Grassroots Organisation

LinYu SG

ST Forum 18 February 2006
A letter from a Volunteer

Feb 18, 2006
Grassroots worker wants out of politics

I REFER to the letter 'Choosing grassroot advisers: Forget politics'(ST, Feb 14) and the article 'Aye to apolitical GROs' (ST, Feb 10).

In Singapore, joining a grassroots organisation (GRO) seems to be a sure way for one to be involved in politics, despite the belief that GROs are supposed to be independent of politics.

I volunteered in a GRO with the intention of serving the community, especially the lower strata of society, and getting engaged in activities which I have an interest in.

After serving in the GRO for a few years up till now, I have been approached a number of times by other grassroots members requesting me to be a member of the political party.

I do not see the need to be involved politically because my main purpose is to achieve the aims I mentioned above.

Getting involved in the political party does not seem to advance these aims in any way.

Moreover, getting affiliated to the political party was not something I anticipated when I first joined the GRO.

Even if I want to be part of a political party eventually, I am still not ready to do so now.

I hope the ambiguous line between GROs and political parties can be better defined.

Volunteers in GROs should not be put in a difficult position to decide whether to join a political party just because they want to serve the community.

With a politically-charged system where prospective grassroot leaders are 'screened' on their backgrounds, those who are viewed as 'undesirable' (for example, ex-offenders) but are sincere about contributing their share for the community are deprived of the opportunities to prove their worth.

Instead, there may be people who join the GROs to work for their own vested interests through politics without any real intention of contributing to society

I hope the grassroots organisations can be autonomous and apolitical gradually so that volunteers can concentrate on serving the community.

Yee Kai Ling (Miss)

Sigh......

iveco SG

Maybe it is time for us to introduce the local council election. All those who pay SC/CC charges to XXX Town Council should elect their mayor (from their grassroots organisation) instead of having him appointed by some ruling party bigwig.

This way, the ruling party cannot interfere too much in local politics.

ShrodingersCat SG

I volunteer at a GRO currently. Hmm.. and I think political involvement is an option the individual choose to take or not. I have seen some people come in as volunteers but with an obvious agenda. And there are some, (like me), who are generally politically apathetic and just want to do some community work conveniently.

Honestly I find people who use GROs to achieve their own political agendas sometimes manipulative - but if we are not interested to step up and be a political leader, then I guess I rather someone involved in community work (seriously involved, not hold positions and only involve in high profile projects) with a deeper understanding of how the community work lead the people in future. Unfortunately, so far, it is often the reluctant leader (instead of the hungry leader who wanna be high profile) who is more effective at DOING work as opposed to TALKING work. As for political parties concerned, isn't it better that they are looking for potential candidates in community work then simply looking at status or other demographics?