SPEECH BY DR MOHAMAD MALIKI BIN OSMAN, PARLIAMENT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, YOUTH AND SPORTS , AT THE COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY SITTING 2005 - ENGAGING THE YOUTH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: STRENGTHENING THE PEOPLE-GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP, 11 MARCH 2005, 1.15 PM

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SPEECH BY DR MOHAMAD MALIKI BIN OSMAN,PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, YOUTH AND SPORTS, AT THE COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY SITTING 2005 - ENGAGING THE YOUTH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: STRENGTHENING THE PEOPLE-GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP , 11 MARCH 2005, 1.15 PM

Sir, in his swearing-in speech last year, the Prime Minister had called on young Singaporeans to “step forward to make a difference to yourselves, to your fellow citizens and to Singapore”. The Youth: Creating Our Future consultation exercise that MCYS launched in August last year was one major avenue through which we invited young Singaporeans to share their views, galvanise around causes they believe in, and influence the national agenda. Ms Penny Low and Dr Chong Weng Chiew asked for an update of the consultation exercise. I am pleased to share with Members the progress made and MCYS’ further plans.

The Consultation Exercise

MCYS had launched the exercise to hear firsthand our youth’s hopes, concerns and ideas so that we can enhance our policies and programmes for our youth. Over 6 weeks, we reached out to more than 2,000 youth from diverse backgrounds through multiple channels including SMS, focus groups and email. My Ministry and other relevant Government agencies have been studying the wide-ranging inputs. We plan to publicise our responses next month.

Beyond Words to Action: Walking the talk

Some of the youth did not stop at giving feedback. They decided to turn their ideas into reality. One example, which my Minister had earlier mentioned, was how the weekly YouthInk section in the Straits Times had come about. Another group - comprising skate boarders, roller bladders and mountain bikers who took part in the consultation, decided to act on suggestions to raise awareness of extreme sports, which have been gaining popularity among our young. We facilitated their interest. They have planned two instalments of an event called ‘Soul2Sole’ to help promote the sport and discover homegrown talent. The first was held in January as a “warm-up exercise” to gear them towards organising a larger scale event later this year.

This and other examples convinced us that our young people were not all NATO - you know “No Action Talk Only”. Beyond giving feedback, many, given the opportunity, will take action and channel their energy into causes that they believe in. It emboldened us to take the consultation exercise one step further by asking more of them to develop their ideas in greater depth.

The Youth Workgroups

A few issues had cropped up repeatedly during the consultation. We decided to ask for volunteers among them to develop specific action plans and projects in these areas.

120 of them stepped forward and formed 4 workgroups. One workgroup – called “Youth Action” - has been looking at enhancing opportunities for youth to volunteer and connect to community causes. Another group - “Youth Connect” - seeks to expand avenues to deepen youth engagement to the nation. A third group - “Youth Reloaded” - is developing proposals to support, empower and include youth who face greater challenges, such as youth at-risk and disabled youth. The final group, “Youth Biz”, wants to nurture entrepreneurship among youth. We facilitated their work by providing them access to civil servants who act as resource persons. It allows the youth to appreciate policy making processes as for civil servants to appreciate the aspirations of our young.

I have had the opportunity to interact with them and preview their work. As my Minister had said, some of their inputs have shaped the Ministry’s upcoming initiatives. Let me share with Members my impressions of the workgroups.

Personal Impressions of Youth Workgroups

First, I am struck by their conviction. The youth involved are a diverse bunch, hailing from different backgrounds and life stages – from students, to working youth, to youth with disabilities. Some had specific ideas to champion. Others wanted to change policies at the national level. What they share however is a belief Singapore can be a better place, and that they can contribute towards shaping this.

It would have been hard for them to get the workgroups going if they did not have this conviction. Unlike many government-initiated committees, the discussions, idea generation and report writing in the workgroups are all led and done by youth themselves, with guidance from youth organisation leaders. MCYS deliberately took a backseat, acting only as resource persons.

Many of the youth sacrificed late nights and weekends to volunteer their time. I know of two groups that meet regularly on Saturdays or Sundays. Ahmad Nizam, President of Mendaki Club and one of our workgroup chairmen told me, “To the youth, it was not just a project, but a cause to them. They really believe in it. They went all out . . . Most of the time, we were trying to keep up with them.”

The second thing that impressed me was their broad outlook. Many of their proposals are aimed at benefiting not only young people, but the wider community. For example, some of them are tackling big and complex issues such as improving the education and employment prospects and quality of life of people with disabilities.

Lastly, I am happy that the youth have a sense of ownership over their ideas, and are keen to follow through on some of them. Sure, many of their proposals are recommendations for the Government to consider and act on. But there are also ideas that youth themselves want to champion and pursue, with some support if necessary.

The Youth Action workgroup had suggested the idea of a festival for young Singaporeans to celebrate and showcase their talent, energy and contribution. This is to offer opportunities for all youth, youth organisations and community groups to initiate ground-up activities in a variety of areas that capture our youth’s imagination including arts, sports and adventure, community involvement, entrepreneurship and so on. Youth Action has asked for MCYS’ support, and offered to organise some of the activities. We have agreed, and will be working with them to organise this festival, which will take place in the middle of this year.

Similarly, I understand that some members in the Youth Biz workgroup are exploring the idea of forming an association for social enterprise with other partners. Indeed, our youth are walking the talk!

Government’s Follow-up to the Workgroup Recommendations

The workgroups will release their reports soon. I am confident that this will give the public a glimpse of the effort, enthusiasm, and imagination that I have witnessed over the past few months. The Ministries will study their proposals closely. MCYS will track the status of the recommendations and communicate this regularly to the workgroup members.

For other recommendations that MCYS or relevant agencies can implement, we will explore how the workgroup members and other interested Singaporeans can be further involved in the implementation phase.

Of course, not all recommendations that require Government action will be immediately implemented. Some may be before their time; other ideas may not be feasible even in the long-term. I urge our youth not to be disheartened. For proposals that need a longer gestation period, I encourage them to view their effort as contributing to the case for change. The Government will explain why certain proposals need further study or are not feasible. Over time, this approach will promote the evolution of a more informed culture of citizen participation.

Value of the Workgroup Process

Sir, the specifics of the final recommendations aside, I think that the process of the exercise has been most valuable to both Government and the youth involved. Let me explain why.

First, by facilitating youths in evaluating, developing and implementing their ideas, the process helps to move public consultation beyond feedback towards collaborative action. Several workgroup chairpersons have remarked that the workgroup approach is a workable and enriching people-Government partnership. I agree with them. This approach deepens the youth’s engagement with the causes they want to pursue, and in the process, enhances the quality of feedback. Their ideas enrich the dialogue we share, and challenge and refresh our thinking.

Second, our young people themselves stand to benefit and grow from their involvement. The ongoing workgroups have helped our youth develop a deeper understanding of policy making, and the delicate balances involved. Hamesh Mehta, a workgroup member, said to us, “I feel that I have grown as a citizen, more aware of the various perspectives that I had previously overlooked or ignored. I also began to understand how frustrating and arduous the task of policy making can be and as a result, realise how important it is to maintain focus and decisiveness.”

A few of our youth have also emerged as natural leaders in their own right, playing a significant part in driving their workgroups. Take for example Samuel Chan, who took up the cause of the ex-offenders. The workgroup experience has motivated him to pursue his passion further. The experience and networks which he has gained, he told us, would help him to eventually form youth organisations to champion the cause.

Moving the Workgroup Process Forward

Sir, we want our youth to develop a confident voice and be active citizens in community and national affairs. As we explore new and innovative ways to engage young Singaporeans and give them a meaningful stake in national affairs, we will build on this workgroup experience as one viable way to do so. This is in fact a recommendation of the Youth Connect workgroup. They want to see this process made permanent, and possibly even involving a wider segment of Singaporeans.

MCYS will explore a structured way of institutionalising this youth engagement process, taking in the learning points from this exercise. For example, rather than MCYS identifying the issues to be explored, we can consider ways to facilitate youth to initiate workgroups on specific projects identified by youth themselves.

Our hope is that future youth workgroups will widen the spectrum of engagement initiatives, together with the other initiatives that my Minister has mentioned earlier. This is akin to sowing the seeds of opportunity, so that our youth and the nation can bloom.