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Singaporean youth wanting bigger piece of political pie
Agence France Presse - September 5, 2010
Philip Lim, Singapore – It is tough being an opposition party member in Singapore, but Bernard Chen of the Workers' Party shrugs it off as he meets with voters, organizes events and attends meetings.
The 24-year-old is part of a new generation of activists fighting the formidable People's Action Party, which has ruled Singapore for 51 years and currently holds all but two of the 84 seats in Parliament.
All political parties in Singapore are reporting increased youth involvement as the country prepares for its next general elections, which are due by February 2012 but are widely expected to be held much earlier.
New voter-friendly measures announced by the government, such as caps on immigration following complaints from citizens about a spike in recent years, have further fueled expectations of an early vote.
"The PAP started off as being a minority in government too, so it's all about participating in the process and hoping to win the support of the people," Chen said.
One of his pet causes is lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 to enable more members of the Facebook generation to take part in politics and – in his thinking – support the opposition.
Despite getting into occasional trouble with censors and police, young Singaporeans have become more critical of the PAP on social media sites, blogs and Web sites such as theonlinecitizen.com.
Opposition parties have noticed, and are also ramping up their presence on the Internet.
"This interest in opposition politics will in a way require the PAP to raise its game," said Eugene Tan, a law professor at the Singapore Management University specializing in local politics.
He said the ruling party had far more resources than its rivals but believed the PAP was taking notice of young people's involvement with other parties. "I think overall a more competitive political scene should be beneficial to Singapore," the law professor added.
The PAP was founded in 1954 by a 31-year-old English-educated lawyer named Lee Kuan Yew, who went on to become the country's first leader, serving from 1959 until 1990. His son Lee Hsien Loong has been prime minister since 2004.
Despite the PAP's record of rapid economic progress which has turned Singapore into one of the world's richest societies, critics of the PAP say the city-state has lagged behind when it comes to democratic freedoms.
Opposition parties are reporting a rise in youth membership, with the Reform Party founded by the late democracy icon J B Jeyaretnam claiming 40 percent of its members are now aged 30 years and below.
Chen hopes that his party's Youth Wing membership increasing by 50 percent from four years ago, and the number of young members joining other parties are signs that democratic reforms are not far off in the city-state.
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