Reaching Out

Many would have read the first blog that I entered the other day; my first tentative step at reaching out to the world; and I am taking this up as an experiment. You see for me to do this is not easy. I am 48 years of age; or what many would consider, as one who is of a generation that did not have the luxury of growing up with information and communication with the wider world at the tip of the finger.

For me it has taken time for me to adjust and over the years; perhpas out of sheer necessity I have grown accustomed to computers as a tool that I need in the course of work. But then, that is only it. Unlike many of today's youths, I do not engage in Internet chat; neither do I have an account in Friendster or I swap music files. And until now, I did not haver any clue what blogging means.

Yet I feel that unless I keep up with the changes that changing technology has brought about in our world, it would increasingly be difficult to me to connect with the younger generations of Singaporeans. This is particularly important for me, as my work as a Member of Parliament requires me to help with the formulation of policies that would be relevant to our society and that would enjoy some measure of legitimacy among the entire spectrum of our population, and not just among the mature or working adults.

This is a challenge for us as increasingly, our own experience in our formative years that help to shape our values and our outlook in life is fast becomng divergent from the next generation of Singaporeans; espcially those born after 1965. Indeed, the year of our independence is a threshold year for many of our younger Singpaoreans. This ia a defining year for us, as from then on, Singaporeans have been able to enjoy economic growth and prosperity year on year. For the many Singpaoreans who were born after we became independent, life was raised in relative comfort; clean running water, HDB homes, good schools, the MRT, first class health care; and above all, good jobs that pay Singaporeans enough to have a decent life and for a majority of Singpaoreans, decent vacations overseas.

Fortunately for these Singaporeans, the memory is faint or non-existent, of squatter housing, or of limited consumption of meat and fruit for these are considered expensive items. Entertainment was just confined to playing in the open with the neighbourhood kids with improvised balls and other contraptions.

Without a doubt, the experience of the early generation of Singaporeans has helped to shape their sense of values. To this day, the older generation of Singaporeans, myself included still considers it wrong to leave unfinished food on the plate; not so with the younger generation of Singpaoreans who thought it nothing to throw away food.

As society changes, we must ensure that change is anchored and underpinned on values that form the bedrock of our society; values that have been our moral compass through the ages and that should contine to remain with us. The problem of success with every succeding generation lies with the danger of slothfulness, complacence and arrogance. As they say, success tends to make us fat and lazy and we run the risk of losing our original values.

Each passing generation must find its own way of passing the torch of these values to the next. If we don't we run the risk losing sight of the values that made Singapore great in its own ways.

In a way, my decision to start this blog is motivated by a desire to want to engage a new generation of Singaporeans who are familiar with the use of the Internet. I would like to through our exchanges and interaction understand them better and hopefully for them to understand this pre-1965 Singaporean better. In so doing, we hope to keep our moral compass asa a society and as a government, continue to have robust policies that resonate with the people.

Let the engagement begin.