met up with a friend and ex-colleague for coffee club coffee (and brownie with ice cream!! :)) last night and had a refreshing change of discussion topic from what I have been caught up with for the past week or so (i.e. relationships, relationships, relationships :p). By some strange chance, she has been (sort of) roped into the Young PAP (i.e. the Young People's Action Party) and is now joining them often for one of their discussion groups. I actually find this really quite exciting 'cos ironically, even though "associating yourself with PAP'" has always been taken as "conformity" (check out article)or worse still "apathy", I personally feel the exact opposite about it. To me, to dare to stand up and say that you are "aligned with policies of the ruling party" but "have views about it" is almost taboo among young people of my age group who want to look "cool" and "non-partisan" or "just want to stay out of politics" (which is even more apathetic, in my view). I know (just as well as anyone else out there - taxi drivers included) that Singapore politics isn't perfect - however, I've always believed that if change has to come, it has to come from within the ruling party and probably from the younger members - for the simple reason that the cream of the crop, the brightest of the cohort, have already been snapped up by the party anyway and for the opposition (for all their admirable efforts) to make even a bit of dent in the existing structure will still take a while (with all the "odds" stacked up against them). Since I believe that if you have the cream of the lot of the 20-somethings, there is no way they will sit there and not express their views. change (if necessary) is in fact more possible and likely to happen from being involved in the party, than if you are outside of the party and yelling and protesting (or worse stil just sitting in cafes and grumbling..)