Chan Chun Sing: offer ideas, instead of attacking gov’t
Should you see litter on the ground, you have three options, according to Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing.
Pick up the litter and throw it away, write to a government agency and complain that the foreign workers are not doing their jobs, or take a picture of the litter and post it on citizen journalism portal Stomp, declaring that "Singapore is a dirty place!"
Explaining his analogy, Major-General Chan said the third option is to "tear down", the second to "outsource the problem" and the first is to "take charge of your destiny, control your environment".
It is the third option MG Chan recommended, reported The Sunday Times (ST).
He was speaking at a two-hour dialogue organised by the People's Action Party's youth wing, where MG Chan dealt with questions ranging from liberalising the rules on civil society to more transparency in managing the national reserves.
He urged the 100-odd young people present to ask themselves whether their ideas could move the country forward, rather than just "throw stones, cast doubt and tear down institutions", reported the paper.
Instances of youth energies being ill-utilised during the General Election saddened him, said the 42-year-old.
He said, "They were caught up in the heat of the moment, attacking the government or attacking the opposition. I want to know ... after you attack, do you have better ideas to bring the country forward?"
He repeated often his conviction that young people must ask less what the government can do for them and more what they can do for themselves, reported ST.
MG Chan said he would rather see young people telling the government: I believe in this, give me some help and I will do it.
When asked about the tenor of social media discourse in Singapore, MG Chan urged the audience to "go and reclaim the space for reasoned discussion" after only two people indicated they were proud of the discussion that dominates local cyberspace.
MG Chan also dealt with policy suggestions.
Asked why Singapore cannot have a welfare system like in Australia, he replied, "We can. But are you willing to pay for it?"
He later told reporters he did not want to give the participants any solutions but to "work through the solutions with them so everybody understands the choices, the consequences the trade-offs".
"Even if they don't agree with a decision at a point in time, they will understand the considerations behind it. So in the future, when circumstances change, they are in a better position to make those new decisions."
