I was thinking about resolutions recently because it’s the season for it. 2018 will be an interesting year for me because while the bulk of it involves finishing up my Masters in London, I’m also planning to continue priming myself for my return back to Singapore. I’ve been keeping in close touch with the news and trends in my home country, and spending a good amount of my time back reaching out to people just to get an insider opinion on things. As I thought about my resolutions, I realized that it may be useful to initiate an agenda at a public level for everyone to consider adding on to their own lists. Singapore needs civic society and with all these trends and changes, perhaps a list like this can start the conversation on what can be done to move forward the country.

Here are the disclaimers:

1. This isn’t an authoritative list. These were derived from ideas and conversations and are open to being modified as well.
2. This is a starting point for a discussion. In the research world, agendas are useful to directing future conversations and work and this aims to do the same.
3. This isn’t necessarily the same as the policy level agenda setting that the Prime Minister does in his National Day Rally. This is aimed at civic society – us, the public. This aims to crystallize the key conversations and elucidate tensions and opportunities for more active work.

Resolution 1: Recognize Difference around Us

The news has been fraught recently with topics on race, religion, and class. Singapore’s Gini Coefficient is one of the highest in the world and the evidence of elitism and tribalism continue to show signs. It’s true that the quality of life in Singapore has seen an overall improvement but at the same time, we must accept that different people lead different qualities of life in our country, a fact tied essentially to their backgrounds.

Here’s an example. A child from a lower-income background would not be able to afford private tuition, especially at the rates being offered these days, at the same level as someone from a middle to higher income background. While public education aims to equalize the playing field, the grading system is essentially built on a curve that favors those who are able to learn more faster. Unless a lower-income student is especially talented, the system is stacked against them, especially when considering the ‘holistic’ promotion of CCAs and outside enrichment without regard for class sensitivities. Singapore’s fabled meritocracy could merely be a guise for class-based advancement.

That’s for class. I could write paragraphs on the phenomena surrounding difference in race, religion, abilities and various other social identities. It troubles me when I read comments on forums that scoff at identity-based conversations, citing western liberal bias. I agree we must challenge all ideas, western ones included, but that does not reduce its ability to add to our lives. Heck, democracy was a concept that came from Greece and we’ve adapted it here. While policy has a role to play in equalizing the playing field for all identities, we as civil society must also start practicing compassion and sensitivity.

We must start considering the social circles we function within and the actions we participate in – do they push us away from other Singaporeans? This country is not an ethnostate and is increasing in its heterogeneity. We need to recognize and embrace difference in our lives, by participating in activities that reach across identities rather than are exclusive to them. We need to diversify our circles and both add and derive value to and from various communities. I hear many gripes about the increased presence of foreigners in our country but I question if we’ve made the effort to engage and seek friendships before judgment. The trajectory is set – Singapore is an open country and its heterogeneity will increase within a condensed space. We need to recognize that our lives are sometimes just our own and cannot be extrapolated to the general public. We must live in consensus and compromise, and that starts with seeking to appreciate and celebrate difference.

Resolution 2: Advocate and Organize, Speak Truth to Power

This is a slightly political one, but civic society is intertwined intimately with politics. I’ve been watching the increase in prolific legislation from the implementation of the EthnoPresident to the recent proposed Films Act Change. It worries me that overall trend in legislation has been an effort to essentially curb and control the freedoms of our citizens, without too much effective pushback. These add to existing restrictive laws on organizing in public spaces and media censorship for example. We’ve heard multiple times that Singapore is a unique country with its own interpretation of the degree of freedom necessary for its citizens, but I think we forget that interpretation is a function of the views of the people in power, not the people on the ground. It is the government that has decided that it has this prerogative. While our country functions on an elected democracy that has people in power meant to represent us, I question how often we voice our views strongly enough for our representatives to hear us.

Ultimately we live in a country that is meant to enable a quality of life satisfying to us. The ability to create economic value is not our primary objective, it is the ability to derive self-worth, pursue our dreams and be safe. Riding off of Resolution 1, that ability does differ from person to person and requires people to be vocal about their needs and desires. We need to slow down the restriction of our freedoms as civil society, by truly participating in the instruments of our democracy. Form advocacy groups, come up with agendas, lobby to your Members of Parliament and demonstrate – all within the boundaries of the law.  Do not do it out of fear of an oppressive government (I personally reserve my own views on the existing government), but do it out of your own hope for your country. Most of the recent laws were passed almost without compromise or modifications (check the Hansard), a sign that alternative views were hardly accounted for.

We may be comfortable now with a government that can pass laws without pushback, and we should trust the leaders we elect will have our interests in mind. But we must also trust ourselves more, and we must trust that we as a complete society should be in control of our destinies. Politics is not just for politicians, it is for every citizen. If you care about something, find a local NGO or advocacy group and contribute your time and resources to it. If you believe something is wrong, advocate and demonstrate. Work across different groups, from the PA’s own committees to new disruptive organizations. This has the pleasant side-effect of building community leaders that have matured with their ear closer to the ground and of a different breed from most technocrats.

Make it loud and make it bold. Our mentalities have been cultured to not want to disrupt the peace, but if you’re quiet, who listens? I truly wish for an academic study on the level of integration of public feedback in policy work – I suspect we’ll be surprised (or perhaps, not surprised) at how much our voice has mattered so far and should matter moving forward. It is not about the PAP or about the opposition, it is about the practice of civil society and a robust democracy.

Resolution 3: Enable our Talents, Represent Singapore

To the more regular readers of my blog posts, you’ll be familiar with my passion for seeing Singapore represented on a global stage. I truly believe the people in our country are exceptional and have so much to offer. It’s exciting to see our music and arts scene finally growing and flexing its muscles. Local industry is starting to support the arts more, allowing for more performances and pop-up shows. People are spending money on going to events that stimulate their creativity. Our sports teams are also doing amazingly, with more medals coming in and more locals supporting our athletes. It’s an exciting time for Singapore, but we need to ramp up heavily where Singapore needs to go.

One of my favorite things to see around the world, be it in Buenos Aires or Austin or even Shanghai is that these cities bleed culture. Music, sports, and talent are not just products – they’re an embedded tapestry of policy, industry, spaces, and people. You feel and notice culture but you can’t measure it. So far in Singapore, I feel satisfied with the effort put in by policy, only because I know it can go so far. What needs to happen though is that we need to encourage more creative and innovative spaces around our country. Not just restaurants and bars, but all sorts of training centers, labs, experimental venues and artistic domains. It has to lose a sense of control to gain a sense of opportunity. The industry needs to be more daring and people need to spend their money and voice to support these ventures.

We need to also bring these views to the international level. Another debate that confuses me is that notion that Singaporean culture is difficult to export because we’re ‘not that special’. Firstly, we are extremely special. But more than that, Singapore’s business and ventures stretch far and wide across the globe. Similar to how most global powers use their businesses to transport culture to the counties that they’re embedded in, we too can share what we have through the many global enterprises we house. As individuals and as civic society, we can advocate and share. We can celebrate a new brand of local heroes.

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I condensed my thoughts to three resolutions because I wanted to focus but I’m sure there are others that can be added to the list – feel free to comment if you think something else should be prioritized. What is important though, is that while I’ve given suggestions of how these resolutions can be realized, that we all identify simple habits we can practice or decisions we can make to advance these resolutions.

I’m personally planning, once I’m in Singapore for good, to join a community group that does work with low-income students, to participate in an NGO that works on censorship policy, and to carry on my entrepreneurial skills from The Hidden Good to the music and film industry.  These are side involvements to my main job and are part of my effort to participate as a citizen in my country.

How could they look like for you? I’d love to hear some of your ideas. Also, if you disagree or want to debate some of my views, please do so – I appreciate a friendly engagement.

Regardless, this is my last blog post of the year and if you’re a regular reader, look forward to a post in 2018! Happy New Year!