Bah so the KM newspaper thingy isn't perfect. Can't find the actual article I wanted. So here's a few to make up for it. Haha...
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Pub Date: 27/06/2005 Pub: ST Page: H8
Headline: Let's talk about Political Apathy - Rally speech? What about Liverpool vs Chelsea?
By: Benjamin Ho
Page Heading: YouthInk
GROWING PAINS
Youths say politics is boring and many feel it is fine to be politically apathetic. What has given rise to such attitudes and what can the Government do to engage the young? I HAVE a proposal: Leave the young alone. Don't engage them in dialogue sessions, forget about opinion polls and discard those national education leaflets. Instead, take Taufik and Sylvester with you during your Meet-the-People sessions. If you need to make a rally speech, check with ESPN to make sure Liverpool aren't playing Chelsea. The fact is, no one really cares what is said, taught or preached, as long as he is happy and comfortable. I suspect the only reason any teenager here would bother to provide new ideas is because some student leadership programme requires him to meet a quota before he can get a certificate of participation. I am not trying to denigrate the efforts of the authorities here. I just don't think these methods work. Youths are a particularly impressionable lot and they listen to people they respect. Unfortunately, this group of heroes is shrinking by the day. Across the world, politics has lost its 'colour'. There are no politicians with conviction, no fiery speeches. All we have are PR-friendly soundbites, politically correct statements and copy-and-paste answers dished out by faceless government bureaucrats. It's no surprise we are content to live out the status quo and splash in the mud of mediocrity. After all, mediocrity doesn't sound bad when you live in a five-room HDB flat, own a car and have two kids. Apathy is the price we pay for material success. Only a radical reinvention of politics - in form and substance - can change that.
The writer is a final-year communication and information studies student at Nanyang Technological University.
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Pub Date: 27/06/2005 Pub: ST Page: H8
Headline: Let's talk about Political Apathy - Lack of openness can lead to political atrophy
By: Rachel ChangPage
Heading: YouthInk
GROWING PAINS
Youths say politics is boring and many feel it is fine to be politically apathetic. What has given rise to such attitudes and what can the Government doto engage the young? I AM possibly one of the few people my age who has ever been to an opposition party political rally. As a wide-eyed 11-year-old, I was stunned and thrilled by the fervour of the masses at a Singapore Democratic Party rally in 1997. I remember the crowd erupting into loud cheers as the men around me told each other: 'It's JBJ!' Despite the clamour of the crowd, this elusive individual known by his acronym wasn't about to walk onstage. He wasn't allowed to because he was being sued and he was not an official candidate. Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam's political career has ended in a tide of lawsuits which has bankrupted him. Even though the courts have agreed he crossed the legal line, his fortunes or rather, misfortunes, would make one pause before putting a toe into politics. Is there anyone so courageous? Or so blemish-free, there is nary a chink in his political armour? Or do we assume these virtues belong only to those who are now in power? In a recent Straits Times interview, the writer, Dr Catherine Lim, defined political openness as the acceptance of three things: 'civic assembly, political cartoons and the ability to sue the Government - and win'. The lack of use of a muscle leads to its atrophy. Similarly, the lack of political openness, as defined by Dr Lim, leads to political atrophy in the form of apathy and indifference. While some may feel Mr Jeyaretnam deserved what he got, there will always be a lingering suspicion that he got what he did because he was no match for the system. The fact is, no matter what the ruling party's rhetoric about galvanising Singaporean youths politically, the message to them is: 'Be political, but only according to our rules.' Can you blame us for not answering such a compromised call?
The writer is waiting to begin a degree course in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University.
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Pub Date: 27/06/2005 Pub: ST Page: H8
Headline: Let's talk about Political Apathy - The sky won't fall down even if we don't care
By: Edward Choy
Page Heading: YouthInk
GROWING PAINS
Youths say politics is boring and many feel it is fine to be politically apathetic. What has given rise to such attitudes and what can the Government do to engage the young? WE'VE heard it all before: Young people in Singapore just don't care. But how bad is this thing called apathy, really? I don't care. Not a bit. Not at all,in fact. Nope, the sky's still there. Whether we care about politics, or the economic situation, or the state of the arts, or the incidence of HIV infection - life goes on. You go to school, you work, you go out, you go home, you watch TV, you sleep. You pay your bills, you pay your loans, you pay your taxes, you check your CPF account and wonder if you'll ever have the $2.3 million you need to retire. For men, our enlightening experience of 2 1/2 years in green makes us believe we know how our country really works. That knowledge serves us well through the rest of our lives on our little patch of green in the South China Sea. So well, in fact, we pooh-pooh any suggestion from the other half of the population that may run contrary to our 'insider knowledge'. That said, if you think we're pathetic (as opposed to just apathetic), take a look at the folks on the opposite side of the planet. They're so sick of the War on Terror, they would rather sit and watch people waiting for a verdict on a man whose skin colour is best described as 'peroxide'. Let's face it, most of us are sick of all the nonsense that's supposed to constitute the real world today. If I want to let my brains rot while I stew in my favourite chair before banal and ultimately worthless images, there's nothing anyone can really do about it. Even if I did care - I'm really not sure anyone would give a hoot.
The writer is a postgraduate theatre studies student at the National University of Singapore.
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