This article is dedicated to all the youths who have come forward to find out more, in one way or another, about the Workers’ Party Youth Wing.
A lot of discussion over the last year and a half has centred on how and why youths in Singapore today are politically apathetic, and what can be done about it.
Few youths I’ve spoken to today are as idealistic as those who grew up in the 80’s. Today’s youths are a more practical lot, with wider interests than mere friends or boy-girl relationships that their predecessors were preoccupied with. But yet, for a majority of the youths of both yesterday and today, some twenty years down the road, something remains the same – zilch interest in politics!
Could this be due to the environment around us? I, for one, grew up believing that policemen would come and take you away at 3am in the morning if you did anything wrong, including making fun of the government or talking bad about them. Ostensibly this has to come from a home environment where the primary caregivers (parents and grand-parents back then) nursed and passed on such beliefs. Is it only a belief? Or is there truly no smoke without fire? Or perhaps it’s a leftover “figment of imagination” from the communist / marxist crackdowns?
Until today, such psychological “bombardments” still abound. For example, we are continually being bombarded with the fact that Singapore is indeed clean, green and safe (and now trying to be hip too). It is almost like a bad dream…except that we do not seem to have awakened from the dream. These “bombardments” still do take place in homes across our wonderful nation today. Yes, today – toward the end of the first decade in the 21st century, when information is so easily available, when younger parents who had grown up learning about and using the Internet are much more worldly wise than their predecessors – ideas are still being pushed to us, to make us believe in them. (Perhaps some sociologists might like to do a study on how urban legends start and why they do not easily die off.)
More importantly, is this one of the primary and extended reasons why youths today are generally politically apathetic? Is it because of the fear instilled in them by their parents and by society? If parents, in their various roles as caregivers, teachers, moral guides, life guides, and nurturers of mind and body, pass on such “fear” to their offspring, it is little wonder then, that such a climate of fear is perpetuated in Singapore, and particularly politics in Singapore.
However, I feel that there is now light at the end of the tunnel. And it is not an oncoming train. GE2006 may have been gone for close to two years now, but the level of interest in local politics shown by youths has in fact been steadily growing. If emails and interviews which I have received are anything to go by, this level of interest has been getting deeper as well. Some youths are today attempting to understand the local psyche of the “politically apathetic” youth so often lamented about. This speaks volumes about what some of our tertiary educators are driving toward – a movement that will awaken these infamously “apathetic” youths. This is a great thing, if we view progress as being able to think outside the academic box of school followed by a lifetime of work and life’s attendant pre-occupations – traditionally without the politics!
The question is, will this “revelation” of youths’ growing interest in politics, published in an alternative political party newsletter, cause a “clampdown” by the government? I think not. For as long as there has been history, people have always wanted to go their own ways. It is something the government should and probably will accept as a good thing.
So why then are some youths today beginning to openly defy this well observed tradition of “fear” by gradually becoming interested in politics, particularly opposition politics? Have parents in their various roles in society come around to accepting alternative viewpoints? Is the environment now more conducive for social activists or critics of the government?
There is no clear answer. But I do believe that this indicates an undercurrent of some politically oriented change in our society. Not a tsunami (a favoured description these days) but a small insistent tug nipping at the heels. We all hope that this undercurrent of change will continue to gain momentum. But even as I welcome such changes, caution is suggested. There should never be a revolution for the sake of having one alone. I hope this undercurrent of a desire for change will lead us to a more politically dynamic society where citizens do take part actively in governance.
Recently while reading the newspapers, a forum letter stood out: “Leave politics to governments, individuals must do what they can to help victims of the oppressed”, where the author belaboured the point of helping those who are oppressed but to literally leave politics to the government! Citing a past Nobel Peace Prize winner, the author goes on to state that “we can adopt a humanitarian approach and not a political approach”. But can we, really?
At the end of the day, all affairs of the state ultimately impact upon its citizens. If we were to divorce politics or the running of a state from our day-to-day affairs, then we would have to wonder what the state exists for? Or in some cases, who it exists for?
Some might say that being politically apathetic is a safe route to take, because at least you can be sure that you will not be hauled away at 3am in the morning, since you have nothing to do with the ‘local state’. But is this a state in which we want to live?
I hope the youths who have spoken to us to find out more, end up answering most of their own questions, as I believe these answers lie in most of our backyards and sometimes at our front door. As a political party, we are a sum reflection of all that is past and what is, in terms of what society wants or accepts. History brings us to where we are today but tomorrow is built by ideas and ideals. The future state of politics in Singapore is in our collective hands, should we choose to exercise this right when presented with an opportunity every five years or so.
Let us remember that the most powerful propaganda machine lies only partially in the hands of a national press or the Internet (or a government, for that matter), be it in the dissemination of information, partial information or outright mis-information. The rest of it lies with us, in our minds.