Bruddas From Da 'Hood

Well I was going to do a piece on the Hip-Hop gang of MPs, but Hui Yi beat me to it. I think she raised some excellent points and I was particularly impressed by how she questioned the need for a right platform to express our views. This, I find, is contradictory to the essence of democracy itself, because simply being a citizen of Singapore should entitle me to a right for my opinion to be heard, proper platform or not.

Anyway… back to our MPs, or the Post 65 MPs, as they would like to be known. Now I know that they have sort of responded to criticism that they are trying too hard by saying that they just want to show that they can laugh and joke, even at themselves. I’m not here to nitpick over their words because I think that’s shallow - as shallow as using hip-hop and blogs to define youth - so I won’t be going there.

What I do want to talk about is their intention, and I think that is clear: To connect with the younger generation and show that they are not so different from us regular people after all. To do that, they have chosen to engage in activities that youth today are supposedly engaged in. This method shares more than just an attention grabbing similarity to bling-bling; both are aesthetically pleasing but serves no other purpose. And even that point is standing on shaky ground. I mean, how many times do you actually find your Dad cool when he tries to impress you by picking up one of your hobbies? How many times do you actually cringe?

Wanting to engage the youth is fine, but engaging them through meaningful ways is the real challenge, is it not? How does this help get kids interested in parliament, constituencies, the debate about the need for quality opposition, OB markers and everything else that we are worried that the kids are not interested in? Even if the P65 team thinks that kids nowadays are more interested in hip-hop and blogs than politics, I doubt making politicians do hip-hop and blogs will raise interest in affairs of the state.

It could possibly be argued that youth who take interest in the things the P65ers do will soon move on to an interest in politics, but that’s hopeful as best. Why? Because the essential ingredient is missing – political maturity and knowing that politics is not just an elitist game because at the end of the day, it affects all of us. Being decked out in baggy cargoes in camouflage print may earn a few catcalls, but how long can the show go on? Just because I can’t help but look every time the Fa Lun Gong members display their placards deploring the state of human rights in China, doesn’t make me buy into their whole religion.

Here’s what I think guys, and since I believe I’m still considered a youth, I’ve got a feeling that my opinion matters. You want to appear like a regular guy, than act like a regular guy. Be seen taking the bus to work. Use Singlish to complain to your fellow passenger that the fares have increased again but you don’t even know about it because the Ezy-Link card’s just so sneaky about how much you pay for the ride. And while we’re at it, maybe one or two of you should pick up some Hokkien so that you guys don’t risk looking like foreign talent. After all, we’re talking about appealing to youth in general, not just the elite who go to polytechnics, JCs and universities.

One more thing: The term “P65”, it don’t mean a thing to us, homie. Labeling this bunch of MPs doesn’t them closer to the youth of today. And even if you do want to use a label, there’s still a big difference between post-65 and post-75, or even post-85. Just cause ya’ll P65, don’t make us no bruddas from the ‘hood, ya naw wat ah sayin?