I put this question to some friends who have been actively engaging online forumers and readers in their personal efforts to enlighten readers and citizens who are growingly feeling the pains of being a citizen in present day Singapore. The reason i asked the question was because of a personal experience i encountered myself.
Way before National Day, and since GE2011, I’ve been working hard almost everyday to get apathetic friends and colleagues to open their eyes and to reflect deeper on what Singapore would mean to them if the current PAP continue to do the things it is doing. I took pains to help them understand why GDP at all costs is going to take away all they have worked for, with no hope of retirements, of ending up collecting cardboards and tin cans.
I helped them see what the future for their children would look like, with them having to compete with children of new citizens who come here with governmental support and a whole life mapped out for them, against the sink-or-swim at your own peril Singapore children.
Their jobs, their homes, their hopes and dreams are replaced by a mechanical contribute-or-bust outlook which cannot escape them…. The list goes on …
For the past two years i was happy with the progress i was making. These folks were beginning to see what i see and understand what they must do to at least stem the arrogance of the PAP. So, what happened next?
The National Day rally speech given by PM Lee turned my good effort upside down in one evening.
The workday following the speech I asked these friends what they thought of it. Guess what? They believed every word they heard from the PM. They believed he teared because he cared, he truly cared. They believe he has the most difficult job and it won’t do any good if they didn’t support him. They believed in the peace and prosperity of the country. They believed things could be worse without the PAP. They still believe in the PAP.
What did this lesson teach us? Yes, the dafts will remain dafts for a while yet. So, we rant, we protest, we assemble and rally, we write and we write, we joke, we cry, we do all we can to educate Singaporeans, both the dafts and the fence-sitters, but honestly, how converted are those listening in?
I want to be optimistic. I want to believe in our efforts. But at the end of the day these folks are going to ask us back what is it we can offer them? Why should they even listen to us let alone believe what we say to them? Is cracking jokes about ponding, about train breakdowns, about housing woes etc. enough to convince them of the failings of the government? Is the influx of foreigners really that bad when the government is making plans to build the right infrastructure for this? Many many more of such questions are being asked of us. How shall we respond?
This is very painful to listen to and to acknowledge. However, we can look on the bright side. That bright side is that at least these people are asking questions. Whether the questions are the right ones to ask is another matter. Time will bring forth quality questions if we persist with what we are doing. Which brings me to the next point.
What should we be persisting in? Singaporeans are asking questions of the alternatives. You want to dislodge the PAP? What can you offer in their place? Democracy? What is democracy? The freedom to rant mindlessly, to laugh at fumbling politicians, to criticize without offering solutions, to be lawless?
We may argue all these but the fact remains that these are the labels we have been tagged with. And if we do not do anything about it, 2016 is going to come by and we will still be here in 2017 talking about 2021.
The Alternative View
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=574156602645676&id=358...