SMS the government!
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SINGAPORE : Want to SMS the government to share your views and aspirations for the nation?
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports is launching a public consultation exercise especially for young people.
Starting on Saturday and lasting six weeks, the Ministry wants to gather enough views to help shape future youth-related policies.
Singapore has one of the highest SMS usage rates in the world, and the government wants to tap in on this.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, said: "The definition of a Singaporean is someone who can SMS with his phone in his pocket, and I now want to tell you that you can do that and you can contact the government...so no one has any excuse for not sharing his plans, or his ideas."
Whether it is by SMS, telephone, email or fax, the Ministry wants to invite all young Singaporeans to share their dreams and plans for the nation.
This is the first time that a public consultation exercise is focused specifically on the post independence generation or those born after 1965.
Some have said that this generation is more politically apathetic and unconcerned with larger national issues.
But Dr Vivian said this need not be the case.
Dr Vivian said: "I disagree with that, I think that that is a perception and I intend to prove them wrong...there is a lot of potential waiting to be tapped, and we need to open up those avenues.
"We are about to witness a real flowering of ideas and activism within Singapore, and our youth, particularly the post-independence generation, must be the vanguard of this movement."
He wants the views collected during the consultation exercise to form the basis of real policies dealing with youth development.
Dr Vivian said: "We will be able to catalogue what is it young Singaporeans are concerned about, what young Singaporeans want to do. If there are any obstacles perceived or real, it would also be identified, the resources available, the shortfalls in the resources available would also be evident by then. This will allow us to come out with a much more realistic and practical plan."
As guest-of-honour at a Boys Brigade event, Dr Vivian found no shortage of enthusiastic youths.
"We should be given more opportunity to stand up and do things for the nation, and personally I find that the youth should be more involved in community work."
"The youth could be more involved when it comes to political issues and coming to the decisions that our country is making."
As part of this new initiative, there will also be a focus group, bringing together youths from all walks of life to brainstorm and discuss ideas.
The group will be led by Dr Mohamad Maliki, who will be assisted by Dr Chong Weng Chiew and Ms Penny Low. All three MPs were born on or after 1965.
The email is [email protected]. Callers can also call 1800-3535555 or SMS 6353-5555. - CNA
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anyone keen to take up the offer?
i do believe there is alot of potential to be tapped - if not anything, just by the responses in this forum.
but other than the lack of channels to air them, the other is the reluctance to air them - to the authorities. people rather stick to informal channels.
or am i wrong, and that people are more than willing to share their views with the government if they provide more channels and platforms to do so? -
mi no handphone leh
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I have enough dealing with the government at work liao. After work, too tired to talk about government.
Just want to sleep ... -
Those under the age of 18 please seek parental advice before doing so.
Each SMS sent successfully will be charged SGD$0.60 and credited to your monthly account.
The sender will be liable for any direct, indirect, special or consequential loss or damage arising out of the use of the service or content provided or otherwise. -
Originally posted by ditzy:Those under the age of 18 please seek parental advice before doing so.
Each SMS sent successfully will be charged SGD$0.60 and credited to your monthly account.
The sender will be liable for any direct, indirect, special or consequential loss or damage arising out of the use of the service or content provided or otherwise. -
gahmen always so busy, you think they will reply meh?
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they auto reply? wahahaha...
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Hmm.. interesting concept.
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actualli im sure there will be auto replies to acknowledge their receipt of the suggestion. and it is actuali not quite likely they will reply all the sms one by one - it's just not practical. anyway its supposed to be a suggestion gathering initiative.Originally posted by Hocklez:they auto reply? wahahaha... -
But it'll be pretty hard to solicit views on all the wide array of issues that the general public might wish to comment on.Originally posted by wuming78:actualli im sure there will be auto replies to acknowledge their receipt of the suggestion. and it is actuali not quite likely they will reply all the sms one by one - it's just not practical. anyway its supposed to be a suggestion gathering initiative.
That is unless they have a pre-established set of parameters - say on Educational issues press *1, Infrastuctures *2 and so on.
But then again, the spread will still be very wide. -
not sure how they are going to operationalise it. im sure they have their ways and means. just hope they know how to manage people's expectations with this exercise too.Originally posted by Spear:But it'll be pretty hard to solicit views on all the wide array of issues that the general public might wish to comment on.
That is unless they have a pre-established set of parameters - say on Educational issues press *1, Infrastuctures *2 and so on.
But then again, the spread will still be very wide. -
another thought:
how much new ground will this exercise break, in terms of reaching out or getting responses from youths who have never provided any feedback or suggestions to the government?
or would it simply be just another channel for those who ARE already contributing their thoughts and ideas?
i would imagine without prodding or prompt, alot of the less academically inclined would not utilise these new channels; does that mean their voices are worth less? how are their views going to be heard? they do have a stake in the country...
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sms is very restricted, coz even if one got opinion still must discuss..
HP or ipad, stuff like these is not as convenient as a destop ..yet.. -
Valid point there as well.Originally posted by wuming78:another thought:
how much new ground will this exercise break, in terms of reaching out or getting responses from youths who have never provided any feedback or suggestions to the government?
or would it simply be just another channel for those who ARE already contributing their thoughts and ideas?
i would imagine without prodding or prompt, alot of the less academically inclined would not utilise these new channels; does that mean their voices are worth less? how are their views going to be heard? they do have a stake in the country...
To mine new opinions from new voices, the alteration or addition of an alternate channel will probable only see limited improvements to the present status quo.
Without a successful element of 'inspiration' and the neccessary motivation, young minds will continue to pretty much unbothered about national issues, let alone contribute to realistic suggestions to pinpoint out exisiting flaws in the various systems for improvements.
And as pointed out above, there are severe limitations to hows much one SMS can convey.
When faced with hundreds or thousands of condensed or shortform typed SMS every month (if the proposed system is successful), the actual Selectivity ratio and the Yield percentage of actual potentially feasible feedback will still be another challenge that affect on the eventual success of this entire new proposal. -
nabe. spam em har. wait kana DOS den they noe.Originally posted by wuming78:anyone keen to take up the offer?
i do believe there is alot of potential to be tapped - if not anything, just by the responses in this forum.
but other than the lack of channels to air them, the other is the reluctance to air them - to the authorities. people rather stick to informal channels.
or am i wrong, and that people are more than willing to share their views with the government if they provide more channels and platforms to do so? -
Why must pay $0.60 for the sms? Another way to rack in money?Originally posted by ditzy:Those under the age of 18 please seek parental advice before doing so.
Each SMS sent successfully will be charged SGD$0.60 and credited to your monthly account.
The sender will be liable for any direct, indirect, special or consequential loss or damage arising out of the use of the service or content provided or otherwise. -
