I have been contemplating whether I should write this note for quite a while, not until I read these Facebook posts.
I had read this interesting read from my friend's wall post, 90 reasons why you secretly fancy Mr Lee Kuan Yew, (http://mothership.sg/2013/09/90-reasons-fancy-lee-kuan-yew/). While there are a few insignificant snapshots about the man, there are important historical timeline that most of the younger Singaporeans would not know. At the same time, there is this post surfaced on "The Real Singapore", I have lost my respect for Lee Kuan Yew (http://therealsingapore.com/content/i-have-lost-my-respect-lee-kuan-yew). This lady premises her “anger” on his draconian style and argues that his policies had left people behind as the nation progresses.
Emeritus MM Lee celebrated his big 90th birthday on 16 Sep 2013. The two stories above are definitely one of the many mixed responses you can read from the internet, especially from Facebook; ranging from sending him well wishes to taking pot shots at unpopular policies he had made during his time as premier. More importantly, from these “trolls”, are people still connected to reality? After spending more than half of this year reading more on geo-political issues, our nation’s vulnerability and dependency on global success became more pronounced to me. I observed. There is a growing trend of young people, typically under age 20, make nasty remarks about our political leaders, criticising policies and appears less sensitive and aware of our vulnerabilities. One example: I came across a post sometime back on one young lady remarking that our low fertility was a result of senior Lee’s policy mis-calculation in the 1960s; stop at two. I asked myself if this is indeed valid. Going back in time, Singapore was undergoing a turbulent period after independence; facing tremendous pressure to feed her people, get her people jobs through industrialisation. We have no water, no food, no natural resources and not even a hinterland we could lean on. Could we be sure that an empty Singapore be an attractive place for companies to base in? Can we cope with rapid population growth with economic uncertainty? Are we prepared to cope with high unemployment? Stop at two policy sounds absolute reasonable at that snapshot.
The disconnection amongst the young is an issue and an important one. More importantly, the deeper question is how we arrived to such state. It may be a random snapshot from social media that represent the minority, for many would argue that the unhappy group are most vocal. But, to be connected, one needs to be informed. Thus, the vocal noise has the potential to sway the uninformed. Propaganda one may call, educating the next generation from young is important. I applaud the move to remove entrance fees for local museums for us as parents and seniors to educate the young through feel and touch. Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) serving as a viable avenue to reach out to the people, although only to the willing ones. Whether through educational institutions or public engagement, our people especially the young would need to be more aware and sensitive to our vulnerabilities. For sure, they must not grow up thinking that water is a given, job is a given and peace is a given. It is therefore onus on us, ordinary citizens, to do our part to understand the challenges, keeping abreast with the global threats and opportunities, share truthful perspectives to counter falsified trolls, and keeping our young aware and informed.
