by Kairen
If one volunteers or participates in Youth Leadership events, you would expect a myriad of events within differing settings, with themes that are hopefully indicative of the type of goodwill it hopes to foster through the strong bonds of camaraderie and taking care of one’s community.
So when I was told to go take a look at the event on Saturday to celebrate the opening of the People Association’s “Youth Charter”, I was expecting a rather nice time networking, learning new issues plighting other neighborhoods and maybe a few new friends.
But when I first arrived to see a giant tent with air-conditioning occupying where the grand entrance to the Ngee Ann City mall… perhaps it was the first sign of odd things to come.
I mean, are there not other indoor locations that could accommodate the probable thousands of people to come ? But they did label it a SG60 signature event… Maybe it was a grand gesture to commit to whatever it intends to convey? So inside I went, after queuing up for 15 mins, moments away from a flash storm.
Inside, the event itself was like any other Youth Leadership event. Booths representing the various organizations that want to attract people to volunteer… All adorned in rather tasteful homages to the HDB void deck nostalgia.
From reinforced cardboard chairs adorned with those timeless patterns, an ice cream and kachang puteh cart… so then why does it bother me that they’re offering coconut water dispensed cold in that same way you’d get beer from a bar?
It seems a bit much, even as I don’t have to pay for it. Every gulp of that tasty and refreshing coastal drink only grows that small sense of unease. I’ll soothe that by taking a picture with the kayak from Boon Lay’s Youth Network. Fun!
Two hours have passed and more thoughts start to ferment as I feed myself with a cream croquette from Taka’s 2nd basement floor.
Most of these initiatives heavily lean on environmental, mental health and community concerns. But what of future economic concerns? After all, I had to recalculate my personal expenditure budget thrice to ensure that I could most definitively afford that delicious fried treat that I am eating.
Wait huh? The Daily Ketchup is here to conduct a quiz show? I need to record this to my friends, they’ll be so jealous.
Soon enough, the event reaches it’s crescendo with the Prime Minister arriving to visit the various stands with the added difficulty of camera flashes.
As I wait patiently in my seat for the main finale to begin… it starts with a musical number using parodies of some pop songs. As I try my best to inseminate the messages each act tries to convey, I then have to switch back to a different mode of perceiving speeches made by PA representatives ostensibly placed as strategic ad breaks to the play.
It is a good thing my friend Joshua is recording all of this. Maybe we can separate it into two different videos so that we can better understand what is going on.
The climax at last! Our esteemed leader, Lawrence Wong, speaks!
He thanks the various youths involved with the PAYM’s initiatives and hopes that we would continue to work with them in tackling the issues that we, the youth care about. That the future is ours to dictate only if we take action. Behind the lines, this excites me a little bit as the only real way to do so would be to expand the means in which we could express opinions to the government.
After all, you cannot address an issue plaguing society if you are scared to the point of self-censoring those concerns. And that is progress.
That hidden message is brighter than the ensuing procession of grassroots advisors and the PM himself holding transparent LED plastic balls to light up a book-like structure.
But after all of this, the one thing that made it all click together was a piece of decoration that I must have overlooked till I was going to leave. That this whole event and to some small extent, the Youth Charter itself was something to be cautiously observant of. Cardboard animals resembling sheep or goats with the SG60 logo sticker-ed onto it.
Over-speculation on my part, but did they had to choose animals that was once used as a sacrifice to the gods… in an event ostensibly about the alleged careful expansion of civil rights in the near future?
Never mind the fact that an event as luxurious as this could be a bit misguided in our current economic uncertainty.
Never mind the fact that the concept of a “Government-enforced Freedom of Speech” in unheard of anywhere in the world. Those cardboard animals have brought me ease.
That if i were to truly voice out my opinions on what ills Singapore… that I would still have to pay a heavy price. Not as a price as high as the past, but certainly one to avoid the truly systemic issues that threaten to ruin everything if left unchecked.
Until I see indication otherwise, I am going to hold my tongue as I have done in the past. For the sake of my family, friends and my own sanity.
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