Four political parties face off in forum
By Imelda Saad | Posted: 23 March 2011 2108 hrs
Students attending the "GE 2011: What's at Stake for Singapore" forum at the National University of Singapore.
Students attending the "GE 2011: What's at Stake for Singapore" forum at the National University of Singapore.
SINGAPORE : Political parties in Singapore engaged in a dialogue with university students on Wednesday ahead of the upcoming General Election.
At the forum organised by the NUS Political Science Alumni, two issues dominated the discussions - the need for alternative voices in Parliament and a perceived culture of fear among Singaporeans to speak on politics.
The Workers' Party calls this an "insurance for the future".
Sylvia Lim, Workers' Party chairman and non-constituency MP, said: "The first step to take is to have elected members from non-PAP members of Parliament because from there you have experience in the daily governance of the town council, you have experience in policy debate.
"And from there you will build the critical mass that is necessary for us to build that insurance in case the ruling party should falter."
Following changes to the Constitution, the next Parliament will have at least nine opposition MPs in the House.
The Workers' Party and Reform Party acknowledged that while their parties have attracted new blood, they are not ready yet to form an alternative government.
Kenneth Jeyaretnam, secretary-general, Reform Party, said: "Even if it takes 10, 15, 20 years, we will eventually transform Singapore into a multi-party or two-party democracy, with different parties alternating in power."
The Singapore Democratic Party called on Singaporeans to be "let back into the political process". Its secretary-general, Chee Soon Juan, said only then will there be a sense of rootedness among young people.
Dr Chee said: "Elections come and elections go. Elections do not make a democracy and without democracy, it's very difficult to hold on to your citizens.
"More than just elections, let us have this system whereby we encourage our young people to speak up, to exercise their freedom of speech and assembly. Those are not namby-pamby, arty-farty kind of concepts. It is really what will keep Singaporeans rooted here in Singapore."
The issue of speaking up, and the perceived culture of fear, was also discussed.
The panel said this is where public education is important, for example, about the issue of the secrecy of the vote.
Ms Sylvia Lim said: "We are very confident that votes are not traced because we have been following the election process for many elections.
"We've actually printed out this special brochure to tell voters step-by-step what happens when the vote is cast, all the way to when it's counted, put in the Supreme Court vault and incinerated in Tuas because we want people to have confidence that the vote itself will not be traced."
Michael Palmer, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, said: "All the press are here today, both the papers and Channel NewsAsia, and all of you are here today and from the comments I've heard, I don't think there's any climate of fear.
"I don't hear anyone (being) afraid to say what they want to say and I've heard a lot. So you draw your own conclusions on what you see here on whether there is a climate of fear."
One student asked if there has been any fallout for the ruling party because of recent remarks made by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew about the Malay-Muslim community in his book "Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going".
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said that he stands corrected on a comment he made about Muslims and integration in his book. He said the comment on Muslims integrating with other communities was made probably two or three years ago.
Mr Palmer said: "Whether it has dented the relationship between the Malay-Muslim community and the PAP, I don't think that we need to fool ourselves - obviously it had an effect.
"But what I can say is that as far as the party is concerned, I would probably say that all of us at that time disagreed with MM and I think that came out also at the cabinet level, the prime ministerial level and also the MP level on the ground.
"So obviously there is ground that has to be made up and we continue to work at that but I think MM saying he stood corrected has helped a bit. But I'm not going to say that it's all over and everything is fine. Obviously it is not the case.
"It is something each individual MP will have to work at in terms of bridging that gap and re-establishing and repairing that relationship and we continue to work at that."
It was a packed forum of about 300 young Singaporeans and by the time the dialogue started, it was standing room only, an indication perhaps of the keen interest on what the political parties had to offer and of the issues affecting Singapore ahead of the General Election.
- CNA/al
By Imelda Saad | Posted: 23 March 2011 2108 hrs
Students attending the "GE 2011: What's at Stake for Singapore" forum at the National University of Singapore.
Students attending the "GE 2011: What's at Stake for Singapore" forum at the National University of Singapore.
SINGAPORE : Political parties in Singapore engaged in a dialogue with university students on Wednesday ahead of the upcoming General Election.
At the forum organised by the NUS Political Science Alumni, two issues dominated the discussions - the need for alternative voices in Parliament and a perceived culture of fear among Singaporeans to speak on politics.
The Workers' Party calls this an "insurance for the future".
Sylvia Lim, Workers' Party chairman and non-constituency MP, said: "The first step to take is to have elected members from non-PAP members of Parliament because from there you have experience in the daily governance of the town council, you have experience in policy debate.
"And from there you will build the critical mass that is necessary for us to build that insurance in case the ruling party should falter."
Following changes to the Constitution, the next Parliament will have at least nine opposition MPs in the House.
The Workers' Party and Reform Party acknowledged that while their parties have attracted new blood, they are not ready yet to form an alternative government.
Kenneth Jeyaretnam, secretary-general, Reform Party, said: "Even if it takes 10, 15, 20 years, we will eventually transform Singapore into a multi-party or two-party democracy, with different parties alternating in power."
The Singapore Democratic Party called on Singaporeans to be "let back into the political process". Its secretary-general, Chee Soon Juan, said only then will there be a sense of rootedness among young people.
Dr Chee said: "Elections come and elections go. Elections do not make a democracy and without democracy, it's very difficult to hold on to your citizens.
"More than just elections, let us have this system whereby we encourage our young people to speak up, to exercise their freedom of speech and assembly. Those are not namby-pamby, arty-farty kind of concepts. It is really what will keep Singaporeans rooted here in Singapore."
The issue of speaking up, and the perceived culture of fear, was also discussed.
The panel said this is where public education is important, for example, about the issue of the secrecy of the vote.
Ms Sylvia Lim said: "We are very confident that votes are not traced because we have been following the election process for many elections.
"We've actually printed out this special brochure to tell voters step-by-step what happens when the vote is cast, all the way to when it's counted, put in the Supreme Court vault and incinerated in Tuas because we want people to have confidence that the vote itself will not be traced."
Michael Palmer, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, said: "All the press are here today, both the papers and Channel NewsAsia, and all of you are here today and from the comments I've heard, I don't think there's any climate of fear.
"I don't hear anyone (being) afraid to say what they want to say and I've heard a lot. So you draw your own conclusions on what you see here on whether there is a climate of fear."
One student asked if there has been any fallout for the ruling party because of recent remarks made by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew about the Malay-Muslim community in his book "Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going".
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said that he stands corrected on a comment he made about Muslims and integration in his book. He said the comment on Muslims integrating with other communities was made probably two or three years ago.
Mr Palmer said: "Whether it has dented the relationship between the Malay-Muslim community and the PAP, I don't think that we need to fool ourselves - obviously it had an effect.
"But what I can say is that as far as the party is concerned, I would probably say that all of us at that time disagreed with MM and I think that came out also at the cabinet level, the prime ministerial level and also the MP level on the ground.
"So obviously there is ground that has to be made up and we continue to work at that but I think MM saying he stood corrected has helped a bit. But I'm not going to say that it's all over and everything is fine. Obviously it is not the case.
"It is something each individual MP will have to work at in terms of bridging that gap and re-establishing and repairing that relationship and we continue to work at that."
It was a packed forum of about 300 young Singaporeans and by the time the dialogue started, it was standing room only, an indication perhaps of the keen interest on what the political parties had to offer and of the issues affecting Singapore ahead of the General Election.
- CNA/al
