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Old bird like CST, LTK or even CSJ dun even dare to give advice but this green horn think he is old bird already.
Joining Politics – A Guide For Singapore Youths (Part 1)
It seems that in recent months, more and more youths are voicing their political opinions on the Internet. This could be due to the fact that the General Elections is just around the corner, and that the youths of Singapore are not as easily brainwashed unlike their predecessors.
Youths today are better-educated and are much more willing to not accept things at face value. This could be due to the emphasis on “thinking skills” that was introduced by the Ministry of Education circa 1999. Whatever the reason, it can be said that the youths of today are more outspoken, more outward-looking and most importantly, better connected to the world at large. No more do they rely on the state’s propaganda perpetrated by the publications under Singapore Press Holdings.
Youths of today stay in touch with people from all over the world via social networking sites such as Facebook, get their news from many sources, such as Yahoo! and Google News and are generally more receptive to alternative points of view.
However, like their predecessors, there still remains a lingering sense of fear amongst them to take the plunge into politics. Most of the time, they cite a lack of interest in politics – they think that politics is a very dry and boring subject – or they purposely hide their true feelings for fear that the PAP government will “mark” them for life.
Who can blame them for thinking like that? After all, Social Studies is a compulsory subject in school. The biased Social Studies syllabus paints the PAP – and especially Lee Kuan Yew – as the founder of modern Singapore. Nothing could be further from the truth, for the real beginnings of modern Singapore began in 1819 with the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles.
Also, the schools portray the PAP as “heroes” who gallantly defended Singapore from the Communists. The villian in this case is almost always Lim Chin Siong, whose party (Barisan Socialis) is painted to be THE number one Communist threat to Singapore’s survival in the 50s and 60s.
Again, that is an obvious deviation from the truth, going by recently uncovered secret documents in the London Public Office. For more information, you are advised to read ‘Comet In Our Sky’ (available from Select Books – http://www.selectbooks.com.sg/) and Dr Chee Soon Juan’s book ‘A Nation Cheated’ (also from Select Books).
It is a given fact that most people do not voice their political opinions openly (and often using internet pseudonyms) for fear that the Internal Security Department (ISD) or Police might come knocking on their door. Tales of treatment at the mercy of the ISD are well-known by now.
It is this culture of fear that stops youths of today from entering politics, together with political apathy and materialism. The kiasu (afraid to lose) and kiasi (afraid to die) attitude of Singaporeans in general are to blame for this. We have been taught from young to pursue the good life and leave politics to the all-knowing, all-powerful PAP.
I still remember my grandmother telling me when I was a young boy that the PAP has the interests of the people at heart, and that all their policies (no matter how harsh) are for the good of Singaporeans. This happened sometime around the 1989 General Elections, where Serangoon Gardens was the battleground between the PAP and SDP. I was then 6 years old.
Today, I believe strongly that all National Education lessons, as well as all the stories I have heard from my relatives about the superiority of the PAP’s quality of governance are nothing but lies. Unfortunately, many people in Singapore, especially those who are not internet-savvy and the older generation are still trapped by the thought that the press is always right.
Therefore, the first step to joining politics is: NEVER BELIEVE WHAT YOU READ IN THE PAPERS!
I have experienced this myself when my case of “inciting violence and public disorder” was brought to the attention of the mainstream media. The newspapers in Singapore are obsessed with propping up the views of the ruling PAP elite and will not hesitate to distort facts and assassinate one’s character.
Most notably, the Political Desk of the Straits Times – whose editor was an ISD operative – will paint all Opposition party members as imbeciles, ingrates, liars and such like. The PAP, however, are heroes, wise men, learned and compassionate leaders of society.
(I still keep an SMS conversation between myself and Jeremy Au-Yong of the ST Political Desk, where he apologized when I pointed out a grave mistake in an article about me. I may need to use it someday in my political career.)
There are many sources of alternative news, such as the opposition newspapers (Hammer (WP) and The New Democrat (SDP) are popular ones) and news blogs (The Online Citizen, Singapore Angle, Temasek Review, Yawning Bread, etc). Whilst no one news source can be taken as the gospel truth, they can provide another angle to the news that may sometimes escape notice or mention in the mainstream media. Of course, this is not to mention the fact that such news sources frequently do not censor information, and can sometimes precede the mainstream news sources in bringing up-to-date information (the YOG food poisoning scandal is a recent example).
In conclusion, I again stress the fact that the first step to joining politics for youths in Singapore is NEVER TO BELIEVE THE PRESS 100%! Take every piece of news in both the state media (including TV) with a large grain of salt.
Always read widely, and read alternative points of view. Do not be blinkered by the mainstream media, and always question what you read, no matter if it is The Straits Times or Temasek Review (two opposite sides of the media spectrum).
Abdul Malik
