Janice Koh for President! In the short term, debate may be contentious, time-consuming and inconvenient. In the long term, however, society is given the opportunity to consider all sides of the argument, to learn to agree to disagree where necessary, and to listen to each other. Progress is measured not just by the decision of the day and its immediate outcome, but also in terms of whether the group has become more cohesive and grown more resilient towards future challenges. There is an African proverb that captures this succinctly: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” People have diverse affiliations, competing priorities and pressing local concerns and preoccupations. In our first 50 years as a nation, the Government’s instincts were to discourage the discussion of sensitive issues. Its strategy was one of conflict avoidance. Keep the polar groups away from each other, or keep the government’s critics from poking their noses into the policy arena. For Singapore to thrive, however, we need “critical lovers and loving critics”. The Government will have to unlearn those instincts of wanting to draw more OB markers, and learn new ones that emphasise dialogue and engagement, both between groups as well as between government and non-government entities. It will have to practice and impart new skills to facilitate a civic discourse that strengthens our social cohesion in the long term. Perhaps this is somewhat uncharted territory for Singapore, and there may be stumbling blocks along the way. But it is clearly an opportunity for the Government to exercise leadership in taking the nation towards our best years, which I agree, lie ahead of us.
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 08:55:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015