For the past few years, many have attempted to find out why are young adults and the youth in Singapore apathetic towards politics. Talks with ministers, television programmes, and surveys conducted on the streets and many other ways have been employed to find an answer to this question. Are Singaporean youths too self-absorbed? Do they not have sufficient information about politics to form an opinion? Or is it simply because they take our existing ruling political party for granted?

When I was younger, I admit that I was incredibly self-absorbed and apathetic towards politics. All I wanted was what I had all along; although I was appreciative of this, I took it for granted. It was not until the 2006 General Elections that I started to pay more attention to politics in my country. I recall a lot of girls in my school saying that when they are able to vote, they would like to vote for one of the opposition parties. I asked why, and my question was met with superficial answers such as “Singapore does not have free speech!” I thought this was ridiculous as I could not believe there were people who wanted to vote against our ruling party just because they envied the American ideology. Furthermore, these girls were anti-PAP and they could not even justify their position in more than a sentence. I am unsure of the stance the general population of youths in Singapore have towards our ruling party currently, but I feel that this example reflects how politically apathetic my generation is. Most youths do not appear to be concerned about politics and worse, they make uninformed choices about it.

Our schools teach us little about Singapore politics; therefore, most youths are not typically exposed to information that will help them understand and learn more about politics. However, I do not think this is why Singaporean youths are politically apathetic. Although censorship is commonplace in the country as differences in opinions about politics are rarely voiced out due to self-censorship, strict laws and the herd mentality, with the youths’ connectivity to the internet, it is not difficult for them to search for such information themselves. It is not for a lack of information that Singaporean youths are politically apathetic.

I feel that Singaporean youths are uninterested or unenthusiastic about politics mostly because they feel that they are not in a position that can make a difference or an impact. They feel that their opinions will most likely go unheard, and they are not even of age to vote; so what difference can they make exactly? Furthermore, our ruling political party, the People’s Action Party (PAP) has been doing an extremely good job of running this country (albeit, there is still room for improvement), how are we able to tell them to do a better job? Most youths feel that they have little say in their future which is why they choose to remain unconcerned about politics in the country. If they should feel and realize that they are in a position of influence, they will actively seek out information about politics and perhaps be more motivated to learn more about it.

The youth in Singapore should realize that they have a say in deciding their future as the people in the country is the government. We decide how we want to be governed and how we want to live. The strength of the word is in the masses, and the government has to listen to us. If we remain politically apathetic, we and the future generations of Singaporeans will not be well equipped to lead our nation into the next phase of progress.

Bye!