SINGAPORE – Being a good listener, and giving people a chance to speak are attributes a Speaker of Parliament needs to ensure debates in the House are civil and productive, said Mr Seah Kian Peng, who was sworn in to the role in August.
In the same way, hearing each other out and respecting differences of opinions are important in tackling tough and challenging conversations about race and religion, he added.
Mr Seah was speaking on Dec 7 to 350 students participating in this year’s OnePeople.sg Model United Nations event at Eunoia Junior College.
He was responding to a question about what it takes to be a good Speaker of Parliament during a dialogue session held under Chatham House rules, which allow the reporting of what was said but not who said it.
Besides attributes like patience, he said: “You need to conduct the sittings fairly, make sure that everyone who wants to say something, give them a chance to say it.
“But at the same time, you know you also there’s an agenda... and there’s no point debating or saying the same thing over and over and over and over again... Sometimes you don’t want things to be too disruptive.”
Mr Seah, who has presided over five Parliament sittings since being sworn in on Aug 2, said he has reminded both ruling party and opposition party MPs and backbenchers, as well as ministers, to keep their answers succinct so that there is time for more issues to be covered.
“We want to run meetings effectively; we want to achieve outcomes,” he said.
During the session, Mr Seah was also asked about minority representation in Cabinet, the evolution of Singapore’s national identity, and how young people can learn more about politics in case they are interested to step forward in future.
To the last question, he encouraged young people to watch the live stream of parliamentary sessions, or if they do not have time, to read news reports about the debates, saying that will help them understand more about politics and parliamentary proceedings here.
But he reminded them to pick “trustworthy sources”, noting that there are sites which “deliberately misinform... or spread a bit of half-truths”.
This propensity for news and information to be twisted and to inflame emotions has become more prevalent, especially amid pervasive use of social media, and this also poses problems for racial and religious relations, he said.
The impact of this on racial discourse among the younger generation cannot be underestimated, he added, saying that the danger of social media feeding off controversial real-life incidents was “very real”.
For instance, issues of public order can easily be framed as a racial conflict, he said, calling on young people to critically examine the intent of messages, before “we like and share, before we broadcast information”.
“The onus is on the moderators of social media platforms, as well as the responsibility of netizens, to remove racist, offensive or inflammatory comments,” he said.
Mr Seah also called for greater vigilance against casual racism and micro-aggressions – such as when people make jokes that stereotype others – noting that even when such remarks are made out of ignorance, they can be offensive and can hurt racial relations.
“For some, facing the brunt of casual racism could be a daily experience,” he said.
“Some people may find such remarks offensive, but choose to remain silent to preserve friendships. We need to be very aware of such sensitivities.”
He said as society grows and matures, social norms will evolve, and different generations will take a different approach on sensitive issues such as race, he added.
“Therefore it is necessary to have conversations, and also be mindful to accept diverse opinions,” he said.
More than 350 students from secondary schools and post-secondary institutions are participating in this year’s ninth edition of Model UN, which will be held until Dec 10. The event was established in 2015 to promote racial and religious harmony among young people in Singapore.
