Are Young Singaporeans Mice?

Singporean MP, Dr Toh Chin Chye said that the generation of today are meek and very calculating. They are less independent-thinking and lacking in initiative. It does not bode well for the emergence of future leaders in politics or business. Is this a fair assessment? Singapore in the 1960s was a politically lively place, full of colourful characters with plans of changing our nation and maybe even the world. Teachers asked their students what they thought of the local elections, their opinions of the different emerging political parties and their views on events happening in the world. Students were encouraged to question and debate. When Patrice Lamumba, then president of the Democratic Republic of Congo was assassinated, Singaporean MPs, including Lee Kuan Yew, staged a mass rally protesting the crime. Sadly, today, few Singaporeans of my generation care about what is happening in local government, much less in Africa or elsewhere. Those who do keep up with current affairs, are happy to remain critical bystanders, and nowhere today can the passion, zeal and eagerness for politics be found. Whatever happened to the enthusiasm and initiative so alive in the men and women of my father’s generation? I believe that the root of our political ambivalence lies in our education system. When I was in college in Australia and university in London, we were required to research everything for ourselves. Lecturers seldom hinted at which questions would come out for the exams, therefore in order to do well, one had to search and research thoroughly and never take any information at face value. In my secondary school days in Singapore, everyone had the same textbooks. Everyday, our teachers handed us photocopied notes for history and geography. Memorising those notes word for word was all that was required to get an A. There was no debate and nobody ever questioned what was taught. This system of teaching may produce meticulous, disciplined and hardworking citizens, but at the price of creativity, courage and assertiveness. As Dr. Toh Chin Chye said: “the generation of today are meek and very calculating.” Perhaps another reason for this passive attitude is the effect of peace and economic security on our nation. Throughout history, civil wars, famines, natural disasters and political upheavals are often what motivates the common man to take an active role in shaping the political landscape of his country. While our parents had the ‘luxury’ of the struggle for independence as their legacy, our generation knew only comfort and economic growth. Our complacency as much as our ignorance has left us deprived of future leaders. I once asked a national serviceman what he thought about the war in Iraq. I was appalled when he replied: “I don’t really know about these things. I don’t really think about these things.” If we do not start creating political and business leaders now, Singapore will be lost when the strongmen of today retire. Leadership begins with knowledge, and true knowledge comes with questioning, doubting and being brave enough to make mistakes. In his inaugural speech, Lee Hsien Loong called for more alternative views, pledging to create a generation with “more spirit, more verve”. Let us begin by encouraging debate in our classrooms without fear. Let us spend more time with the hungry, with the sick, and volunteering in our neighbouring countries where war, disaster and poverty have left human beings empty. This is the only way to purge the ignorance and complacency that has set in on this generation.