1. Chapter 2
Governance
How government governs

2. Let’s Think!
 Turn to Pg.24 of TB & read the cartoon.
 Do you agree with the way the chocolates are
distributed?
 How did Siti distribute the sweets?
 How did Naidu distribute the sweets?

3. Reflection
 What were the reasons behind the method you
have selected to distribute the prize?
- Distribute equally - Fairness
- More to monitor & teacher – Meritocracy.
 Governments have to make similar choices
 Government decisions affect the lives of citizens.
 Their decisions need to be based on a set of
principles.

4. What we will learn today…
 Content Section:
 What is Governance?
 The Structure of Government in Singapore
 The role of the public in decision-making

5. NE Message
 We must uphold meritocracy
(reward according to effort) &
incorruptibility (not being corrupted).
 No one owes Singapore a living.
 We have confidence in ourselves.

6. What is Governance?
 Government providing services to the
citizens of a country.
 Government manages resources to carry
out its functions.
 Governance = how government manages
the country’s resources to carry out its
functions.

7. Functions of Government
 Government meets challenges faced by
country.
 Government functions include:
 Ensuring stability in government.
 Meeting people’s needs.
 Building a nation.
 Maintaining sovereignty.

8. How is Government Organized?
 There are 3 branches of government in
Singapore:
 The Legislature – consists of the Parliament
 The Executive – consists of the Cabinet & PM
 The Judiciary – consists of Courts of Law

9. Activity 1 – Locating Points
 Look at TB from Pg. 29 to 32.
 Discuss with your partner what are the key
functions of the branches of government
 You have 5 mins!

10. The Legislature
 The Legislature makes the laws.
 The legislature is composed of members
of parliament.
 The laws help keep order in the society.
 The laws give the ministries the right to
carry out their functions.

11. The Executive
 Make government policies.
 Ministers & senior civil servants together develop
policies.
 Civil servants turn policies into draft laws.
 Laws are presented to Legislature for approval.
 Administers and carries out the laws approved by
Parliament.

12. The Judiciary
 Made up of 3 types of courts:
 Subordinate Courts – minor offences
 High court – capital crimes
 Court of Appeal – decides on appeals to decisions
made at other courts.
 Decides whether people are guilty of offences.
 Judiciary makes judgements independently
 Not influenced by political parties, legislature or
executive.

13. What is the role of citizens?
 Power to choose leaders for the legislature
and executive.
 Participate in voting.
 Critically analyze government policies.
 Contribute to decision making through
feedback channels:
 Letters to Forum Page
 Dialogue sessions/ MPS
 Facebook/Twitter/other social media platforms

14. Principles of Governance
A Stake for
Leadership
Everyone,
is key
opportunities
(important)
for all
Anticipate Reward
change for work
and stay & work for
relevant reward

15. Principles of Governance
 Leadership is key.
 Must have the integrity to do what is right
rather than what is popular.
 Leaders must be selected and groomed.
 Leaders must have good character
 Moral courage
 Incorruptible
 Honesty

16. Principles of Governance
 Anticipate change & stay relevant
 Decisions taken need to be forward-looking.
 Take into account future challenges.
 Solutions must be relevant to changing times
 Singapore must be open to new ideas and its
citizens must be willing to upgrade
themselves to stay employable.

17. Principles of Governance
 Reward for work & work for reward.
 Meritocracy is a system that rewards hard
work and talent.
 People are rewarded on their abilities and
hard work.
 Meritocracy helps give everybody in society
an equal opportunity to achieve their best.
 Regardless of race, religion and socio-
economic background.

18. Principles of Governance
 A stake for everyone, opportunities for all
 Citizens have a say in decision-making.
 This gives a sense of belonging to the nation.
 Policy decisions taken will take into account
views of the citizens

19. Buzz Break!!!
 List the 3 branches of the Singapore
government?
 List down the 4 roles of the public in
decision-making

20. Traffic Flow Management
A Case Study in governance

21. The Problem with Traffic…
 Singapore is a small country so the use of
land requires proper planning.
 Turn to page 39 of the Textbook.
 What can you tell about how the government
makes use of land in Singapore?

22. Land is Scarce
 As Singapore’s population continues to
grow, there will be an increase in the
demand for land especially for:
 Housing
 Factories/ Industrial Development
 Transport infrastructure and roads.
 Military and other uses

23. The Traffic Build-up
 The growth of the car population was slow till
just before WWII.
 Expensive to own a car.
 Not many were able to operate a car.
 After the war, car population grew. Traffic flow
into town or Central Business District (CBD) was
high.
 Traffic jams were frequent and caused delays.
Goods & workers could not reach factories on
time. Productivity was low.

24. Government Measures
 Measure 1: Area Licensing Scheme:
 Motorists had to pay to use certain roads
coming in to CBD. Purchase a RZ label.
 Roads were bounded within areas known as
Restricted Zones.
 Gantries manned by CISCO guards were set
up to monitor vehicles coming in to RZs.
 Motorists without valid label would be fined
and were not allowed to enter.

25. In Support of ALS
 At the same time, Government also
discouraged people from driving into town:
 Improving bus services: With improvements,
people could take a bus to work. It was not an
ordeal.
 Increasing the cost of parking: Cost to park
vehicles in town went up. Discouraged spending
too much time in town

26. Government Measures
 Measure 2: Park & Ride Scheme:
 Motorists could park their cars outside CBD
 Then take special shuttle services into CBD
 Not successful.
 Motorists decided to either take the bus all the
way or drive in before ALS started.
 Park & Ride scheme officially discontinued.
 However some motorists are still using it on
their own.

27. Government Measures
 Measure 3: Electronic Road Pricing:
 ALS coupon system not the most efficient.
 ALS was labour-intensive and inconvenient.
 With new technology, Government could
monitor traffic more effectively.
 ERP replaced ALS in 1998.

28. Government Measures
 Measure 4: Vehicle Quota System
 A sharp increase in car ownership in 1990s.
 Under VQS, LTA determined the number of
new vehicles allowed for registration.
 LTA would determine a quota of cars allowed
to be registered.

29. Government Measures
 Measure 4: Vehicle Quota System
 Car buyers must bid for the COE before
buying their car.
 LTA sets the quota for the month and the
quota premium based on the bids received.
 Successful bidders are those whose bids
match or are closest to the quota premium
established.

30. Graphic Organizer
Area Licensing Scheme
Park and Ride Scheme
Traffic Flow in
Singapore
Electronic Road Pricing Vehicle Quota System

31. What Principle of Governance does
this example show?
 The policies to control traffic affected many citizens. Not
everyone supported the measures.
 Groups voiced objections: motorists, CBD retailers,
parents sending children to school
 Government acted even though not popular. Controlling
traffic raises productivity. Good for S’pore.
 Leaders must make decisions that are good and sound
(properly decided on)
 Principle of: ___________________________

32. Lesson Check
 What is governance?
 Why are there 3 branches of
government?
 List any 2 principles of governance


33. Skills Section

34. Source-Based Questions
 This is the compulsory section of the exam
paper.
 Students are to read or view sources of
information and interpret them.
 What is a source?

35. Source-based Questions
 Types of sources:
 Oral sources from transcript (primary)
 Written or published sources (secondary)
 Pictorial sources includes:
 Photographs
 Political cartoons
 Pictures
 Graphs and charts

36. Source-Based Questions
 Parts of a source
 Provenance = Heading, provides details
about the source
 Content of source = The picture, the
cartoon, the statement, excerpt (short section
of a passage) etc.
(See the sample attached)

37. Source-Based Questions
 The SBQs tests students on the following
skills:
 Inference (with or with out purpose)
 Comparison
 Reliability
 Validity

38. Source-Based Questions –
Inference Qns
 To infer :
 To deduce or conclude (something) from
evidence and reasoning rather than from
explicit statements
 Should not simply re-state (repeat) what they
have read or see in the source in their
answer. Ready to try out your inference skills?
 Lets see how many inferences pick out?

39. Organize your inferences
 What inferences relate to what happened?
 What inferences relate to where it
happened?
 Inference on when…
 Inference on how…
 Inference on who was involved?

40. Answering an Inference Qn.
 Steps to answering inference Qns (after
you have read the question):
 Step 1: Look for all possible clues and
information you can gather from the source…
 Step 2: Organize the inferences into
categories…take out categories not relevant
to question.
 Step 3: Write-up your inferences into an
answer (to be covered next lesson)

41. Ok…but how do I make an
inference?
 You do not have to be creative or good
with language to pick-up inferences…
 Just pick up on what the sources are
telling/showing you – then explain how this
is relevant to the question
 Let’s try making inferences with something
interesting…a pop song!

42. In-Class Practice 1 – Lessons
from Pricetag (Jessie J)
Now lets see if we can try to make
inferences from this and answer a question!

43. In-Class Practice 2 –
Understanding Pie-Charts
 Look at the pie chart coming up in the next
slide and apply the steps you have learnt:
 Step 1: Read the question and mark out what
they are looking for (issue).
 Step 2: Study the source (then check back to
the question to guide your inference)
 Step 3: Support your inferences and make
explanations

44. In-Class Practice 2 – Lets apply
to Exam Questions
 Let’s look at the worksheet given to you
last week…
 Infer
 Support
 Explain

45. Pictorial source

46. Question
 Based on the information in the pie-chart
what can you infer about the use of land in
Singapore?
 Inference 1: Land use is already quite
used up (saturated)
 Support: Land available for other uses is
capped at 37%
 Explanation: This shows that government
needs to use land carefully.

47. In-Class Practice 3 – Written
Source
 Look at the worksheet you were given last
week and read the source!
 Let’s see if we can work out the answer
together.

48. Interpreting Pictorial Sources
 Step 1: Identify the content of the cartoon
 Step 2: Identify the action areas in the cartoon.
 Step 3: Divide the source into action segments
 Step 4: Analyse the action in each segment.
 Step 5: Write out the answer.

49. Step One
 Relevant details from the provenance:
- Incident of Bobby Sands hunger strike.
- 24 April 1981 (more than a month of strike)
- Leader of IRA terrorist group.
- Hunger strike to recognise political status

50. Step Four
 Describe what you see in segment A
- Who is lying on the bed?
- Who are the people surrounding the bed?
- Who are they doing?
- What is the event taking place at the time?

51. Step Four
 Look at what you see in segment B
- Who is the man standing there?
- What do you observe about him?
- Who do you think he represents?

52. Step Four
 Look at the Caption of the cartoon at C
- Who does the caption refer to?
- What is the caption trying to say?

53. Suggested Answer
 Many innocent lives were lost/maimed during the
acts of terror conducted by the IRA. Victims are
represented by the one-legged man on a crutch.
The “victim” points out the irony that there are
more people concerned with the health of a
terrorist than with the victims of terrorism. The
cartoonist is critical of people who are concerned
by Bobby Sand’s tactic to gain public sympathy
and he feels that more sympathy should be for the
victims of the conflict.

54. Key Points from Inference
Questions
 What are the steps to answering Inference
Questions?
 What are the steps to writing an answer?
I
S
E