BY BERNARD CHEN
In order to encourage greater participation among Singaporean youths, I would like to propose the establishment of a Singapore Youth Parliament (SYP), on top and above the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18.
The Singapore Youth Parliament should be a democratically elected youth organisation consisting of elected members aged between 14 and 25 with the following preamble:
“The Singapore Youth Parliament aims to be an effective, open, honest, inclusive and broad-minded voice for Singapore’s young people.”
Main aims of the Youth Parliament
1. To offer young people in Singapore a collective national youth voice.
2. To make a difference in society by increasing young people’s participation.
3. To promote a positive image of young people.
4. To connect the processes of policy making and development with young people.
5. To be an independent and youth-led organisation free from influence, where young people can give their views to policy makers without hindrance, fear or barriers.
The work of the SYP is centred around involving young people in the decision-making process, particularly in consulting with young people and campaigning for these views to be adopted by the relevant decision-makers.
Comments
Hi Jason,
You have made very good points. While I do not have all the answers to your questions, perhaps the more important thing here is that having a regular Youth Parliament may inculcate a mindset of involvement in our youths.
The implications – benefits, if you like – may be a more socially-aware youth. This may translate into all segments of society, and not just politics.
I think Bernard has this aim – to sort of ‘awaken’ youth’s apathy towards not just politics but also in areas such as social work, volunteerism, altruism and perhaps in future even philanthropy.
Regards,
Andrew
this is an interesting suggestion. however, i do have doubts about what should be the aims of such a proposal:
1) is there such thing as a collective national youth voice?
2) will encouraging the participation of the youth really make a difference to society?
3) is there a need to portray a positive image of young people?
4) i agree that youths need to be connected to the processes of policy making, but such a system must have liberty of the government to accept or decline recommendations. These are, after all, youths without the resources and talent available to the government.
5) i’m all for free speech (: as long as it is within the limits of law of course.
If such an initiative would be carried out, i think its main purpose should be to expose youths to doing politics, and exposing them to socio-economic-political issues, and at the same time, to allow them room to develop their convictions and views. i’m not sure if it would be desirable for them to have any real power beyond a capacity to recommend. all such activity should, of course, be moderated as well.