Apathy is commonly defined as the lack of interest towards a subject. As a Singaporean youth myself, I do not think that I am an apathetic youth. I remember during Singapore’s previous general election, I was at the Beijing Satellite Campus. I remember telling my mum to inform me of the winning party of our constituency before I left for China. I also remember mentioning that I would like to attend at least one rally to experience what general elections would feel like. Sadly, I did not get the chance to, but I still tried to keep informed of the results. Although I may have certain interest in politics, I feel that I am still unable to take a stand with a party and vote if I could. I mean, yes I do have some interest regarding politics, but not much has been done about this interest and my knowledge of the different political groups is still quite shallow. This situation, I believe, is what many youths would find themselves facing.
Many youths would appear to be apathetic because they do not hold, perhaps, “intelligent conversations” about politics, but this is often not the case. Youths might have an interest towards politics, but do not know where to express their thoughts and opinions. Formal rallies are usually targeted towards those above the voting age and address issues that this demographic may face, such as housing and economic issues. The wants of the youths are usually unheard of and they do not know who they can approach to address their wants. This has changed greatly with political parties now slightly shifting more attention to the youths of Singapore. There has been more emphasis on the usage of online social media platforms to spread the actions of PAP, and there has been a higher level of activity on forums which allow users to discuss about the issues that PAP seeks to address. These platforms are mostly targeted at youths as it is the platform they are most familiar with, and it also gives them more freedom in what they want to say. I myself have checked out these forums and look at some of the issues being discussed, although I never did bother making an account to contribute. This was probably because the issues still seemed slightly distant from me, and I would not be able to vote till 2 general elections later. However, if political parties continue to use more of such platforms to share their ideas, I would be glad to contribute in the next general elections
Furthermore, the inclusion of younger political members such as Nicole Seah and Ting Pei Ling indicates the same shift of attention towards youths. Such members in the parliament would be able to express the needs and wants of a new generation and invoke more interest amongst young Singaporeans. Although there has been many “mishaps” that happened to these people and small-scale debates about whether the inclusion of young political members are going to be beneficial to Singapore, I believe that this is a very good start. Including more youths in the parliament would send a message out to young Singaporeans that their needs and wants are being heard in parliament debates and that these needs and wants are being addressed by people in power. They would think that their online discussion about the problems they face are not done just for fun, but would actually contribute towards, perhaps, changes in the current policies that are targeted at youths. “A good start is half the battle won”; with such changes being made to the political scene in Singapore, I believe that they will result in many changes which seek to involve more and more youths in politics.
Lastly, I think that “youth apathy” is not really a big issue. Many youths may seem to not care about politics, but they are still largely involved. Some youths would attend community sessions which involve the member of parliament of their constituency to learn more about the problems that society is facing, as well as how the government intends to solve all of these problems. Through these sessions, their knowledge on politics would increase and prepare them for when they are of legal voting age.
In conclusion, I think there should not be any worry at all regarding the phrase “youth apathy”. Youths cannot be fully apathetic about politics. Although they may be distracted by the ever-evolving technology or temporary blinded by the materialistic desires of theirs being met, they know that the government has a very large part to play in what they are facing now, and would emerge from their “apathy” when the situation calls for it.
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