I APPLAUD Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and People's Association (PA) deputy chairman Lim Boon Heng for urging the PA to do more to help forge a common identity among Singaporeans ('PA's task ahead: To bridge society's gaps', Monday).

Singapore has changed dramatically in the 40 years since the PA was set up to serve as a catalyst in engaging Singaporeans. The emphasis today is on a self-possessed drive to develop and excel - from finding a good preschool programme and competing for enrolment into preferred primary schools to competing even harder for jobs.

This intensity to achieve and excel has severely reduced Singaporeans' time for meaningful interaction with fellow citizens.

The PA's community centres (CCs) and clubs, which used to be oases of relaxation and congregation, are now as caught up in the same, intense drive to adapt to swift-morphing technologies and lifestyle preferences.

To keep itself relevant to its neighbourhood, distance is equally important now because of time constraints. So the PA should, perhaps, relook the role of residents' committees (RCs) in encouraging engagement and congregation within a community.

The HDB building strategy involves constructing blocks of flats clustered close together. So, it may be more practical and convenient to build more and larger RCs where they are usually located - at the void decks of HDB flats - offering the full range of facilities that CCs have, which residents can access easily. Such a new and more complete infrastructure will allow grassroots leaders and residents more opportunities to interact.

The RCs will be cheaper to maintain as they will still be smaller than the CCs, quicker and more flexible in responding to residents' needs and, hence, attract and retain more active members.

Residents will also feel less alienated should election boundaries be redrawn. And it will feel less strange and unfamiliar for a resident to walk over or just ride down in a lift to his RC than to the CC, which may be located - and belong - to a different constituency.

Improving, increasing and enlarging RCs may diminish the role of CCs, or ultimately render them obsolete, but the price may be worth paying if it keeps the PA thriving and relevant.

Ong Lip Hua