REACH member admits he doesn’t know the details of how feedback is relayed to relevant authorities

Ruling party parliamentarian Darryl David has admitted in a recent interview that he doesn’t know the details of how REACH – the Government’s feedback department – collects and relays information to the relevant authorities.

This is despite the fact that he is a member of the REACH Supervisory Panel.

The Ang Mo Kio GRC MP made the admission when he was speaking to MONEY FM 89.3 (which is owned by Singapore Press Holdings Radio) as part of an initiative by REACH and the Ministry of Finance to get feedback on financial issues ahead of Budget 2019.

When the interview, Michelle Martin, asked Darryl how the REACH feedback process works and where the feedback the board collects goes, Darryl replied: “So in REACH what we will do is we will collate the feedback and send it also to the government via the REACH feedback channel.”

He further admitted that he is not familiar with the exact details of how the feedback is relayed to the relevant authorities. He said: “Of course if you want me to break down the exact details of what actually gets done and how does that translate, I don’t have the micro details.”

In the interview, Darryl also identified five specific areas that REACH focuses on gathering feedback about. These areas are: ageing and healthcare, pre-school, innovation, security, and philanthropy. When he was asked how REACH identified these five areas, Darryl explained:

“If you look at it from a different perspective for example from an average person’s point of view, you would expect your government to provide you with five basic areas, right: transport, housing, healthcare, education, and food. Those are the five basic necessities that you actually would need. So if you look at the five areas that REACH looks at as well, I think a few of those areas would cover these five basic areas.”

Earlier, Darryl received flak for being “out of touch” after he shared in the same interview that he hasn’t encountered any couple citing high cost as a deterrent to starting a family and having children.

Several Singaporeans responding to the interview felt that Darryl is disconnected from the realities of the ground and that his views are divorced from the circumstances many ordinary citizens face:

https://theindependent.sg.sg/pap-mp-says-he-hasnt-encountered-any-couple-citing-high-cost-as-a-deterrent-to-having-children/