Tomorrow (24th June 2010) marks the commencement of my 10th year of political activism with the Workers’ Party. Concurrently this month also marks the completion of my 4th term of WP’s Central Executive Council (CEC) stewardship. Typically during this period, I will spend time to reflect, improve and share. Below are some of my thoughts:
Gaining Priceless Experiences Earlier this month, an academic colleague of mine innocently asked me the following question, “What are the benefits of joining the Workers’ Party?” I paused for a second and responded, “Tangibly nothing to speak of, but what I have gained are priceless experiences which money cannot buy.”
Then again, over the years I have question myself many times, why am I doing what I am doing? This question typically props up during pre-dawn hours on Sundays. Especially during the initial beeps of my alarm clock, waking me up so that I could go forth happily to coordinate the logistics train for WP’s public outreaches!
Given the deprivation of a few more hours of sleep each Sunday, what gains could that be? Actually there are. To share just two examples, both organizational duty and discipline have been deeply embedded within me. This is partially facilitated by the fact that being a logistics coordinator, being punctual is clearly not sufficient. Rather being early is ‘required’ so that operational start times will not be compromised. I am proud to share that throughout these years, I have always been early :)
Sharpening Thinking ProcessesOn another note, two months ago, a good friend of mine commented that, ‘Your many years of activism have made a difference in you’. For some reasons at that moment, I briefly wondered about the semantics differences between the variables of ‘many, years, activism, difference and you’. A split second later, I merely responded him, “Yar, should be lah”. The explanation for my “Yar, should be lah” response was because at that moment I was unable to pin-point a specific area where political activism had made a direct impact on me.
However later that week, I pondered and concluded that activism had indeed made a difference, especially it has moderated the way on how I make decisions and judgments. The reason is because political activism requires me to meet with multitudes of people, to categorize priorities and to solve issues. These in turn require me to be sharp with my thinking and responses.
Particularly, political activism has necessitated me to operate under a perpetual ‘multiple variables analysis filter’ mode, which requires a fine balance between the considerations of processes and outcomes. This is especially so when deciding upon decision alternatives and exercising discernment over manpower deployments.
Maintaining Life’s Balance In an earlier blog piece titled ‘A Certain Type For Singapore (Part 3)’ I shared about the excessiveness of activism and I reflected upon the following:
“Political activism has also taught me that idealism must be equally matched by realism. This is especially true in the financial aspects of things. For one to be able to offer himself to serve his fellow country men, he must first and foremost be responsible about the well being of himself and family.”
Indeed, during my earlier years of political activism with WP, I was juggling between multiple portfolios and projects. That was also largely due to the lack of manpower then. Nonetheless the idealistic me was very willing to ‘charge all the way’ but the realities of life had since molded me to ‘pace all the way’ and to ‘charge only when the necessity arises’.
Since July 2006, I vested much time & efforts to develop both my business and lecturing career. Hence at the WP front, instead of holding multiple portfolios, currently I hold only 1 primary portfolio (i.e.) being WP’s Co-Organising Secretary (OS). Working alongside fellow WP leaders, I make sure that I discharge my OS duties well by synergizing all my efforts alongside fellow WP activists. In this way, I can effectively ‘pace all the way’ and ‘charge only when the necessity arises’.
The same good friend of mine, whom I mentioned earlier, incidentally emailed me last night in the midst of my reflections. In that encouragement email, he gently reminded me for the need for me to adopt a "balance" approach in my life. I am thankful for his reminder.
Joining The Workers’ Party Your timing can’t be better. This is because there can never be a ‘best’ time to join the Workers’ Party and Singapore needs you now. The winds of change are blowing. Be part of it!
Therefore it remains my political resolve to continue identifying, cultivating and multiplying a certain type of Singaporean, who is for Singapore, pro Singapore and loves Singapore. This certain type must be highly committed to Singapore's national development and is radically committed to serve Singapore via the Workers’ Party.
Such a Singaporean sees the critical need to invest his/ her life in identifying, cultivating and multiplying similar types. A profound sense of destiny, blind loyalty and intense passion for Singapore are the hallmarks of such an individual.
Will you join me?
Link:
‘A Certain Type For Singapore’ (Yaw Shin Leong, 2007)
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Several WP activists held an informal dialogue with fellow Singaporeans to discuss challenges facing Singaporean communities this afternoon. 
