Politics, economy dominate dialogue session with youth on S'pore in 2030

Channel NewsAsia 10 Nov 07

SINGAPORE: Politics and economics were the hot topics at a dialogue session organised by the National Youth Council on Singapore in 2030.

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said the 150 young adults had a frank and honest exchange of views.

He also said they shared their anxieties, their fears of complacency and irrelevance, and their hopes for political change.

"The two key issues which came through were economics and politics. (In) politics, as I have said, they hope and wish for greater openness, greater contestability that we hear loud and clear. My answer also was there will be greater contests in the future. We take that as a given. What I am advising is we maintain high political hurdles not in order to reduce contest but in order to achieve political standards. So the Singapore of the future, regardless of who is in power, will be governed by people who are competent, who are honest and able to get the job done and do their best for Singapore." - CNA/ac

Dangerous to lower criteria to enter politics: Vivian
Jeremy Au Yong, Straits Times 11 Nov 07;
'High political hurdles' needed to ensure S'pore continues to have good leaders, says minister at youth dialogue

SINGAPORE must keep its entry barriers to politics high, to ensure that only the best get in, said Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan yesterday

To lower standards simply to encourage contests would be a 'dangerous short cut', he added at a dialogue with about 100 young Singaporeans.

'Many people are asking us to dumb down our political system. Lower the hurdles, lower the standards, lower the penalties, lower the deposits, so that we can have apparently more contest,' he said in response to a question about whether Singapore will have a more open political system in the future.

'I would rather have high political hurdles, so that anybody who seriously enters the contest is a good, strong, honest person, willing to pay the price and able to withstand the scrutiny of the public.'

The key, he said, was not about the future of the People's Action Party (PAP), but whether Singapore will continue to have good leaders.

'I'm not so obsessed with whether or not the PAP wins the election in 2030. What I'm more interested in is the quality of candidates who will be available for the electorate to choose and the quality of the leadership.'

If the candidates are strong, it really does not matter who wins from a 'purely national point of view'.

'From a partisan point of view, my objective then is to recruit as many of those people as possible into the PAP,' he said, adding that the ruling party had the 'lion's share' of talent now.

The 21/2-hour dialogue, organised by the National Youth Council, was lively with about 10 questions for Dr Balakrishnan and lengthy discussions.

With the focus on what Singapore would be like in 2030, the minister touched on issues ranging from dual citizenship to free education.

But it was the PAP's dominance which was on the minds of many participants.

Asked if the party would be willing to let go of the one-party system, Dr Balakrishnan replied that the Elected Presidency was created to prepare for peaceful transfer of power.

'With a second key, with a veto power on expenditure of reserves and appointment of judges and senior civil servants - if we were constructing a one-party state, there is no need to prepare all this,' he said.

Externally, he said that he did not share the 'dismal prognosis' of one participant, who was worried about Singapore's survival amid the rise of China and India.

Dr Balakrishnan believed that Singapore was never competing in the same league as the two Asian giants, and should see their rise as opportunities rather than threats.

In fact, Singapore is also positioning itself to take advantage of the growth of Asean.

'When Asean achieves an economic community, which we have targeted to achieve by the year 2015, 560 million people in one region then can compete with continental-size economies.

'If we get it right, we are in the game. If Asean succeeds, who is likely to be the Manhattan or the New York of Asean? Our neighbours will not like the answer but you and I know, we will be in the running.'