Fair play when re-drawing election boundaries: Gen Y voters

[streetcry]

By S Ramesh | Posted: 14 October 2011 2143 hrs

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Participants at a political forum in SMU.[/TD]
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SINGAPORE: The general elections was over five months ago, but interest remain on how future polls would shape up and how electoral boundaries are drawn.

These subjects were discussed at a forum organised by the Singapore Management University's Political Association (SMU Apolitical), whose members come from Gen Y.

The 50-odd participants at the forum are in the 21 to 35 age group. Since the polls in May, there has been much discussion on how they voted, which was a key topic of the forum, titled "When Gen Y marks X".

Mohamed Irshad, president of SMU Apolitical, said: "There is a lot of political apathy among the youth and so we are basically trying to get people to know about politics, and it is good as it is within the school framework and it is all student-initiated."

Mou Hui, a student at SMU, said: "Diversity is good, it allows for more robust discussion for the best possible policies. At the same time, it would remain in Singapore's best interest for the debates to be constructive."

Observers said one issue the younger generation is keenly watching, is the re-drawing of boundaries before an election.

Assistant Professor Eugene Tan from SMU, said: "Singapore voters would be more concerned with fair play in the political system, it is something the government would have to pay attention to and something which the opposition parties can easily pick on.

"Singaporeans want to see a fair contest where parties are not unnecessarily advantaged or disadvantaged through the rules in place."

And would online discussions spill onto the streets and public rallies, like what happened recently in Malaysia with the Bersih protests?

Nanyang Technological University's Dr Cherian George, said: "While the internet continues to be a vibrant environment, whether this translates into any large-scale significant offline political development, I have my doubts."

For now, all eyes are on the Parliamentary debates beginning Monday and the arguments from the new MPs, from both the ruling party and opposition.

-CNA/ac