Giving our youth wings to soar
AUG 23, 2004Giving our youth wings to soar
By Peh Shing Huei
THE Prime Minister last night declared himself proud and confident of the generation of younger Singaporeans, saying they are articulate, have idealism, ambition, a social conscience and are growing up to be responsible adults.
So Mr Lee Hsien Loong's challenge to them, a reiteration of the call first made at his Aug 12 inauguration: Step forward and contribute to the Republic.
He made clear his Government would smooth the way - not just through the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, but by empowering them and making them feel they can make a difference.
'By and large, we have groomed a strong generation ready for the future,' he said confidently, after outlining the range of unusual, interesting and out-of-the-box activities they have been involved in.
The related challenge, he said, was 'to give them wings and to give them roots'.
'We need to give them wings, expose them to the world, build their character, let them set their own goals and choices, let them learn from their own mistakes, let them grow and blossom and be themselves, guide them but don't constrain them,' he said, in an indication of what the authorities needed to do.
'But, also, we have to give them roots, emotional experiences; we should bind them here ... so even with wings, they will fly all over the world but come back and be a Singaporean in Singapore.'
One critical aspect of rooting Singaporeans here, he believed, 'is to empower them, to give them a say in their lives, to make them feel that they can make a difference'.
He argued that they had a far better chance of making a difference here as compared to countries like China and the United States: 'If you are in China or in America, you can't do that. One person out of 1.3 billion, can you change China?... If you were one person out of nearly 300 million in America, can you become the President and change America?
'But in Singapore you can, and you must,' he said, adding that his generation felt that way, which is why they stepped forward and decided to make a contribution.
Mr Lee made his pitch directly to his intended audience, telling the post-independence generation of Singaporeans: 'Don't ask what the Government is going to do. Get up, do it!
'Engage your ideals, your ideas, your energies; build a new generation, build tomorrow's Singapore. Don't wait or depend on the Government. Find your own leaders, organise your own solutions, move.'
It need not be through politics, he said. There was community service, social work, education, or even through the arts.
But politics is one way and it is important that enough people enter the political arena so the country can continue to have self-renewal and a new leadership team, he added.
'Don't wait to be asked,' he said.
'If you know someone who's capable, put his name up. We will take a look. We want you to be a part of our team. We don't mind if you have separate views but you must have some views.'
He added that even if they had different views, 'we can talk about it. Let's come in and let's do something about it together'.
Mr Lee said he was encouraged by the successes that Singapore youths had already achieved.
'The world SMS champion is a 23-year-old Singaporean girl,' he said, to loud applause for student Kimberly Yeo, who thumbed her way to the Guinness World Records after clocking 43.24 seconds for keying in 26 words in June.
RoboCup Soccer champions Gerald Ser and Erin Tan, 10 and 12 respectively, were also mentioned for snagging one of the largest robotics soccer events in the world.
And he was also happy to see a younger cohort with social conscience and willing to experiment with different paths.
He recounted seeing at the Esplanade recently, 'people drawing beautiful pictures on the pavement using chalk'.
He thought to himself that '15 years ago, we might just cane them'.
The audience roared with laughter.
Mercy Relief was another endeavour. Started by the Malay group, Perdaus, it has been undertaking work internationally, with 700 young volunteers of all races - students, professionals - organising themselves, raising funds and doing humanitarian work in places such as Cambodia, Afghanistan, and for flood and other disaster victims.
Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home