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| Article 1 : Revisit all Policies with prudence, says PM |
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| Article 2: HK Govt does U-turn on national education plan |
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Article 3a
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| Article 3b |
The articles featured here has one common theme -- the power of the people. In the first article, the call by PM Lee for locals to partake in the national conversation is not just an exercise for the govt to elicit feedback, but a strong signal that we people have a say in the vision of the Singapore we want in the future. This follows closely after similar incidents like the Bt Brown U-turn by the govt (see related article in earlier post), the revising of minister's salaries, slowing down inflow of immigrants, etc, all taking place significantly after the water shed election last year where the PAP lost a GRC and two cabinet minsiters. But note the limitation to this argument -- it is mentioned in the article that the conversation, while signalling a 2-way traffic rather than a top-down approach, is no session for culling sacred cows. Previous hostile policies by PAP that do not play to the populist tune include the building of the IR, GST hike, ERP, etc. Hence, the daddy-knows-best syndrome is not exactly totally erased...
Note also similar manifestation of people's power elsewhere: U-turn by HK govt on implementing the controversial national education programme in public schools; pledge by the japanese govt to phase out nuclear (see attached articles) Other examples u want to recall include the Arab Spring last year, the riots in China now over Diaoyu Island, and the so-called Arab Autumn now over the anti-Muslim film.
Sample qn:
Consider the view that power is now in the hands of the people. (DHS Mid-year 2012)
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