Singapore Democrats

A little before 11am last Saturday morning, Young PAP members addressed a small group that had, according to its Facebook page, “trickled” into Speakers’ Corner to hear a call for lower public transport fares for polytechnic students at an event called "Wear White for Fairer Fare".

Polytechnic and university students are considered tertiary-level students rather than post-secondary, hence they pay about twice what those in junior colleges pay.

YPAP Organising Secretary, Abner Koh, in a statement widely thought to be aimed at placating party elders, was careful to say that the unprecedented event was not directed at government but rather SMRT and SBS Transit.

Public demonstrations have an old pedigree. For example, in the mid 17th century, residents of Jiangnan in China violently demonstrated against the imperial Qing edict that all men must shave the front of their heads and wear their remaining hair in a queue.

There is a venerable Chinese saying, "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away."

Some say it refers to independent ways of acting because government is very distant – both geographically and politically – from the people’s lives. Others emphasise that since the emperor is far away, the voice of the people must ring louder to attract the attention of the ruler.

Essentially, protests and rallies are a means by which the people draw attention to an unjust situation and call for a remedy. Usually, this is done by ordinary citizens who feel they are not being heard through official pathways because they have little or no access via those channels.

Which makes the YPAP event last weekend puzzling. As the youth wing of the party currently in government, would it not have been far more sensible – and effective – to seek a meeting with the relevant ministers and officers to put their case?

Might this have been more agreeable than to have to stand in the sun and make speeches? After all, the YPAP counts thirteen PAP MPs as its advisers, including two Ministers of State, a Vice-President of the Women’s Wing, an Assistant Secretary-General of the NTUC and the Speaker of Parliament.

Since the Government has a 54.8% share in SMRT and various government-linked entities also have shares in SBS Transit, the decision to mount a rally to call for lower fares is baffling.

As is typical for public services, a tightly-knit network of agencies and officers control the various agencies that provide public amenities. The table below provides a limited list of the many men and women to whom YPAP could have made their case. Many of them are either directly employed by the government or members of the PAP.

Public advocacy in Singapore has typically fallen on deaf Government ears, and in recent years the authorities have moved to clamp down on rallies, demonstrations and protests of various kinds.

Should the nation welcome the YPAP rally as an indication that the Government is lightening up on public advocacy? After all, there was widespread approval when the SDP successfully cajoled a previous PAP administration into opening up Speakers’ Corner.

Or perhaps the Government has already decided to lower polytechnic transport fares and when the announcement is made, the governing party’s youth wing will appear to have landed a coup?


Table: The PAP-Public Tranport Nexus

Dr Vincent Wijeysingha is the Treasurer of the SDP.

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