Apart from voting from time to time, the population as a whole has little interest in politics. Some say that they were warned off such sensitive subjects when at school – “You’ll only get into trouble; it’s far safer to think about other things”. As one businessman put it to me: “We’ve got an unwritten agreement with the government. We don’t interfere with them and in return they let us make lots of money.”

Singapore’s government is only just waking up to the idea that this lack of engagement might be a problem. Politicians are now saying in public that, with so few people wanting to have anything to do with politics, they are concerned about where the next generation of leaders will come from. There is even no obvious candidate for prime minister in waiting.

Source: Tribune Magazine

So far, PAP has been saying to Singapore voters, “trust us to do the job”.
Unfortunately, blind trust is stupidity. We have already seen too many cases of abuse of trust, from banks to charitable organisations.
Therefore, some of us have decided to do something about this, and we start by writing.
Most of you should rightly be more concerned about your job, your family, or your business.
Who cares about politics? That is only for the dirty politicians. We heard this too many time.
But we are saying this: You can choose to make preparation to migrate. That is one option. On the other hand, you can also choose to do something so that Singapore is worthy of being left to the next generation. That is another option.

Arthur

Tan Kin Lian conducted a survey to understand the issue of getting young people interested in politics.

It is interesting to note that amongst those below 30 who responded to the survey (13 responded), 91.7% wants more freedom of expression and 83.3% prefers more freedom to keeping the current situation.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcqjz7c8_88c6r88qf9

Challenges facing the alternative/ opposition parties
Forum organised by Singapore Democratic Party

I wish to thank the organisers for inviting me to speak at this forum. I am not associated with any political party. so I accept this invitation as a civil society leader.

Thirty years ago, many people were proud to be Singaporeans. They identified with the country, elected leaders and the shared national goals. I belonged to that generation.

In recent years, there has been a widening gulf between government leaders and the people. This is reflected in the large number of protest votes at each general election and the increasing number of people migrating to other countries.

The alternative parties have benefited from the protest votes against the ruling party. However, this is not sufficient. They have not been able to attract the middle ground, i.e. people who wish to see a viable alternative to run Singapore.

Questions
These people ask the following questions:

a) Can we see a higher calibre of candidates in the alternative parties?
b) What do the alternative parties stand for?
c) Can they play an effective role in Parliament?
d) Can they form an alternative Government?

The alternative parties face a big challenge in responding to these questions. They are not able to draw on the support of the wider population. Many ordinary citizens do not wish to be associated with any alternative political party, as they are afraid of being discriminated in their job or business. Hence, the alternative parties are able to attract only a small handful of active members.

It is difficult for any political party to do much, if they do not have financial and people resources and if ordinary citizens are afraid of being involved.

Educate the people
Given this challenge, I suggest that the alternative parties should focus on an educational effort – to educate the Singaporeans about their roles, rights and responsibilities as citizens. This educational effort is more neutral, and does not require the participants to be aligned to any political party.

The political parties can do the following:

a) Educate the public about their the values and goals of their party
b) Show the public what alternative policies can do for Singapore and the people.
c) Communicate actively

Use of internet
One effective means of communication is through the internet, blogs and websites. It is a low cost and pervasive way to reach out and educate large numbers of people, i.e. their members, supporters and the general public. In turn, these people can help to spread the message, through word of mouth, to the other people who are not able to access the internet.

There is a fear among the political parties of being sued if their published articles are deemed to be defamatory. This fear has to be overcome. The party leaders can be careful, but not excessively cautious. You can adopt a positive approach. You do not need to give negative views about other people. You only need to give positive views about your alternative approach. You can be right, without showing somebody else to be wrong.

Even if you make a genuine mistake and your statements are alleged to be defamatory, you have the chance to retract and apologise. There is nothing to be ashamed of admitting a mistake. If you overcome this fear, you can use the internet website actively.

Find writers
How about finding the people to write? You do not need to rely on your party members only. You can invite civil society leaders to write and give their views. These writers do not need to be associated with your party. Your party can state its views in support of these writers.

You can encourage your active members to express their views in popular websites, such as The Online Citizen and other blogs. These active members should state that they belong to your party, but are expressing their views in their personal capacity. It will help your party to be better recognised.

Unite the alternative parties
There is a call for the alternative parties to be more united. The general public perceive the alternative parties to be more disunited, than united. This is true. In the past, there were more occasions for the alternative parties to disagree, than to agree.

I suggest the following approach to achieve unity. Each party should state its values, goals and views. This allows the other parties to identify and focus on the areas that they share in common, such as goals and ideology. In the absence of shared goals, it is the tendency for people to focus on their differences. Give them a chance to agree on the shared goals and work under a common platform.

Values
I suggest that alternative policies can be focused on certain values:
a) Honesty, accountability
b) Justice and fairness
c) Work for the good of the people
d) Positive and constructive

Summary
a) State your values and goals
b) Communicate actively
c) Focus on education
d) Invite people to write, and not require them to be associated with your party
e) Use the internet to communicate with your people and the wider public.

Tan Kin Lian

===========================

We help ourselves. Don’t expect others to help

Tom Wright painted a bleak picture of Singapore’s property sector going forward at The Wall Street Journal. His article ended with the following:
“I’m yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel [for Singapore],” says Mr. Tan, the high-end broker.
We would expect people to continue to dig the dirt and tell it to [...]



Our skin isn’t as thick as it should be

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) organised a seminar on March 4 to discuss Singapore’s political blogosphere.  Tan Tarn How, Senior Research Fellow and Research Assistant Tan Simin presented their paper on trends observed in the blogosphere.  As reported in the TOC, the researchers identified the following limitations:

The online-offline firewall, while somewhat alleviated by offline [...]



Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew – The answer to the African problem?

Recently, I followed a thread “Democracy and Economic Growth” which started in PoliticsForum.org.   Apparently, members there often question the role of democracy in a developing nation. “During the wave of democratization in Africa during the 90s, many people had renewed hope for the continent, immediately equating newly established democracies to economic growth. Are these democracies [...]



Tell Singapore government: Ask them a question or give a suggestion

We informed people about the “Tell Singapore Government” subsite and have received some interesting reaction at some forums.
See: 3in1 Kopitiam, Sam’s Alfresco Coffee, Singapore Kopitiam, SgForums
Our responses to some of the comments are listed below. If we are not answering some other specific questions, that is because we do not know how.
 

Petitions

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I don’t know

Our Singapore

As seen by people

• 
  

• Purpose

To observe, analyse, present our position, and call for action. Read our articles, give your views, and learn together with us.