Beyond Fear and Favour

the motto of the Public Service Commission. it embodies one of the principles of governance in Singapore, that of incorruptibility. it is supposed to bring about confidence that the civil service is impartial, fair and beyond rent seeking.

now the HDB, while not a civil service in itself, is a stat board that does take some of its instructions from the Ministry of National Development, which is part of the civil service. so in matters of whether a particular estate is to be upgraded, it is still a decision to be made by the civil service. now if the civil service is truly beyond fear and favour, the estate would be subject to a series of published and transparent evaluation process as to whether it should be upgraded. in other words, if the civil service is truly beyond fear and favour, then upgrading should not be linked to who the MP of that particular estate is.

yet... we all know that if your MP is not from the ruling PAP, you can forget about your estate being upgraded. what does that make of the principle of beyond fear and favour?

further, upgrading of HDB estates uses public funds. funds from taxpayers, from Singaporeans. funds that should be used for the good of Singaporeans, not for partisan purposes.

yet... upgrading has become a carrot to entice people to vote for the ruling PAP. is that not using public funds for partisan purposes?

or am i much mistaken? can someone please enlighten me?