Thinking back to the last GE in 2006 (where I was first eligible to vote), no one around the world seemed to care. I remember vaguely that the BBC World Service (FM88.9 in Singapore) and BBC News on cable barely reported it. When they did, the correspondents all expected the People's Action Party (PAP) to have no trouble forming the government. And they were right, the PAP led a almost clean sweep, capturing all but 2 of the seats in parliament. That was the year when I first really became interested in politics.
It wasn't until last year when I took a political science module in LSE when I realise that Singapore isn't really an unknown overseas, at least in the political science arena. I was surprised at the extreme (both ends) perceptions foreigners have on the Singapore political system. One common view is that Singapore isn't democratic, while the other group will argue that it still have elements of democracy. Many heated discussions and theories were thrown around in class, but at the end of the day, who really cares?
We, as Singaporeans, should care. Sadly, I can't say this is the case for a lot of my peers. Even those who care, only seem to be interested when the elections are near for the wrong reasons. Their interest can be easily attributed to 2 broad reasons:
1. Many of my peers are first time voters, and are simply upset with the PAP government. But when quizzed on the why they are so full of angst, almost none could explain why.
2. There are also those who support the ruling party, and their reasons for doing so are even more disappointing: Because the government is giving us money (the Grow-and-share package is aptly timed to be disbursed on 1 May 2011).
There are also many other similar reasons.
My point is, many young Singaporeans do not fully understand (or bother about) the state of the country before taking a side. Some of my peers do not even know what constituency they belong to and whether they are required to vote! Such voters should not even be allowed to vote because they do not even know the implications and reasons for casting their vote.
Many youths, in my opinion, are getting involved in the discussion only because everyone else seems to be talking about it. Singaporeans like to complain, it seems to be an unspoken element of the Singaporean culture. But many do not stop and think why they are criticizing the politicians or why they are taking sides with the opposition parties. How many actually bother to read the party manifestos, think and analyse what the parties are actually saying?
Politicians should not be excused either. Instead of focusing on explaining how they intend to carry our their vision of Singapore over the next 5 years, it has quickly disintegrated into a series of claims and counter-claims, accusations and more accusations. As much as I love to see all this modern day, political bitch-slapping between grown adults, it really distracts voters and the critical issues facing Singapore today.
Personally, I think it is up to Singaporeans to decide for themselves what is the best approach to take Singapore forward and what is the best team to take us forward. Politicians should (ideally, at least) give us the space to think (and stop treating us as idiots) instead of participating in the mud-slinging that is happening today.
It is not just the ruling party that is guilty of this, the opposition candidates are also participating in this zero-sum game. What's sad is that the moment one party says something, the other party will have to come out to defend or rebuke for fear of being hammered (pardon the pun) by the other.
For all the heated debate and discussions we now have against the ruling party, I honestly think all these anger will ultimately not translate into votes against the PAP. As mrbrown pointed out, "What Singaporeans say and complain about the government and ruling party doesn't necessarily translate into votes against them," he said. "It's always nice to have an opposition, but not in my backyard."
In their attempt to connect with the youth, both the ruling party (with much criticism) and the opposition parties (with pretty good reception) introduced relatively young candidates for this coming GE.
Can young Singaporeans take responsibility for their votes? Let's hope so.
Edit: Good to see posts such as this, from one of my peers. Shows that there are at least some Singaporeans rational enough to put things in perspective and think things through before putting pen to paper.
