POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF YOUNG PROFESSIONALS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

We are living in an exciting age of Singapore's political history. After almost 30 years as Singapore's leader, Mr Lee Kuan Yew on November 28, 1990, had passed on the stewardship of the country to the new generation leader, Mr Goh Chok Tong. With this passing of the baton, comes a promise of a change in the leadership style to one of consensus through consultation. Amidst such a political climate arises a group of people who are highly educated, globally well-informed and increasingly affluent. They are the young professionals. product of a crisis-free generation. The government has indeed focussed much attention on this group who will be the future leaders of Singapore. With such expectations, how will this generation of young professionals perform? This thesis is aimed at exploring their political consciousness. Being university graduates, they have a high level of political knowledge. However, they perceive the government to be non-consultative, intolerant of dissent and de-personalized. Political participation has been found to be low among them, partly as a result of their perception of the government. Significantly, in their criticisms of the government and its policies, they are able to offer alternatives to what the government is doing. This shows their ability to think through government policies and issues. These findings, which will be dealt at length in the thesis, imply that young professionals are politically conscious. This, in turn, will affect the future political development of Singapore.