Society

A few years back, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, our Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, shot out at Singaporean youth, calling them “soft, not hungry and selfish.” Following the comment, in an informal poll conducted by The Straits Times on 26 of the participants, an overwhelming majority had begged to differ with the minister, refuting his claims that the people of their generation were becoming too self-absorbed. Some high profile political figures have also brought up claims that the young adults in industrialized or rapidly industrialized countries like the United States of America and Singapore respectively are apathetic and self-centred. Although there may be some exceptions, in my opinion, those claims are valid to only a small extent.
As education today takes on a more holistic approach, community work and community involvement are slowly being integrated into the curriculum. With this increased awareness of the need to give back to society from which they had so richly received, many of our youths today are volunteering for and are selflessly immersing themselves in charity work, be it through local or overseas projects. As an example, many educational institutions in Singapore organise overseas community involvement projects that are very well-received by their students. These students go to Nepal to build proper schools or visit rural areas in Thailand to construct sanitary toilets for the residents. Away from home, these participants are deprived of material comfort yet they carry out the tasks assigned with much enjoyment and enthusiasm, knowing their efforts would make a positive difference in the lives of the underprivileged. Similarly, in the wake of the tsunami disaster in 2004, the Singapore International Foundation sent 32 teams which were mostly comprised of youths to respond to the needs of communities who were destroyed by the disaster. Shortly after that, 250 youths set off to help out in the reconstruction of Sri Lanka, which...