA-church comparison, it's time to get to what I think is the answer.

We've now concluded that the difference between PA and Church isn't just God. Because in PA, the government is god. The difference also doesn't lie in brainwashing. Because PA is also doing its fair share of brainwashing. SO WHY SUCH A DISPARITY BETWEEN THE EFFICACY OF BOTH ORGANIZATIONS?

My answer to this question is actually the header for this pointer: Poor alignment of organizational values and poor propagation of a healthy culture.

Why is the church so effective at what it does? Putting spirituality aside, it is because the church is always talking about its organizational values!

During cell/connect/life group meetings, your leaders will talk about what the church is about. During Saturday or Sunday church services, your pastors will preach about its "organizational values".

In any CC, CC event or committee meetings, all you will see is the staff and GRLs talking about the generic things of life - why the ticket so expensive, the food not so nice, the wet weather plan could be improved, etc...These are good things to talk about definitely...BUT there are also definitely BETTER things to talk about!

The committee chairmen should be talking to the members and encouraging them about how proud and happy he is that the event has achieved "One People, One Singapore".

Organizing chairmen should be sharing about how grateful he is that he is given the funding and avenue to bring this event to fruition and how it is connecting people-to-people and furthering PA's cause.

Vice-Chairmen and office bearers should be excited that they are building social capital through their tireless efforts and sacrifice and give the members and staff a pat on the back and the moral support!

And the staff should also echo these statements of encouragement and be grateful for the chance to impact society on such a tangible level. We're changing lives!

Pre-Dinner with my colleagues before our Chinese New Year Celebration 2017 event :D
If this happens in every CC, I tell you, PA will be a force to reckon with. It will change the entire culture and social landscape of Singapore.

Whatever I've described is exactly what happens in church. The volunteer leaders will exhort the people and the church staff and pastors will echo it, creating a resounding culture of faith and hope that ALIGNS EVERYONE TO THE ORGANIZATION'S VALUES!

You will see exemplary leadership and authentic alignment to the organizations' values in a successful church and in any successful organization for that matter.

So, you wanna start seeing a change? You wanna see everyone or a good majority aligned to the organization's values? KEEP TALKING ABOUT IT.

TELL STORIES ABOUT IT! That's the leadership's job! That's any company's CEO's job as well! Propagate a culture that builds that organization!

So, why is there such a poor alignment of the GRLs and PA staff to PA's organizational values? Because it failed to propagate a healthy culture that will ensure alignment.

Question is, how do you create a culture that will breed organizational alignment?

By talking about it! By preaching about it every Sunday like the churches do!

So, whose job/KPI is it to "preach" PA's organizational values?

Apparently, and rather sadly, this is not one of the GRLs' or staffs' KPIs. Our KPI is really just to keep doing events. So everyone just keeps doing and churning events after events until it becomes a blind routine. There's no more heart to it.

As a result, we end up doing events because:
  • We need to use up the funding we're given! If not the outstanding funds leftover will be deducted from next year's grants!
  • We're paid to do it! Because we signed up for it!
  • I want to use the event to further my interest (and not the community's)
  • That's what we're supposed to do!
  • My grassroots adviser will have no one to engage and he/she will get angry and I will be relocated/demoted/fired
We no longer do what we do out of a firm belief in PA's vision of building:
A Great Home and A Caring Community, where we
Share our Values
Pursue our Passions
Fulfill our Hopes, and
Treasure our Memories
We probably don't even know or forgot the vision tagline: "Our Community. My Responsibility."

We most definitely do not know what PA's vision looks like. Until you can visualize the vision statement, it isn't YOUR vision, but simply a vision statement.

At Changi Airport's Hello Kitty Cafe - celebrating my boss' birthday :D
What do you visualize when you look at the words in PA's vision? Do you see an image or a movie scene where:
  • The WEC committee members and volunteers giving a listening ear to crying women who have been abused by their husbands in a counselling session organized by your CC's WEC
  • Your dragonboat team members are carrying your CSC chairman at a prize giving ceremony and thanking him for supporting them to this day
  • Families are playing together - laughing, happy and contented at your CC Parents are infusing the right values into their kids through meaningful family-bonding activities organized by PA
  • A kid grow up and become a professional emcee because of the foundation laid by the Toastmaster group in your CC, funded by your CCMC
  • Students graduate proud of their majors and with good results because of the study groups put together by your CC's YEC
  • Old folks look at their grandchildren playing at a CC Christmas carnival and reminiscing their younger days and how their lives have been changed at the CC
  • Your event's organizing chairman is giving a heartfelt thank-you speech to all participants and sharing with them how PA's vision has been achieved through this event to a huge round of applause and gratefulness from everyone
I can paint a million pictures of what PA's vision could look like. But until you have your own visualization of the vision statement, then, PA's vision will always remain a mere statement.

When you visualize it and when your heart feels it, it becomes YOUR vision statement. It becomes a conviction. That's where true leadership and volunteerism begins.

This is what happens in church. A vision is born. A conviction is etched in our hearts. The mission lives in our hearts. We will never be the same again.

So back to the question: "Whose job is it to do all these alignment and 'brainwashing'?" In church, it is the senior pastor's job. So in PA, should it be the Constituency Director's job? Or the Grassroots Adviser's job? Or the key Grassroots Leaders' job?

Yes, I know, it should be everyone's job. But when it comes to the crunch and no one's doing it, who then should be the one doing it?

I'd say it's the Grassroots Adviser (GA) and Constituency Director's (CD) job.

Here's my take on this. Since the GA and CD hold all the power, they should be one setting the standards.

They can hire and fire their staff and grassroots leaders. So, who else but them to do the culture propagation and organizational alignment?

If a junior staff or a key grassroots leader plays this leadership role, then he may become too influential and over-rule the staff team and GA which will result in a mutiny...which, will result in that key GRL or junior staff being kicked out of the committee.

But if it's the GA and CD setting the culture and standards, then everyone else will follow because THEY ARE THE RIGHTFUL PEOPLE TO DO IT.

Once they set the standards, they HAVE TO interview all new volunteers wanting to join the committee and do a little "induction programme" for them.

Residents, community volunteers, students and GRLs coming together to put Rangoli (coloured rice) on the canvas, making the biggest NDP2017 logo made out of Rangoli Art in Tampines North :D
The GA and CD have to set the expectations and standards for all new staff and volunteers right from the start. Because if you don't, they will develop their own expectations and standards! From there, it will be hard, if not impossible to change.

So is this system of culture setting, proper induction and volunteer management done well in PA? If you look at PA as a whole. No. Just go and join any GRO in any CC and you tell me for yourself.

And I don't blame the GA or the CD! Why? It's because most of the time, they're too overwhelmed with administrative work to do any of these!

This leads to my next pointer in my "The Bad" assessment of PA.

3. Staff's workload NOT STREAMLINED and volunteer's responsibilities NOT CLEAR

You want the CD, DCDs, CM all the way down to the CSE to be passionate about PA's cause? You want them to be ambassadors of PA's vision and mission and to propagate it?
  • A. THEN MAKE IT ONE OF THEIR KPIs!
  • B. REDUCE THEIR ADMINISTRATIVE WORKLOAD SO THAT THEY HAVE TIME TO CHIT-CHAT WITH PEOPLE AND BUILD CULTURE!
As of now, our KPIs are mainly administrative. I mentioned earlier that we're too busy clearing paperwork that we have NO TIME TO DO PEOPLE-WORK.

If we have lesser paperwork, then we'd have time to sit down with our GRLs, chat with them, go to alignment courses with them at NACLI and do team-building activities to foster a mutual understanding and at the same time build a corporate culture.

PA HAS TO STREAMLINE THEIR STAFF'S WORKLOAD. Managers should focus more on people-work and the executives should focus more on paperwork!

Celebrating my 133rd cohort mate's birthday! :D
You need to streamline their job scope! If the CD and DCDs are busy churning reports to HQ, consolidating reports and diverting cases to and from different agencies, attending HQ and agency meetings, settling GRC and in-house constituency matters, etc...What do you think is the result?

If the CM is busy settling all the accounts, paperwork, reports and the keying in figures into the SUPER SLOW AND OUTDATED ONEPA SYSTEM and the PAT SYSTEM...and they still are busy with calling quotes, meeting and chasing vendors, getting approvals and getting caught up in the event management...What do you think is the result?

If the CME is busy handling the counter queries, managing all sorts of (sometimes) outlandish residents requests and phone calls, and still having to manage CC courses and having to manage a committee and run events...What do you think is the result?

I will tell you what is the result. The result is a frustrated and over-stretched PA staff that will hate the organization and its stakeholders. Guess what? He/she will NOT propagate any of its organizational values and they will definitely not create a healthy culture simply because they're overworked!

If you need to hire more staff, then by all means go ahead and hire! That will ease the problem definitely but I don't think that will solve the problem.

The church has VERY LITTLE staff and A LOT OF VOLUNTEERS and their volunteers do all the event management.

The staff does the volunteer management and culture propagation. That's the main KPI of church staff - make your volunteers happy and appreciated. Honour them and they will honour you as you both honour God in the process.

Same here for PA. The staff has to ensure quality of the GRLs it's taking in and make sure that proper induction for them is in place and from there, the GRL's RESPONSIBILITY IS TO BE MADE CLEAR.

If the treasurer is supposed to prepare the PVs and sign the cheques, then make their role clear! If the secretary is to take the minutes, type it out and send it to the staff-in-charge for vetting and archival, then make it clear!

If the organizing chairman is to prepare the budget statement and post-event statement of accounts, then make it clear!

If the event management is to be handled by the committee then make that clear! If it's the staff's job to do the administrative work, by all means they have to do it, BUT DON'T OVERLOAD THEM!

Yes, PA HQ! This is directed at you! Time to re-look at your staffs' KPIs!

The sad thing is, the staff in PA HQ are probably drowning in their own super-wide job scope of processing and consolidating reports and submitting reports higher up as well. #Sighpie

Christmas Celebration 2015 with some my 132nd cohort mates! :D
Now let's get to the Grassroots Advisers. Some of them hold parliamentary roles and all of them have political roles to play as well. Hence, they may not have the luxury of time and energy to set the constituency's culture.

The result? The job is left to the CD who is also overwhelmed by their workload. This is unfair to the CD too because the GA should be the main anchor. All leadership direction and culture setting should mainly flow from the GA!

The alternative is usually the CCC chairman to set the culture. But the way the CCC chairman will discharge his role is set by PA! The volunteers' expectations and roles ARE SET BY THE STAFF!

So whatever your GRLs do is really a result of the culture the GA and CD have built in the CO! The solution? Streamline the staffs' workload so they can do culture-building and make clear the GRL's responsibilities.

Once the grounds are right, the execution will be smooth! Who's job is it to set the grounds right? You're right! The PA staff from PA HQ all the way down to CO and CDC level!

But if the PA staff are too busy handling all their other paperwork KPIs, how are they going to meet the people-work KPI?

So, "The Bad" part of PA in points number 2 and 3 are related. To solve problem 2, you have to solve problem 3.

Once PA HQ actually re-structures and streamlines the staff's roles and puts a good balance between paperwork and people-work, it will ease the problem greatly...BUT unfortunately, it won't solve the problem.

To truly solve problem number 3, you need to hire staff that are good orators and culture propagators. This is the main challenge. You need to hire competent leaders. If the hired staff that's sitting in a CD's position is not competent or doesn't have the leadership capabilities, then...The result will always be mediocre.

And, if the GA to the CO is not a good orator and culture propagator, then the CD will always be stressed out because that responsibility will land on his/her lap.

At my grassroots adviser, Mr Baey's house for CNY2017 :D Yes, Mr. Baey will have a Chinese New Year open house for all his helpers, volunteers and staff every CNY :D
As LKY said in his book "Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going", Singapore has a small population. As a result, we have a very small pool of talent to fish from. The more populous countries like China, Philippines, USA, Korea, etc...Will have a bigger talent pool to draw from. All these competent leaders and workers in Singapore will usually be fished by 2 fishermen: the private sectors - huge MNCs and prestigious and branded corporations - and the government. This pool of elites in the government sector are insufficient to run the government optimally.

Basically, the point I'm trying to make is this - PA will never be able to find 108 competent Constituency Directors and PAP will never be able to field 108 competent Grassroots Advisers.

So, this problem will never be solved. Leaving things as it is, the only way PA can ease the problem is to streamline and reduce the staffs' workload and its volunteers' responsibilities.

Well, another way to solve this problem is to really re-look at what PA is doing and reducing the non-essentials. And this brings me to my next pointer.

4. Is PA too ambitious? Is it stretching itself out too thin?

PA has a hand in:
  1. The sporting community with the CSCs
  2. The arts community with the CACCs
  3. The racial minority with the MAECs and IAECs
  4. The new citizens with INCs
  5. The senior citizens with SCECs and AACs
  6. The residents with RCs and NCs
  7. The youths with YECs and T-Net Clubs
  8. The women with WECs
  9. The safety and emergency preparedness of residents with C2Es
  10. The facilities it provides residents at the CCs with CCMCs
  11. The poor and needy with the CDCs and CDWF
  12. The overall progress of the constituencies with the CCCs
  13. The leadership and training scene with NACLI
Is PA biting more than it can chew? Is it spreading its arms out too wide and wearing itself thin? Are all the activities its doing actually achieving its primary objective in building social capital?

Are there other government agencies, non-profit organizations, volunteer welfare organizations, charities and NGOs that are already doing what PA is doing? These are questions that the PA management board needs to ask itself.

My NTU friend that I recommended for hire to PA HR - and she landed the job :D This was her visiting me at my CC :D
As mentioned previously, each CC has about 14 GROs. Are all 14 GROs absolutely necessary to the constituency? Lemme point out some overlapping areas that PA has with other organizations:

PA's Community Sports Clubs (CSCs)
Out there you also have Sports Singapore which runs all the National Sports Association (NSAs), you have the Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth (MCCY) as well also dabbling in sports. You also have corporate companies like HERO (I think they closed shop) and Sportify (https://www.sportifyapp.com/) that is creating online sporting communities, linking players up with each other to find sporting kakis.

There are probably more organizations out there than those named above that is building social capital through sports. So, what then is the relevance of PA's CSC as compared to the rest? Does the average sportsmen know what is CSC? If they tell you CSC stands for Civil Service Club then...I'd say our Civil Service Club has done a good job. LOL.

PA's Community Arts & Culture (CACCs)
Out there you also have National Arts Council (NAC) - Arts in Your Neighbourhood with their Community Arts & Culture nodes, National Heritage Board, Esplanade, etc...And countless other art societies, communities and companies out there.

Same set of questions are to be posed to PA's CACC. How relevant are you in the arts scene in Singapore? Ask any artist in any arts field if they know what is CACC. I hope they know what CACC is and what it stands for.

PA's Community Development and Welfare Fund (CDWF)
Out there you have MOE Financial Assistant Scheme, Ministry of Social and Family Developement (MSF) with a whole range of financial assistance, National Council of Social Service (NCSS), Pioneer Generation (PG), PA's very own CDCs and many other charities out there that can help to alleviate a person's lack of money.

There are so many financial aid schemes out there and so much red-tape that it only leaves the poor citizen confused.

Adding one more CDWF to the list...Is it really helping the needy residents? By asking "really helping", I mean does the expense - the amount of money the government is pumping in for the staff headcount, systems and infrastructure to maintain CDWF - commensurate with the impact that you are having on the needy?

From my Snapchat bank. Was doing my Chingay 2017 duty as a carpark management officer and was walking around the area when I saw this float that says "First Chingay Float (1974)". That means this float is 43 years old! More than 1.5 times older than me! Dayum!
PA's Community Emergency and Engagement Committees (C2Es)
Out there you have the MINDEF pushing for Total Defence, the Ministry of Home Affairs which consists of the Police Force and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) pushing out initiatives like SGSecure at community level.

Now add another C2E from PA. Same question. For the amount of grants and funding that is going into the C2Es, is it worth the money? Is it making the impact it's supposed to make on the residents' lives? Ask any Singaporean on the street if they know what's C2E. Does the average Singaporean know what it is?

PA's Women Executive Committees (WECs)
Out there you have the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), Singapore Business and Professional Women's Association (SBPWA), the infamous Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), Singapore Women's Association (SWA), etc.

Again we are adding another WEC from PA. You know what's next right? I'm gonna ask the same thing! Does the amount of funding and grants that go into WEC commensurate with its outreach and impact to the women of Singapore? Ask any girl, lady or women in Singapore on the streets if they know what's WEC. Do you think the average Singaporean female in Singapore know what it is?

PA's Youth Executive Committees (YECs)
Out there you have National Youth Council (NYC) which runs the Youth Corps Singapore (YCS), Junior Chamber International (JCI) Singapore, Youth.SG, NTUC's nEbO, Singapore Youth For Christ (SYFC), National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA), etc.

Once again, add another People's Association Youth Movement (PAYM) and their YECs into the plethora of already saturated "youth groups industry". I'm sure there are better ways to reach the youths than just convening another government-led committee or movement right?

Instagram post of my National Day 2016 event which featured Mark Lee & Suhaimi Yusof - the main casts for our Long Long Time Ago movie screening

There are more overlaps out there for the many other things that PA is doing but I'm too tired to think of more examples. LOL. I believe I've made my point here.

And do note that I'm only asking questions here. I'm not saying that our CSCs, CACCs, CDWFs, C2Es, YECs and WECs haven't been doing a good job. I'm sure they have good stories too. "Is it commensurable" is the main question.

"Are there others out there reaching the same target group as what PA is doing? How is my organization standing out from the rest?" is the main question.

Let's say PA closes some of these overlapping arms and collaborates + fund the other organizations that are already in the scene. Will that be better? Instead of doing it yourself, you get someone with the expertise to do it. Don't reinvent the wheel! Tap on the existing wheel-makers! Will it work? I can't say for sure, but if you are down to make it work, I guess it could work.

I'd say the main business of PA should be the CCs, RCs and NCs and making sure you manage your residents well. Create a healthy culture and ensure your residents are aligned with the organization's purpose and from there, all the other things you are trying to do will flow smoothly.

A healthy, well-networked-with-its-residents RC or NC will be able to organize a sports event or arts event at the click of your fingers. Because you know who are the leaders and who are the interest group members. These guys can help you organize your CSC or CACC or C2E or WEC or CDWF activities!

Not every constituency has the same needs. Some will need a greater focus on CDWF, some will need a greater focus on MAECs or IAECs, some will need a greater focus on WECs. So forcing a fixed set of committees into a CO is not a very effective way of doing things.

My recommendation would be the RCs and NCs take charge. They walk the ground, do block parties, house visits and from there gauge their community and see what are their main needs. And from there, you focus on the necessary events and activities that your constituency needs!

Don't chuck every available GRO into every friggin' CO. It's simply not cost-effective and it's definitely not effective strategy.

Take for example, a constituency is mainly made up of old folks. What are you going to do with your YECs and CSCs in that area?


Instagram post: I hosted my colleagues' wedding with Mr. Baey as one of the guests :D

I'd say you give RCs and NCs all the funding they need. From there, with the funding given, they can set out to do whatever they wanna do that will benefit the community. Let the GRLs and residents suggest things.

I know, you will say "What if they don't suggest anything? This is where we as the different sub-committees come in to give them a direction as to what to do."

Are you sure your residents won't suggest anything? Are you even engaging them? If you actually do house visits, walk the ground and go door to door with your committee, you will see SO MUCH NEEDS TO BE MET in the constituency.

Now this is what the churches are doing. They're knocking doors, cleaning flats, donating food and clothes, singing songs, bringing the sick to the doctor and simply loving the residents in the community. From there, the residents open up and the church will know what the residents need and want.

But the main problem with many churches is, they have insufficient funding to sustain their community efforts.

This is really the government's problem actually, but yet, the church is pouring a lot into the community.

Do you see churches having CSCs, CACCs, CDWFs, WECs, YECs and 10 over committees? No! Unless it's one hell of a big mega church. Even then, the church is usually smart enough not to wear themselves thin.

Can't the A-team of ministers in parliament do the same? Strategize and ensure good management of the organization called PA without killing its staff by hyper-extending its tentacles into the many facets of our complex community?

So, in conclusion, one way to solve problems 2 and 3 is to take a good look at pointer number 4 - "Is PA too ambitious? Is it stretching itself out too thin?"

Main questions to ask: Commensurability, effectiveness of outreach and relevance in light of what others are doing.

5. Too many deadweights in the organization

The last problem with PA is the same problem every huge and lasting organization has: deadweights. Or, basically, senior staff who have overstayed their effectiveness in the organization.

Christmas 2016 celebration with some of my 133rd cohort mates at Studio M :D
It is characteristic of the Singapore Public Service to maintain status quo and wallow in mediocrity. Why? Because being too outstanding will draw attention and scrutiny to yourself which is a huge risk to your iron rice bowl and being too lousy will cause your bosses to re-evaluate your performance before kicking you out.

Many people start off their public service journey with good intentions and noble aspirations. But most end up developing a state of status quo and self-preservation because of:
  • The bureaucratic nature of the job
  • The autocratic nature of the job
  • The self-protective/self-preservation culture in the workplace
Bureaucracy is a necessary evil for any large organization. You can't do without it. And most people can't contend with it. So, it's usually only a matter of time before they quit or they die to their job - carrying out their duties like a robot without a soul.

But you can't just blame it on bureaucracy. Because many huge organizations like Facebook, Google and Walmart have a bureaucratic system in place but yet have generally happy employees and low turnover rate unlike PA. Why's that?

Autocracy.

As with all government agencies, the minister has the final say. You don't agree with where the management is coming from? Too bad. You suck it up and do what you're paid to do.

There's not much space for creativity and innovation. PA's staff management system isn't designed to let the individual shine. It does the opposite. It throws a hell lot of work at you and then, sadistically, gives you awards for being able to survive their shit. LOL.

You may have dozens of great ideas but you know your bosses wouldn't want to risk it with your "new-age" idea because their pay cheque is on the line.

If you innovate and do something very out-of-the-box without the blessing of your bosses (because you know they won't approve your edgy idea) - even if it is in alignment with PA's values - it may be frowned upon because your bosses weren't informed and all the proper approvals weren't given.

However, if you were to submit it to your bosses. It will never survive the backward-thinking-mindset of the countless number of directors, deputy directors, senior directors that will be vetting your idea.

Even if your idea passes through all of them, you'd have probably already left the job because they took a good 5 years to finish all their risk assessment of your new idea. HAHA. #TrueStoryBruh

This autocracy causes people to shrink inwards - creating a self-preserving philosophy towards work. Play it safe and you keep your job.


At Our Tampines Hub Grand Opening with PA's Chairman and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 6 August 2017

If the ministers and bosses were more democratic and give you space to suggest things and play around with ideas and their implementation, then it wouldn't be that hard to survive the bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy is toxic when there's a self-protective/self-preservation culture in it. And this is usually comes as result of autocracy.

So, you'll see many managers, senior managers, directors, deputy directors who have been at their position for like 10 to 20 years. Which may not necessarily be a bad thing. But, I've worked with many of them and heard about most of them. Most of them are just there to keep their job.

They're not there to question the status quo and further the cause of the organization. There's no passion and fire left in them. All that's left is the comfortable position and the sky-high pay that they know they can never get when they join the private sector.

They're like those long-serving Enciks in the SAF that hold very high ranks and very heavy tummies. A lot of these jaded Enciks also hold very negative views and mindsets toward their work in the SAF which affects the people under them.

You will find many PA-Enciks all over the organization. They're usually people filled with a combination of bitter-ness, negativity, selfish-ness, self-preservation and a super lazy attitude towards work and PA as a whole.

All these deadweights are what's hindering the progress of PA. In almost every CC and department in HQ you will find several of such people. The scary thing is, quite a number of them are sitting in very powerful positions.

How? I think the solution lies in many big corporate organizations out there. You can study how their management handles this and what HR policies they enact to prevent such stagnation.

At my colleagues' wedding :D
I have a very simple suggestion. Follow the system of parliament. Every 5 years you call an election! Do something similar. Have a "Vote of Confidence" exercise for all PA's senior management - Directors and above - or PAL 4 and above.

The PAL 4 directors and above are to get a vote of confidence from:
  • Their subordinates in their districts or departments
  • Their superiors in their districts or departments
From there, if both their subordinates and superiors don't give them the vote of confidence, it's time to become a GRL. LOL.

If one party doesn't give you a vote of confidence, then it's time to re-look at your working style and see what you're doing wrong.

If both parties give you a vote of confidence, good job! You should get 2 times the leadership allowance! Haha!

Yup, these are more or less the 5 problems or what I call "The Bad" of PA and they're all interlinked. The main immediate problems to work I'd say are problems 3 and 4.

If any of you from the senior PA management is reading this, I urge you, study how those big corporations do it. Study how the churches do it! Study how VWOs do it! And start asking the hard questions that will lead you to hard truths. The solution usually lies somewhere near those thorny, uncomfortable and most of the time, painful truths.

Remember, we're all in public service not for ourselves but to serve the people and better our country. So I pray that we all will discharge our duties with gratefulness and humility, knowing that it is the people who put us in power and are giving us our pay cheques.

Yes, you may be reading this and thinking, "YOU SMALL BOY LA, PA and most government jobs are very protected jobs. What do you know about the real world? Singapore's public service is already tip-top! Be grateful!"

I must say, what you say definitely holds credit. In comparison to our neighbours we're actually doing really well. My counter-question to you is "Doesn't what I've said hold credit as well? Are you saying the public service shouldn't strive to be better?"

At my 133rd cohort mate's wedding :D
So yes, I do recognize the beauty of our public service - its generally un-corrupt officers, clear hierarchical structure, rather good efficiency of operations and good remuneration of its public servants - but yet I also recognize the lack in PA.

I am definitely appreciative for my stint in PA and I truly am thankful for awesome, fun and understanding colleagues that have impacted me from all over PA. I have made my gratitude abundantly clear in another blog post: "Exit Management" at this URL: http://historymakers-jonnyboy.blogspot.sg/2017/10/exit-management.html.

As thankful as I am for my PA experience, I also must say that there's so much more to be done.

What better way is there to appreciate our public servants than to really look into their problems and finding a solution to it?

So yes, there's the good and the bad as with everything in life and every organization on the face of this planet. And I am writing this in the hopes that people will see this and will create a conversation that will give inertia to these big issues plaguing PA and our public service at large.

As I've mentioned earlier. I truly believe in the purpose of PA and the reason behind why our founding chairman Mr. Lee Kuan Yew founded PA.

Lest we forget the sombre purpose of the People's Association, let us heed PA's founding chairman and then Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew's warning in his speech at the opening of People's Association conference on 8 Jan 1966:
"It is from here that we now move forward to consolidate our stake in this part of the world. We cannot assume that we shall always be left alone to progress from strength to strength just by natural course of events. There are other people with other aspirations around us. Unless we are consciously striving to consolidate our position and strengthen our capacity to defend and build on what we have got, then we may all drift back once more into a transient and fluid state where the sense of ownership and pride in citizenship is lost as people seek personal salvation by temporizing, and time-serving and in the last resort, fleeing for their safety."
Tribute photo: Singapore's Founding Father and PA's Founding Chairman, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew giving a speech at the opening of an urban CC
Let us strive to make PA and the public service better every day. For when the public service progresses, it means our country is progressing and that will ultimately mean that our lives will progress with it as well.

Majulah PA! Majulah Singapore Public Service! Majulah, Singapura!

Giant farewell card from my Tampines North Constituency Office colleagues :") Thanks for making this season of my life a fun, meaningful and enjoyable one :')
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1 comment:

  1. Zab15 January 2024 at 11:03

    I loved reading about your People's Association experience! It's amazing how organizations like PA can become a significant part of our lives. On a somewhat related note, I've been curious about how community management works in different places. Does anyone here have insights or experiences with a QLD body corporate manager?

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