I read with interest the report “New non-profit group to promote culture of honour” (Aug 6). Honour (Singapore) describes itself as dedicated to promoting a culture of honour and honouring across the nation at a time of strident voices and pessimism.
While the organisation’s objective is laudable, it seems to imply that unhappiness on the ground is due to negative perceptions and loud angry noise, but maybe not genuine problems.
Most residents here might attest that the challenges we face now, mostly sociopolitical in nature, are real and quantifiable. As we face these challenges, one would think that it is timelier to promote the development of sociopolitical capital.
We could work on six areas: Promoting political education; driving courageous conversations; enhancing data transparency; strengthening institutional checks and balances; encouraging civil society activism; and developing our leaders’ facilitation capabilities.
Promoting our citizens’ political education in the fundamental concepts of nation-building would ensure that they understand key concepts in Singapore’s cohesiveness. Everyone should be made aware of multiculturalism, multi-religiosity, respect for pluralism and the importance of secular public institutions.
A politically-aware and well-educated citizenry is better equipped to play a positive role in the political process, which will inevitably be less paternalistic and more participative in the years ahead.
Efforts to drive courageous conversations would empower us to look squarely at difficult topics, even those we deemed too sensitive previously, and have tough conversations about them.
This gives us an opportunity to find solutions at best, provide catharsis at worst.
The enhancement of data transparency could include a Freedom of Information Act, to facilitate more robust analyses and debates. Greater information access for the masses also enables us to leverage on crowdsourced problem-solving.
Strengthening institutional checks and balances could include enhancing role clarity and removing potential conflicts of interest between public institutions. This would increase public trust in government and public institutions.
Encouraging stronger civil society participation in the political process would allow us to tap diverse perspectives and expertise outside of government to solve increasingly complex issues, as well as strengthen public-private collaboration and promote co-ownership of issues and solutions.
Developing facilitation capabilities for our leaders, in the public and private sectors, would be key in ensuring that we can have critical, constructive and progressive conversations with multiple groups that bring pluralistic and, possibly, competing perspectives to the discussion.
We went from Third World to First World economically in an impressive time span.
If we turn our attention strategically to sociopolitical capital development in these areas in a disciplined, deliberate manner, we could better navigate through headwinds caused by powerful domestic and global sociopolitical forces.
We could aspire to transform ourselves into a truly holistic, First World polity in the next decade.
PERRY TAN CHIK CHOONG
*Article first appeared on TODAY, Voices (Aug 8)