On the one hand, experts argue that when people’s distrust of their leaders increases, this can make them be more critical of the information they receive. They will check and assess for themselves any information they get and demand a lot of transparency and accountability from their leaders.
On the other hand, decreasing public trust in leaders can slowly erode their trust in institutions. This has the potential to lead to more conflict and reduce their willingness to pay taxes, etc., said NTU’s Dr Ang.
According to Professor Tan, Associate Professor of NUS, if people’s trust in leaders is not immediately restored and people still feel that their leaders are deliberately misleading them, ultimately, they will use their votes to replace those leaders or overhaul the institution.
To repair public trust, leaders must be willing to accept public responses – including negative responses – and act on them. Apart from that, leaders must also be more transparent, keep their promises and take responsibility when they make mistakes, experts say.
For those who feel left behind by changes in technology and society, Dr Gillian Koh, senior researcher at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), said: “In Singapore, many narratives tell that business disruption, caused by technological change and progress, will create workers lose their jobs if they don’t retrain themselves.
“There are very few narratives that tell how technology has the potential to create new jobs, add value to old jobs, or help existing employees with their current jobs. So many stories tend to take a ‘change or die’ view.
“Unless you are young, tech-savvy, like innovation and have a positive view of science and technology, the majority of society feels pressured by such changes.”
According to SUSS’ Dr Oh, the lack of options they currently have is also a major factor in why some respondents feel left behind by social and technological changes.
“For example, when the switch to SimplyGo was first announced, there was no “opt-out” option and it was mandatory. People may assume that many social and technological changes are being imposed unilaterally on them,” Dr Oh said.
Thus, empowering individuals to have greater autonomy, and then always providing alternative options, will likely facilitate the implementation of such changes for many individuals.
Ultimately, the people and leaders responsible for creating such policies must also be mindful that there will be people who will struggle to catch up, said Professor Tan of SUSS.
Therefore, leaders must be able to provide understanding and assurance, as well as the assistance needed to help individuals improve their abilities, he added.
