[h=2]Lim SS to grassroots: Remember why PA was formed[/h]
NTUC Chief who is also People’s Association (PA) deputy chief, Lim Swee Say, reminded grassroots leaders of their role in the community at an annual grassroots seminar.
The seminar was attended by some 1,200 grassroots leaders yesterday (13 Sep).
Speaking to his grassroots leaders, Mr Lim displayed a Straits Times report dated April 26, 1960, which announced the formation of PA and its main task – “To keep in constant touch with the people”.
This showed that the primary duty of grassroots leaders to act as the Government’s touchpoints on the ground has remained the same over the years, he said.
Mr Lim later told the media, “Over the last four years, we have been introducing new concepts, new strategies to our grassroots movement.” These include decentralising community outreach efforts to individual constituencies and bringing back mass sports events such as the Community Games in 2011.
The changes are meant to strengthen the role of the grassroots movement, not to change its function, added Mr Lim.
“From time to time, we will always keep reminding ourselves that this is why PA was formed,” he said.
According to a report from the Central Intelligence Agency of the US government, PA actually had its origins as a national building programme “designed to wean pro-Communist voters away from the opposition”.
Besides serving as a communication channel between the government and ruling party at the top and the people below – making way for a more responsive government – it was also intended for the PA to blur the boundaries between the government and the party [Link].
The CIA report said:
PA comes under criticism in recent years
In recent years, however, PA has come under criticism for not accurately reflecting sentiments on the ground about policies in areas such as immigration and housing. Also, some of the PA grassroots leaders are viewed by members of the public for being self-serving – they joined the grassroots to further their self-interests.
A TRE reader who said to be an ex-grassroots member posted a comment on TRE criticising the current PA grassroots movement. He said that PA is far removed from the ground these days.
“The nub of the issue stems from the ‘I want to hear only the good things’ by MPs and our leaders preferring to be cocooned and insulated from the sufferings on the ground. An ostrich syndrome if you may,” he said.
In particular, he highlighted that PA grassroots is very much “invaded” by foreigners currently.
“So many foreign elements has infested our grassroots organisation – all out to scheme and sponge on the system in mollycoddling, fawning upon our leaders in a servile display of exaggerated flattery and affection that got all of our leaders in cloud number nine, oblivious to the realities on the ground. This is what our leaders like and love, to be apple-polished.”
The reader said he was deeply involved in grassroots activities some years back in an effort to work towards a better Singapore. “Seeing that our grassroots organisations has been usurped and taken over by this foreign invasion, I quit as they no longer serve the needs of the indigenous anymore,” he lamented.
“Foreigners are out in droves for the freebies provided by PA’s grassroots activities and they snatched up and horde freebies & handouts for their own enclaves. They don’t really give a shit to what people think about their despicable behavious.”
Finally, this ex-grassroots member said, “Enough said, let’s work towards a better Singapore after 2016 with an alternative government.”
NTUC Chief who is also People’s Association (PA) deputy chief, Lim Swee Say, reminded grassroots leaders of their role in the community at an annual grassroots seminar.
The seminar was attended by some 1,200 grassroots leaders yesterday (13 Sep).
Speaking to his grassroots leaders, Mr Lim displayed a Straits Times report dated April 26, 1960, which announced the formation of PA and its main task – “To keep in constant touch with the people”.
This showed that the primary duty of grassroots leaders to act as the Government’s touchpoints on the ground has remained the same over the years, he said.
Mr Lim later told the media, “Over the last four years, we have been introducing new concepts, new strategies to our grassroots movement.” These include decentralising community outreach efforts to individual constituencies and bringing back mass sports events such as the Community Games in 2011.
The changes are meant to strengthen the role of the grassroots movement, not to change its function, added Mr Lim.
“From time to time, we will always keep reminding ourselves that this is why PA was formed,” he said.
According to a report from the Central Intelligence Agency of the US government, PA actually had its origins as a national building programme “designed to wean pro-Communist voters away from the opposition”.
Besides serving as a communication channel between the government and ruling party at the top and the people below – making way for a more responsive government – it was also intended for the PA to blur the boundaries between the government and the party [Link].
The CIA report said:
The (PA) program deliberately confused the roles of government and party so that the people tended to praise the party for activities undertaken by the government. Funded by the government but exploited by the ruling party, it cultivated an image independent of both. Thus Singapore’s unique People’s Association was born.
The report also noted that the community centers are at the heart of grassroots political activity in the neighborhood:
Thus, when an elected PAP representative is looking for a platform from which to cajole, praise, or inform his constituents, he usually chooses a community center as an auditorium or arranges a party-sponsored dinner there. Either way the roles of community center, government, and party become inextricably entwined. But since the center theoretically should not play host to a purely political activity, the neighborhood political committee (NCs, RCs, CCCs) often becomes the sponsor.
The report further noted that grassroots leaders at NCs, RCs and CCCs are usually appointed by PAP MPs:
It was partly the need for sponsorship of political activity in the centers and partly also Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s need for a personal political organization which led to the creation of political committees (NCs, RCs, CCCs) throughout the city in 1964. Like so many other organizations touching on the People’s Association complex, the committees pretend not to be political organizations at all. In each electoral district the members of the committee (members of NCs, RCs, CCCs) are appointed by the elected PAP representative. All appointments are then reviewed by the Prime Minister’s office, and the appointees thus consider themselves to be partially responsible to the Prime Minister himself.
The duties of committee members suggest a cross between ward heeler, opinion sampler, and local leader, with a little of the neighborhood cop thrown in for good measure. Thus the committee acts as eyes, ears, and sounding board for the elected representative. Further, it acts as the intermediary through which the representative dispenses patronage and favors. Complaints against the government filter up; remedies decided upon by the party percolate down.
In nurturing two-way communication with the people, the political committees (NCs, RCs, CCCs) indeed play a primary role. Nor has Prime Minister Lee failed to note the committees’ usefulness in this sense. Hardly a week passes without his requesting an opinion or assessment from the almost 200 active committees throughout the city. How will your neighborhood react to this policy or that initiative?
The duties of committee members suggest a cross between ward heeler, opinion sampler, and local leader, with a little of the neighborhood cop thrown in for good measure. Thus the committee acts as eyes, ears, and sounding board for the elected representative. Further, it acts as the intermediary through which the representative dispenses patronage and favors. Complaints against the government filter up; remedies decided upon by the party percolate down.
In nurturing two-way communication with the people, the political committees (NCs, RCs, CCCs) indeed play a primary role. Nor has Prime Minister Lee failed to note the committees’ usefulness in this sense. Hardly a week passes without his requesting an opinion or assessment from the almost 200 active committees throughout the city. How will your neighborhood react to this policy or that initiative?
PA comes under criticism in recent years
In recent years, however, PA has come under criticism for not accurately reflecting sentiments on the ground about policies in areas such as immigration and housing. Also, some of the PA grassroots leaders are viewed by members of the public for being self-serving – they joined the grassroots to further their self-interests.
A TRE reader who said to be an ex-grassroots member posted a comment on TRE criticising the current PA grassroots movement. He said that PA is far removed from the ground these days.
“The nub of the issue stems from the ‘I want to hear only the good things’ by MPs and our leaders preferring to be cocooned and insulated from the sufferings on the ground. An ostrich syndrome if you may,” he said.
In particular, he highlighted that PA grassroots is very much “invaded” by foreigners currently.
“So many foreign elements has infested our grassroots organisation – all out to scheme and sponge on the system in mollycoddling, fawning upon our leaders in a servile display of exaggerated flattery and affection that got all of our leaders in cloud number nine, oblivious to the realities on the ground. This is what our leaders like and love, to be apple-polished.”
The reader said he was deeply involved in grassroots activities some years back in an effort to work towards a better Singapore. “Seeing that our grassroots organisations has been usurped and taken over by this foreign invasion, I quit as they no longer serve the needs of the indigenous anymore,” he lamented.
“Foreigners are out in droves for the freebies provided by PA’s grassroots activities and they snatched up and horde freebies & handouts for their own enclaves. They don’t really give a shit to what people think about their despicable behavious.”
Finally, this ex-grassroots member said, “Enough said, let’s work towards a better Singapore after 2016 with an alternative government.”
