Debated in Parliament on 20 Jan 2015.
Mr Seah Kian Peng asked the Prime Minister (a) whether there is a rise in occurrences of rude and confrontational behaviour towards public servants, in particular front line staff and nurses; (b) if so, what are the reasons for this; and (c) what are the most common occurrences.
Good service delivery to citizens is important to the Public Service. It works best where there is mutual courtesy and respect. I am happy to note that while there are reported cases of abuse, the vast majority of service interactions between members of the public and public officers are conducted in a courteous and professional manner.
The frontline agencies with significant public interactions include the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, Central Provident Fund Board, Housing and Development Board, Inland Revenue Authority, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Social and Family Development and National Environment Agency. Among these seven agencies, there were 45 cases of harassment or abuse reported to the Police in 20141. This was an increase from the 25 cases reported in 2013. Among the restructured hospitals, there were 31 reported cases in 2013 and 34 cases in 2014. The Public Service receives more than five million service requests through physical channels each year. The incidence of abuse should thus be seen in this overall context.
The majority of these cases are incidents of verbal or physical abuse which amounted to intimidation and obstruction of public officers in performing their duties. In some instances, members of the public turned abusive when their requests or appeals were turned
Page: 96
down.
We take a serious view of abuse of public officers, and the more severe cases of abuse will face criminal prosecution under the Protection from Harassment Act which was passed by this House on 13 March 2014. The Act extended protection from harassment for public officers to include Public Service workers who deliver public services that are essential to Singaporeans’ daily lives, such as nurses working in our restructured hospitals. It also provides for increased penalties to reflect the seriousness of harassment against public officers and Public Service workers when they are performing their duties. Our Public Service officers and workers endeavour to serve Singapore and Singaporeans well. We will continue to protect them from abusive behaviour that prevents them from performing their duties.
PAPERCUTS