Asian Correspondent, 4 Sep 2012
At the National Day Rally late last month Education Minister Heng Swee Keat spoke about the “national conversation” to be launched under the the name of “Our Singapore”.
During his National Day Message, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that he had put Mr Heng in charge of a committee of young ministers to take a new look at Singapore’s policies. Beyond that, talk about building a more “inclusive” society and listening to the voice of the people has been going on for years.
Which makes it easy to understand why many Singaporeans aren’t putting much stock in the new “national conversation”. If we’d already been promised a conversation and engagement for years, what’s different this time? How will Singapore become any more inclusive this time, compared to all the other times we’ve been promised inclusivity? Will things really change? Or is this all just a huge wayang (show) to address the perception of a disconnect between the ruling party and the people? Full story
Related:
How do you have a national conversation... - Singapore Democrats
