@ the people’s manifesto town hall, singapore | 3 August 2024
Is there a word for that feeling of life weaving patterns in and out through time?
I’ve been described throughout 12 years of report books as shy and quiet. 16personalities told me I was 95% introverted and in secondary school, my friends had fun in the days before phones by collectively staring at me until I turned red. I was an awkward kid.
I’m better now. But those moments in between deciding I really wanted to say something at the town hall and actually starting to talk into the mic? I was pissing my pants.
There’s something to keep here for future learning: about what I said, how I ended up saying it and everything else I heard at the event.
Jom let’s go.
my town hall contribution, paraphased
Thanks to my fellow Malay brother who was talking about racial quotas and how NS brought out the real Singapore (sidenote: he was real & super funny too).
I was from an elite school and I was looking forward to making friends from different backgrounds, a truly every Singaporean Son experience…before I realised in BMT, we were still separated into Leadership & Regular batches based on schools. And while most of us in Leadership would get into positions, the best Recruit in a Regular batch was assigned to be a storeman after.
(It was bullshit.)
What I learnt was that the true Singapore experience was deeply entrenched elitism.
I’ve always believed politics is for the people. Not for politicians, not for the people(‘s action party). So I’m thankful for the efforts to create this People’s Manifesto, for this space that it’s up to us to protect and expand.
I used to work with at-risk youth. One activity I remember to this day was a debate on whether Singapore should ban smoking. It wasn’t just because it was kinda funny to hear kids we knew secretly smoked get really into arguing for banning smoking but also because of what came as a post-activity reflection, sincere and heartfelt. Nobody had ever asked us what we think before.
Politics is for the people because the people have to live everyday with the consequences of politics, whether you ask them or not. The ones we don’t ask are the ones worst affected. I am hopeful this manifesto is a start to changing that in our country.
I’m also a Muslim, and I went to an Islamic university so some might even call me conservative. A previous friend spoke up to say that the G protects conservatives and I’d like to push back on that.
From wearing the tudung to threats of radicalisation, from being too Muslim to controlling how we talk about Palestine…we have a Muslim Affairs Minister, we have MUIS but for too long, they’ve not represented us. They just tell us what to do, lecture us in Parliament and in closed-door sessions about not disrupting social fabric as a good Muslim. Scare us.
I hope my fellow Muslims see that participating in politics, in events like this isn’t against our faith. I think it’s part of our faith. And differences don’t have to divide us, if we use it to truly unite us.
my inner monologue before taking the mic, paraphrased
(emcee announces start of town hall session)
wow, there’s an hour put aside for this. there’s no one on stage. 3 mins given per person. I guess it’s like an open mic but the mics move to you. interesting…
(5, 6 people have said thoughtful things about social work, Palestine, elections. 1 has said something about conservative muslims I actually disagree with.)
I ask H whether she’s gonna speak, hoping she’ll say yes cos I know I’ll endorse whatever she says and she’s great at talking but she’s like I don’t know what to say. I get it, it’s overwhelming, the breadth of opinion and representation & the freedom to say…anything.
What do you say if you can say anything?
More speak, time passes and I realise what I’m really hoping for, someone to represent me and say what I’m thinking, was very unlikely to happen. I’m nervous. I start crafting in my head, then I think maybe writing something to read out will make my voice shake less but finding the perfect words to write was distracting me from writing what I knew I wanted to say.
If I was alone, this internal debate is likely where this ends. But I told H I wanted to speak – and perhaps this makes all the difference. She checked if I was serious, called the mic runner over and that was it. I was in line.
💩
Thankful 4 more people go before me, so I can deal with this new reality. Read the Nabi Musa doa’. Realise that I have rarely, if ever, been in a more democratic safe space for expression than this one.
Melayu bro standing in the corner gets the mic – maybe the first Melayu bro as far as I can tell. Sometimes Allah plans things beautifully. He referenced MND’S POFMA on that real estate guy about the EIP (these damn acronyms) and he said he’s fully for it, more racial quotas in:
- workplaces
- government
- ministries
- & the SAF!!
My man. I didn’t get to talk him after and I wasn’t as entertaining but it lightened my spirits.
oh okay, it’s my turn? alright, bismillah…
other things I heard & learnt
Speaker session – Kumarr, Leon, Terese & Braema
“serial assaults from the state on individuals”
“it is up to us to create the space”
there is no democracy that has not come out of struggle. malaysia as an example. reformasi, bersih, loss of life. mitigate risk by tapping on wisdom, experience and support of the community
universal vs national minimum wage. fighting against the foreign worker levy, who does it serve?
“there has been improvement” expansion of space, but its how we use it. being FICA proof, pofma proof, defamation proof and make them uncomfortable. we need the legal competencies to do this
the ability to mobilise the middle ground, winning over the centre through whatever tactics eg social media, groundwork. politicians have to follow their constitutents (creating the demand more effective than creating the supply)
to the centre, PAP is devil u know, opposition parties need to let people know what you bring, in terms of people, policy etc
defending against elitism in the environmental space, want to rise to the top. how? have the open space informal friendships
asking gov to change economic model is v tough. focusing on specific cases where its profits over people and fighting back
moderator:
the commitment to the national pledge. it must become real for the person next door.
state has to provide dignity and space for the different groups
we understand to the degree that we participate, we participate to the degree we understand
first moment of democracy is asking what we think. second is taking risks and breaking the rules. third is conversations
tradeoffs not productive discussion. what is the minimum standard that we can agree on?
guy in lift recognised me as guy in batik speaking up, thanked me
H’s SYCA friend said she almost teared until she realised I was H’s guy…I was like huh why 🤣
& finally, links and stuff
check the agenda, bios and just generally follow https://www.instagram.com/workersmakepossible
download, read, sign & contribute to the people’s manifesto: https://peoplesmanifesto.net
we did a poll to see the most popular demand. here’s the list and the ones I picked. which are yours?
