The theme for the IPS Young Singaporeans Conference (YSC) 2020 was “Choices”. Held over three days from 25 November to 27 November, the virtual conference gathered over 100 youths to talk about their choices around life, work, home, and values.
Drawing reference from the national pledge, the conference featured a series of webinars that explored the topics of achieving happiness, prosperity and progress (HPP). Participants were also encouraged to take part in two ancillary events — a lunch hour comedy session by the Ministry of Funny, and a morning yoga session.
At the Opening Plenary, Dr Chew Han Ei, senior research fellow at IPS Social Lab and co-organiser of YSC, said he believed in the importance of sharing stories, as individuals can “learn a lot just by listening to one another”. Over the course of the conference, facilitators, speakers and participants heeded the call by opening up, sharing their personal and sometimes intimate stories about what HPP means to them, and to Singapore in 2030. The following are some of the key highlights of the interactive sessions:
Individual vs community HPP
Mr Aaron Maniam, Deputy Secretary, Industry & Information at the Ministry of Communications and Information co-facilitated the webinar on “Meaning of Me — Why Should the Happiness, Prosperity and Progress of Singapore Matter to Young People?” and touched on the tensions between individual and community HPP. However, these tensions are not irreparable, but can be managed and reconciled. He said that individuals alone cannot reach the fullness of their own HPP if they are not connected to others, given that no person is an island. At the same time, collective rules in society should nurture individuals to thrive and reach their individual HPP.
Ms Melissa Low, Research Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute, conveyed personal experiences about being a woman in academia. While she ranked both individual and community HPP at 7.5 during the interactive session during the panel, she later highlighted how individuals who seem to conform less to societal norms can experience more tension between the two. She highlighted how expectations to start and raise families in Singapore can create stress and observed that pro-natal incentives can act as ‘micro-aggression’ towards singles.
What is “true” prosperity?
The morning webinar on the second day of the conference saw a discussion on the meaning of prosperity. Lawyer and poet Ms Amanda Chong, who co-facilitated the webinar on “Making Life Work – Diverse Ways to Find True Prosperity in Life”, noted that ‘prosperity’ was not included in an earlier version of the national pledge. Instead, its author, one of the founding members of People’s Action Party, Mr S Rajaratnam, envisioned a Singapore “where we will seek happiness and progress by helping one another”.
Ms Chong suggested that views on prosperity varied by generation. She felt that older Singaporeans, who grew up with the “from third world to first” narrative, equated prosperity with monetary wealth. Younger Singaporeans, on the other hand, who have seen some of the ills of this prosperity, like income inequality and hyper-consumerism, tend to define prosperity along the lines of personal satisfaction and communal enrichment.
The webinar also included a discussion on inequality and privilege, and how policies such as affiliated primary schools and direct school admissions can entrench inequality.
Finding common ground
In the afternoon, participants took part in a webinar on “Creating Constructive Conversations – Choices for Making Progress in Civil Society”. Mr Mohamed Irshad, founder and president of inter-faith group Roses of Peace, co-facilitated the main and breakout sessions. He emphasised the need to have constructive and delicate conversations on potentially divisive topics such as race, religion and climate change. This is especially pertinent online, where users can make comments anonymously.
Building on the need for interracial dialogue, yoga teacher and personal trainer, Ms Alyaa Rauff shared how her personal encounters with racism as a dark-skinned, curly-haired minority in Singapore have taught her the importance of starting conversations about race. She directed the audience’s attention to Minority Voices, a local youth-led initiative that foregrounds the invisible experiences of minorities in Singapore.
Mr Ho Ren Hua, chief executive officer of Thai Wah Public Company Limited, said that due to the instantaneous nature of online conversations, what is missing is a “natural distance to reflect and think”.
Mr Mark Tan, chief executive officer of Rice Media, raised the need to have constructive conversations in both personal and professional spheres. Content creators must be mindful of the potential noise they can create, while having empathy and sensitivity to people who would be directly affected by the outcomes of public discourses.
It was emphasised that often the honest sharing of personal experiences was the key ingredient to finding common ground in the discussion of sensitive issues. The webinar also featured breakout sessions, where participants discussed issues that mattered to them, like mental health, sexual harassment, educational and class elitism, and sustainability.
Back in the main Zoom room, one participant spoke about the challenges they faced when trying to have civil conversations about sexual assault. Participants also expressed frustration in trying to change the ways Singaporeans treat migrant and foreign domestic workers.
The cost of pursuing happiness
At the night owl session, participants were challenged to rethink their idea of happiness and success.
The webinar, titled “In Pursuit of ‘Happyness’ — Unconventional Pathways to Happiness” featured two speakers: Mr Anthony Chen, film director at Giraffe Pictures, and Dr Kumaran Rasappan, a senior resident at Tan Tock Seng Hospital who is also a community activist. Co-facilitating this discussion was Mr David Hoe, founder of I Am Talented, a social empowerment initiative for youths.
Mr Chen talked about his passion for theatre when he was much younger but then discovered cinema when he was around 15 and how investing time and hard work into it paved the way for his eventual success as a film director. He also recalled having financial struggles even after the success of his debut film Ilo Ilo. For him, happiness hails from the satisfaction of making the work he wants on his own terms, instead of purely financial or material rewards.
Dr Kumaran spoke about being inspired by others and the sacrifices he had to make in order to sustain his passion for mountain climbing.
Both speakers acknowledged that success takes time, and may occasionally be marked by failure. Nevertheless, Dr Kumaran felt that these failures can lead to important moments of self-discovery.
Discussions on Singapore post-COVID19
The last day of the conference included a discussion on “What’s Next, Post-COVID19?”. This webinar was co-facilitated by Mr Lewis Liu, Assistant Director, Resilience and Engagement at the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.
For this session, participants broke out into small groups to reflect on their COVID19 experiences, and their hopes for Singapore post-pandemic. An overseas participant shared her observations on how COVID19 was managed in the country she was in. Another participant proposed reinforcing safety nets for vulnerable members of the community.
Closing plenary
The closing plenary, titled “Our HPP in the Next 10 Years – Big Questions”, featured Mr Edwin Tong, Ministry for Culture, Community and Youth, and Second Minister for Law; and Ms Hazel Poa, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament and Central Executive Committee Member of Progress Singapore Party. IPS research fellow Dr Kalpana Vignehsa, a co-organiser of YSC, moderated this discussion.
Both speakers spoke about what HPP meant to them. Ms Poa felt that in order to achieve HPP, Singaporeans had to overcome their fear of failure and expand their understanding of success. To help achieve this, Ms Poa proposed that high stakes exams be removed .
Ms Poa also wondered how different Singapore would look if the original version of Mr Rajaratnam’s pledge was adopted, where prosperity was not an “equal objective” and progress not a product of competition, but an outcome of helping one another.
Mr Tong underscored the importance and timeliness of the pledge, and how it serves as an aspiration towards HPP. Mr Tong also highlighted that while Singapore should not pursue material prosperity for its sake alone, some prosperity does ensure that countries with limited resources like Singapore and its people are given more options to navigate an uncertain future.
The speakers then responded to a series of questions posed by the audience, on topics such as mental health, citizens’ right to political expression, and the rights of the LGBTQ community in Singapore.
Both Ms Poa and Mr Tong agreed that individuals should not be discriminated against due to their sexual orientation and gender identity. However, repealing Section 377A, depended on whether society is ready for it.
The issue of activist Jolovan Wham’s arrest for holding up a smiley face sign was also brought up. Addressing the question of illegal demonstrations in general, Mr Tong felt that a line should be drawn on activities which incite public disorderliness. Not doing so may set a precedent that might lead to a situation similar to other parts of the world, he said.
Ms Poa felt that more can be done to listen to the concerns of citizens. She added that activists are citizens who care about the country, and that Singaporeans are mature enough to agree to disagree.
Both speakers are also committed to helping citizens cope with mental health issues. In addition to talking to family and friends, Mr Tong highlighted the Mindline website, which helps empower people to improve their health and emotional well-being.
In conclusion, Dr Kalpana shared her own reflections on the conference proceedings. She felt encouraged that many participants had nuanced contributions to make on the many issues reflected upon during YSC. She added that participants had really responded to the notion of “self-work” and connected that to the need to build self-awareness and self-assurance such that we are able to feel ownership and responsibility for our choices. “Self-work” was also related to harnessing the ability to actively listen to and be vulnerable with others, as well as to show compassion, both to other people and to yourself. Dr Kalpana closed the event with the hope that after YSC, participants would continue to engage with each other as well as society more generally on the many important topics discussed.
To find out more about the Young Singaporeans Conference, click here
Top photo by pikisuperstar