Daily Lessons from Life 01 May 2013 - 5,000 gather for protest & mass picnic at Hong Lim Park

"5,000 gather for protest & mass picnic at Hong Lim Park - CNA 01 May 2013

SINGAPORE: About 5,000 people gathered on Wednesday at Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park for two separate events.

In the morning, a mass picnic was held to forge stronger community ties, while in the afternoon, the second protest against the government's Population White Paper took place.
The mass picnic was organised by the group Stand Up For Our Singapore.
It also saw Singaporeans from various backgrounds participating in games to know each another better.
The protest in the afternoon followed on the heels of the first one staged in February.
The organizer of the event, Gilbert Goh of Transitioning.org, said he hopes to organise similar events on Labour Day every year."

Good initiative by the organizers. Good to see the promotion of 'gettig to know each other better' in the morning session when Singaporeans from various backgrounds joined togetheer.

As for the afternoon session to continue the part 2, if you like, of the 'Protest against the Population White Paper (PWP)', hopefully Singaproeans do not have to do it on an annual basis as the government has the right sense to tweak the amended PWP further that reflects the aspiration of Singaporeans.

Lessons for me are:

1. it takes a lot of dedication and commitment to organize a gathering that the government, probably, is not encouraging. So I salute the organizers;

2. it does take some efforts to get down to the Hong Lim Park Speakers' Corner to be involved, which I did not, so I like to salute the concerned citizens who took actions. For me, I do my part in writing in the REACH forum and some other online forums as my contribution;

3. how to assess the impact of such initiatives? Do the 'power-that-be' listen, and listen really well, and adopt and adept some of the ideas voiced in these meetings? Hopefully it does. If not, all the diverse views that genuine people who are passionate and care about Singapore's future will be gone to waste. That will be a pity.

Majulah Singapura.