“Are Singaporean youths politically apathetic?” by Eldora
GE2011 was not very significant to me as I am not eligible to vote. However, this year, I paid more attention to GE as it is one of the hot topics in Singapore and many people of different ages have discussions through various types of social media. In short, during that period, GE was in the air so I eventually took note of it.
I think GE does slightly affect those who are under the voting age. I feel that generally, those who are not eligible would not bother as much about GE because they won’t have to make important decisions on who to vote for. Thus they will not take the effort to find out more about the parties that were involved in the elections or even weigh the content of the speeches made by the parties. But, I am sure that the voting age does not affect the majority of people, whether they fulfil the eligibility or not, to stay awake and wait patiently for the release of GE2011 results as it is the climax of the election. As a Singaporean or resident living in Singapore, this election gives us the chance to voice our opinion in political issues and hope for better life in the future. Therefore regardless of our age, all of us would still want to know the outcome of this election. Even if the changes of seats in the government are small, at least we know what the majority of Singaporeans’ choices are.
I don’t think that the voting age should be lowered as adults still make better decisions then young adults. Young adults are too self-centred in decisions and easily influenced by peers, while adults usually make more critical thinking and are firm with their choice. I feel that the voting age should remain the same so that young adults can have more exposure to the society first before making any voting decisions.
The GE does not really have any impact on me but this year I gain more knowledge about the elections from discussions with my family and friends.
I think raising political awareness of young people is still a challenge even though I agree with Mr Teo Ser Luck that youths here are not politically apathetic. Perhaps there could be compulsory political talks for youths in schools especially for secondary, junior college and polytechnics. Or have famous bloggers blog about politics so that people who read will pass the message around by reblogging or other means of social media.
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