Young people turn to politics in Singapore

All political parties in Singapore are reporting increased youth involvement as the country prepares for its next general elections, which are only due by February 2012 but are widely expected to be held much earlier.

New voter-friendly measures announced by the government, such as caps on immigration following complaints from citizens about a spike in recent years, have further fuelled expectations of an early vote.

“The PAP started off as being a minority in government too, so it's all about participating in the process and hoping to win the support of the people,” Chen told AFP.

One of his pet causes is lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 to enable more members of the Facebook and Twitter generation to take part in politics and — in his thinking — support the opposition.

Despite getting into occasional trouble with media censors and police, young Singaporeans have indeed become more critical of the PAP on social networking sites, blogs and websites like theonlinecitizen.com and temasekreview.com.

Opposition parties are also ramping up their web presence.

“This interest in opposition politics will in a way require the PAP to raise its game,” said Eugene Tan, a law professor at the Singapore Management University specializing in local politics.

He said the ruling party had far more resources than its rivals but believed the PAP was taking notice of young people's involvement with other parties.

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