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Publication: The Straits Times, p D2 & D4 Date: 15 August 2009 Headline: Why they are young & passionate

Our youth activists are growing in number, thanks to the plethora of opportunities available now. Their causes are equalEy diverse, h r n green dutions to second chances for dehquents. The reasons which move them to action are varied - h m p n a l experiences to exposure to Issues. But mentom like h e r Nature Wety president (;eh

NIinsaymany~fJW3 people still expect the G o v e m t to sohre problems, when they should be the first to offer tangible so121tians.

C ONYEM'EIONAL wisdom has y a w people pretty much fig- ured out A PwTUbing flwb mob ofMtte&g, teat@, sho- paholic Padwokera; all Pod

and no idwloe. &dwhenitwmestoqueatiomofpoli-

tics and s a 8 concefns? Well, can tbenl the "Why me? &ne&wnq.

Trouble iS, conventional wbdom might have the Idg pktwe ~ @ t (sort ofl but it's mWng the myriad of .smaller ones, those that show a ggneration of yeurrg Singaporews becoming more in- voZve@, moreconfideat of essertbgthem- sslves in the muununi@ - and less in- clined to expeet the Goaernmeat to soive every problem m society.

P&me the sceae in the charnks of Oid Parliemeat House twa wesks agp when 36 poung peopk - none older than 25 - debated wtabable devefopment so- lutions &n a mock; pwlkment. The event was orgqnised by Mr W i i w Ang, 28, presidmt of the environmental so& en- terprise ECO Singapltre, as a way to gat yoang people t&d&g ci*cally abodt is- sues and the policies to deal with them.

Or pi&e the way young members of a&ocacy soup tbe Assodationof Wom- en for Action 8Rd ResestDh stepped in to +ate the website, mobilise voiuat~ers m d c q out other duties for the Mraor- dinmy geaeral meeting that ovprktanwd

whak maay had d e d a leadership coup in April. Picture, too, the way more than 2,000

tZe?tlWc Polpechuic stdents peMtbtled that adwmstration to shut down the school after a nranbet ofpupils became in- fected with the HlNl &us in June.

And three ZO-bome&&ge took a &and in luly, -din$ that the Penal Code mhin& matitel I*.

They lsm&ed an online petitton mned the "NO TO w" -, whm generated widespread discupsion.

Thtase are four saapshots that, togeth- er, makeapoht case for &pelling the mventlc3nal *dQm - a? Bterootgpe thaf today's youth am d-eentied iuld ap#Mc.

our yanng o i w ate stal%g inter- yt groups, non-profit, business and ao- ctel enterpilses m support of issues to tPCUb m m g from alleviating pmerty ta giving dehquents a second chance.

There are plenty of ,fctors push- mi puliing them into action, Some sf them am gdvanised by personal experi- e m , others because they have &eir eyes and ears doser to the ground and can readily spot gaps where problem fes- ter.

And in a bi&I globabed world, trav- el and new me& have exposed young p e o p i 8 t o i s s u a s a n d d ~ e f f o r t s &road, prompting maany to get involvd.

Experts also SUgg&t €heir e&* may stem from the h e s t in w1unteer- ism thPt tbe education system has b i d to hculcatein students. Kmae L997, the M U t r y of Education

has required All primary, seco- and junior eollega students io m o m c w - m d t y service as pglt of the Conuaanity I n d v e m l Programme.

X t appears to have ebEEleted a saa change. A 1993 National Yonth Council (WC) survey &wed only 8 per oent of young Singapmans said they wstlted to "improve M y the wwMn w- a 2006 p H fowdthat 45 p cent felt ac- tive vduhteering was important.

Alsoin 2006, Mr Jeffrey Yip1 now are- seareh -&ate for *he Centre for Ctep- tive Leadership in Noftln C a r o b , re- s h e d the o r igh of yodh aeth4.m here and f o u d that t was paf& g r o d - 8a ln dvic WC**n.

"Thrw@ p-, Y- pe~sle reBect on then position on broader social issnesandtaakecho%es ontkfrmlesin it," he sags.

A Massac~s-based Wni- vmi'tp study also found kist ybuttt whc mlunteer are morelikely to be a&dy en- gage&& the& c-ties as &&.

A case in point is bank officer Wong Pei Chi, who organised the No To Rape eampatgn. Ms Wong, 25, says kcontinu- ous masure to socid issues througb sdwool and friends led to her to start the petition.

'For a lot of us, we have this n a W s ~ o f ~ t i c e , b u t t t ' $ ~ w h e n w e g & ddert$atweget&eanalytkal~toac- M y E M about issues and how we car a& upon them and engage people," she says.

SimiIaly, it was her exposure to youth issues that moved Ms SMo-Yln K d , 31 to start tutvAg programme Sehool M Thwgbt in 2002 to encourage social COB- S % ~ O U S ~ S among ym&.

For others, it was theinfluence of par-

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

ISSUB YOU MIGHT BE

SPEn (Soc'My Far the Prevention of ue& to Animslsj, wwwspca.wasg Aenr (Animal Concerns Research &

Education Socsty), www.acrea.org.sg CHILDREN m Slrrpors GhlIUwWs Society www.chWrensoc' ,#I' L-~q@*

r ab h f a d www.*Udspmject.org &- -I Singapore Action Group d Elders www.sage.org.sg

NM017 ~ ( ~ - ~

m-mlwm ml3wr@- wwW.dngape.org wall

Fwd for All www faadforaltrg IORANT W-

Source: The Straits Times O Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction,

LY SMU Publication: The Straits Times, p D2 & D4 Date: 15 August 2009 Headline: Why they are young & passionate

The National Ywth Assembly was ~ganised by a toam of 15, including (frmn left) Mr Ihrtik Das, Mr Hozefa Adz and Mr Wilson An& to get young people to think aitierlly about issues aid the pollcias to deal wlth them. ST PHOTO: JOSEPH NAlR FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

J I Y

PASSIONATE Trainee mentors at The M a M Academy - whi was started in March - undeqo fq~&~~Ual laMIIng, thrmyh interaction and play, in d n r to ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ & ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . * ~ U L . ( ~ I ~ S T P H O T O . S A M U E L H E j,k $5 ---; &Q

!4+ - , &.cF2y-

ents and other family members. Optometry undergraduate Jonathan

Chen has been conducting free eye xreen- ings in Singapore and neighbouring coun- tries since his second year as an optome- try diploma student 2002. -

He and 14 coursemates will be leading a group of 13 Singapore Polytechnic op- tometry diploma students to Batam in Oc- tober, where they will provide eye treat- ment and give away used spectacles. Mr Chen, 24, points to his mother as

the source of his altruistic leanings. "When someone in our church was

sick, she would prepare herbal tea and soup for them, and write cards to encour- age them. 1 think that rubbed off on me subconsciously," says Mr Chen, who in previous years managed to convince five friends to join him on such trips.

Others get involved after a personal cri- sis of some form. National Universitv of Singapore geography undergrad ~ea ihe r Chi crew aassionate about food-related is- suesaftir spending a year recovering from anorexia nervosa in 2006. It took three years of extensive treatment to re- store her to good health.

"I decided to help out at a local food ra- tions programme as a form of self-thera- py to develop a different perspective on foodthrough assisting those who were hungry out of no choice of their own," says Ms Chi, 22. She started the group Food for All in 2007 to promote collabora- tion among people interested in food is- sues and work on solutions to hunger.

She is conducting a survey with two volunteers to find out what different groups who distribute food to the needy, like the Lions Befrienders, are doing, and the areas in which they work. Findings from the survey, supported by the Cen- tral Singapore Community Development Council, will enable groups to better coor- dinate their efforts to feed the hungry.

Filling an obvious gap was what got others like film-maker Nicholas Chee in- volved in social activism. Mr Chee start- ed the independent cinema Sinema Old School in 2007, when there was no other platform to showcase local P i s .

Now that his social enterprise is on its feet, with an average of 25 screenings a month drawing around 500 patrons, he is using Sinema to champion other causes.

His latest project, Films for Change, will promote local and international non-profit groups through film at a month-long festival starting on Sept 9.

Similarly, although Singapore Manage- ment University student Chiraag Bha- dana, 24, and hedge fund analyst Vivek

People keen to get involved are not confined by Singapore's borders. Activ- ism thrives in a globalised world, as NUS Associate Professor Ho Kong Chong ob- serves. "A lot more travel that young peo- ple and professionals are doing is volun- teer travel - what I call 'tourism with a cause'. I think it is then that their imagi- nation gets fired up and they develop an affinity with the issue," he says.

Between 2006 and 2008, a fifth of pri- mary schools, half of all secondary schools and almost all junior colleges had organised overseas community service trips for students. A further 17,500 young people have volunteered to help out over- seas with the Youth Expedition Project since its launch in 2000.

One such project is Singapore Polytech- nic's partnership with the L V Prasad Eye Institute. It began in 2007 and each year involves 20 optometry students visiting communities in Hyderabad, India, to con- duct free eye screenings and treatment.

About half have gone on to volunteer with local groups such as the Singapore National Eye Centre and Alexandra Hospi- tal, while others like Mr Chen have be- come advocates in their own right.

And new media tools and sites like Fa- cebook have become a key tool for mobi- h ing and engaging the young.

Mr Jared Tham, 31, who co-founded a youth society, The Choice InitiatiJe, in 2004, says: "Social networks have acted as an aggregator to draw together youth who would otherwise have very eclectic interests."

With young people challenging the sta- tus quo and lobbying for change, some may wonder if their causes will cross into politically murky waters.

It was the mass activism of young peo- ple armed with mobile phones and linked up on Facebook and Twitter that played pivotal roles in the election of US Presi- dent Barack Obama and opposition politi- cians in Malaysia, and in getting news of

the Iran uprising to the outside world. But Dr Terence Chong, a fellow at the

Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, feels what matters is not the issue in question but the way in which it is approached.

"If an anti-censorship, non-govern- mental organisation is happy with writing long, pleading letters to the authorities, then it will always be politically safe," he says. "If, however, a welfare group for the elderly parades old people in front of the Istana with banners drawing atten- tion to their plight, it would meet with what the Government calls a 'robust' re- sponse.

"Unlike many other societies, there is little state sympathy for civil disobedi- ence in Singapore, regardless of the cause."

That, and the belief that the Govern- ment knows best, is perhaps why social activism here thrives among a select few.

Environmentalist Geh Min, 59, former- ly a Nominated MP and Nature Society

president, feels that while there is a small but passionate minority who become ac- tivists, young people tend to rely on the Government.

"They ask questions like 'Why doesn't the Government do this and that?', hot the question really should be 'What can we ourselves do?'," says Dr Geh.

"The Government is not a superhero that's going to come and save you from everything. If you can't take the initiative to find solutions, where are our leaders going to come from?"

Mr Yip agrees: "Activism is a vision about a societv created 'from below'. It is not an alternative to government, but rather. the free mace in which democrat - ic attitudes are dtivated.

"Democracy requires activism. A dem- ocratic society depends on the informed and active involvement of all its members - and its success depends on the space provided for such a participation." d m @ r p h -

Jamwal, 31, found several peopleinterest- ed in microf ic ing, there was no single organisation that served as a one-stop re- source or kept everyone in the loop.

Microfinancing refers to loans and oth- er financial services to help low-income individuals get out of the poverty trap.

The duo started the Microfinance (Sin- gapore) Society in June. It meets monthly and wants to become a registered entity by the end of the year.

"We want to raise awareness of micro- finance in Singapore, grow and build re- sources for it, and support related initia- tives here," says Mr Bhadana, an informa- tion systems and P i c e major.

These days, there are plenty of resourc- es available. In addition to NYC's Young ChangeMakers, platforms like the Citi- bank-YMCA Youth for Causes provide mentors and funding to young social en- trepreneurs.

Last year, the programme enabled un- dergraduates Eunice Liu, 24, Yvonne Han, 23, Gay Ling Fang, 23;and Jeremy Peh Kim Hua, 23, to organise an art auc- tion and sell greeting cards for the St An- drew's Autism Centre.

The group, mentored by Mr Lim Kim, 24, a former Youth for Causes partici- pant, used seed money of $1,600 to mobi- lise 160 volunteers and artists who raised more than $25,000 for the centre.

Smaller youth-oriented groups like The Mentoring Academy and Syinc train leaders. Syinc also connects volunteers with the right groups.

Source: The Straits Times O Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.