Expectations differ on
dialogues
Some appreciate being asked for views,
others prefer to hear from VIP
By MATIHIAS CHEW
and RACHEL CHANG
STUDENTS who have taken part in dialogues with ministers say
they have mixed feelings about having questions lobbed back at
them.
When a minister responds to a question by asking what the
student's view or solution is, reactions
range from indignation to appreciation.
This practice is now being debated online and offline,
after junior college student Reuben Wang, 17 wrote an angry blog
post criticising Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean for asking
students at a pre-university seminar what their solutions were to
the questions they posed him.
Reuben apologised to Mr Teo and retracted his comments on
Thursday.
Yesterday, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo
Ser Luck said when he and his colleagues ask students for their
views, it is not a bid to "pass the ball back". Rather, it is
because policymakers value their input, he said, adding: "No
solution is perfect. It is a learning and two-way process for both
sides."
He said young people should not underestimate their own
abilities to come up with solutions. Feedback from teenagers has
prompted him to launch certain constituency programmes.
But some undergraduates who had their questions posed
back to them at other ministerial forums said it was
disconcerting.
During a dialogue last year, National University of
Singapore (NUS) undergraduate Mah Yi Xin, 22, asked Dr Vivian
Balakrishnan, then the Minister for Community Development, Youth
and Sports, if a $100 levy was enough to deter Singaporeans from
gambling at casinos.
She found it "frustrating" that instead of answering the
question, he asked her what she thought. "When people go for these
forums, they want to hear what the minister says, rather than what
participants say," said Ms Mah.
Mr Muhammad Farouq Osman, 23, was stumped when Mr Lee
Kuan Yew threw back a question about aid for low-and middle income
families during a university forum last year.
The NUS undergraduate worries such exchanges "intimidate"
other dialogue participants, who may not subsequently come forward
with questions for fear of being put on the spot. He said what
students want is not a "right" answer but rather a glimpse into how
policymakers, who have access to a wealth of data and and support
from civil servants, view urgent issues in society.
Still, others like Singapore Management University law
undergraduate Lea Woon Yee believe they have gained from having
questions posed back at them.
She attended a Young PAP forum last year during which
Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan
Chun Sing asked participants not to "throw stones", but to "offer
better solutions".
The 22-year-old, who asked Mr Chan about youth
involvement in the community, said that "he was showing us that
it's not such an easy problem" to solve.
It was effective, she said, because it allowed her to
appreciate the constraints ministers face in making policy.
Jurong Junior College student Douglas Ong, 17, who
attended the same pre-university seminar as Reuben, said students
like him did not get a chance to speak to political leaders every
day.
"We want to hear his opinions, rather than having to give
our own. I see the point of getting us to think about our own
views, but what we really want to hear is what he's going to do,"
he said.
Ms Mah suggested that ministers might want to first
answer the question, then seek students' views. That way, students
would not be "unsettled" by the swift return and the gesture "would
show that he is genuinely interested in your view".
Home, The Straits Times, Saturday, June 9 2012, Pg B16
