Promoting Interest amongst Youths for Policy Formulation

Mdm Speaker, when the idea of a youth parliament was first raised in the Remaking Singapore exercise in 2003, the National Youth Council (NYC) decided then to convene a National Youth Forum (NYF). The NYF was envisaged as a platform for young people to understand policy formulation and discuss national issues, thereby seeking to enhance the level of youth civic participation.

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Over time, however, we found that the reach and impact of the NYF was limited as there were only about 60 youth participants each time. Hence, since 2010, the NYC has stopped running the NYF in the way that it was originally conceived. Instead, NYC has evolved the forum into a series of more regular dialogues that enable a larger number of youths from different age groups to take part. For example, in 2012, NYC organised over 10 dialogue sessions with Ministers, Members of Parliament and corporate leaders, engaging more than 600 young working adults, students, as well as youths from community groups.

NYC also facilitates dialogues organised by students and youth sector organisations (YSOs), where young people develop and pitch their ideas on national and public policy issues to relevant stakeholders. The Our Singapore Conversation and Be The Change – these are some of the examples of dialogues – and the various engagement platforms which are facilitated by NYC.

As Ms Tin has highlighted, the main purpose of a youth parliament is to provide opportunities for young people to understand national issues, voice their views, and contribute to the policy-making process. So, we have to find the best ways to achieve these objectives.

I would like to assure the Member that NYC will continually review and improve the format of its youth engagement sessions, taking into account the feedback and ideas of youth participants themselves. We will ensure that we provide meaningful and effective platforms for our youth to be heard, and to share their hopes and views about the future of our nation.

I thank the Acting Minister for the reply. I have a few supplementary questions. Firstly, could I seek clarification on how youth programmes are assessed for their effectiveness and whether they are sustainable? Basically, the definition of success. Secondly, given the different platforms, such as dialogue sessions that youth are being involved in, as the Acting Minister has highlighted, how are their feedback, opinions, proposals being harnessed, especially towards policy formulation?

Thirdly, I read that recently there has been a press release on the increase in investment in terms of partnerships with some youth sector organisations in terms of developing youth. Would the NYC be open to considering partnering alumni from previous youth programmes? Because they have gone through the system and there is some goodwill created, I am sure they will be very happy to take on some of these programmes and help complement efforts by NYC. Lastly, I would like to ask the Acting Minister whether Singapore is ready for a

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youth parliament at this stage. It was first raised in Remaking Singapore. I think it was raised again last year during Our Singapore Conversation, so I would like to ask the Acting Minister whether Singapore is ready for this.

I thank the Member for her four supplementary questions. I will take them in turn. First, on the success of the programmes and what we use to assess success, well, there are a range of quantitative and qualitative indicators. We could look at attendance, outreach, the number of youth who participate in the programmes. These are some relatively straightforward quantitative indicators. But we also use qualitative indicators through feedback forms, through responses of the youth participants themselves on the engagement levels within these forums that we provide.

How can the feedback of the young people be factored into policy processes? Again there are various ways. One, ideas that are gathered during these platforms, NYC will make a point to convey the ideas and suggestions to the relevant Ministries and Government agencies. Secondly, if there is interest, NYC also specifically organises focus group discussions on particular policy topics with the stakeholders and with Government agencies themselves so that there is a direct process and interaction between the policy-makers and the young people. Third, will we be prepared to make use of alumni or to collaborate and partner with alumni from these youth programmes? The answer is, certainly, we will be happy to collaborate with not just youth sector organisations but individuals who have been alumni from these programmes because they certainly have valuable experience to contribute.

Finally, is Singapore ready for a youth parliament? I think the answer is not so much whether Singapore is ready. I think the question should be, "What would young people themselves like to have?" That is the question we would like to hear from young people themselves. Yes, a few have suggested the idea of a youth parliament but we really need to hear from the young people themselves what platforms, what engagement platforms or forums would be ideal, would be suitable for them and then let them take ownership of the platform which they would like for meaningful engagement.

Yes, we are already doing that because through various dialogues that I mentioned, through Our Singapore Conversation, through the various youth sessions that we are having – we have conducted quite a number of them and we are continuing to have a few of them lined up in the coming months – we are in the process of asking young people through the sessions whether such a platform is useful, is meaningful and whether or not they would consider other platforms.

We are not wedded to the particular idea of a youth parliament. I do not think we are wedded to any particular modality of engagement. We would rather let young people themselves voice out their opinions, their views, what exactly would they like and then we would hear from them and then, based on the consensus of youth, based on the opinions of young people, we can move forward on a more effective platform.