By Wong Mei Ling
Journalist, Foreign Desk
mlwong@sph.com.sg

 

THEY sigh and snigger as their brow folds into a sardonic frown when asked if Mr Barack Obama's message of change can be applied to Singapore.

"No" was the overwhelming response from the 18 to 20 somethings that I spoke to from the three universities in Singapore. "Where got time to think of these things?" was the other common reply.

"We are politically apathetic," Ms Sarah Yap, 20-year-old Science student in NUS, admits to The Straits Times.

She's not the only one. Ms Gayathri Raja, Arts student also from NUS, says "youth in Singapore are not interested in politics".

A common reason given to me was that they have other things to worry about like assignments, projects and a host of deadlines for school.

Even ardent Obama fan, Aaron Ng, 26, who follows the US elections closely thinks that for all the idealism Obama inspires, it cannot change anything in Singapore.

"It's always at the back of my head [to be more involved]. Ideally I'd like to do more but I'm all tied up with work and completing my studies. In Singapore, reality bites. But it is a pity we are so pragmatic at such a young age," Mr Ng told The Straits Times.

And a pity it is. My student experience overseas was filled with all kinds of student activism. In Germany, there were student demonstrations every semester for various issues from tuition fees in universities to rights for Turkish minorities in Germany. The best ones were the annual 'ritual' protests by the left-wing student organisation for the sake of keeping with tradition and an excuse for a good party on the streets.

In South Africa, students would gather at various corners in the Kwazulu-Natal University to talk about capitalism, globalisation, race, HIV/Aids, etc. Heated arguments will ensue but a witty comment and good laugh will always end the discussion and everyone went home still friends.

At the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, students demonstrated on campus and in the city centre when US President Bush was in town in 2006. They thronged the streets with anti-Bush banners and Bush effigies which they later burned in the streets to enthusiastic chants and bollywood style dance moves.

Of course, these students will later go on to be professional lawyers, engineers and even civil servants when they graduate (as some of my friends who were part of these protests did). But this vibrance and political consciousness was clearly absent among the students here.

I got the sense that they do think about politics from time to time, but feel helpless when it comes to being an agent of change, which in turn makes them feel it is pointless to even think about it. Many of the comments left by the students polled admit that Singaporeans "need more awareness and less apathy".

Yet, many tell me that there is no need to be involved because the government has done such a great job of taking care of everything. Stability has bred political apathy.

And while that may have its advantages, stability and political awareness are not mutually exclusive. With political awareness and knowledge comes constructive criticism and growth in society.

Besides, university life is supposed to be the time where the young are at the height of their idealism and reflexive consciousness. They should be fired up to be involved in society and politics at this age before the realities of family obligations, children and a mortgage catch up with them.

The youth in Singapore really shouldn't be in such a hurry to grow up. Maybe they need to be given the time and space to think out of their books.