Political Campaigning

The Internet has transformed the way politics work. The digital wave has shaped the course of how politicians communicate to the masses. A case in point would be Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign in 2008. Obama's administrative team has successfully raised half a billion dollars from 6.5 million donors while collecting 13 million email addresses during the process. Obama used the Internet to spread his ideologies globally on the web and as such, created various online communities that enabled wide and efficient distribution. These allowed people to easily access information online and also to explore and participate in these campaigns freely.

On the other hand, in Singapore, it appears to be a different case. The local politicians do not engage in digital elections as vigorously as compared to the US parties. There are certain rules, regulations and stipulated laws that set certain restrictions to political content online. An example would be that the Singapore government has banned all podcasts and videocasts in all future elections. Furthermore, bloggers who would want to write and speak up about the elctions are required to register with the relevant authorities. After registration, in the event that the government finds the content unsuitable, the blogger will have to delete the post(s). This also could be one of the main reasons why young adults and youths are not as apathetic towards politics. Besides the fact that Singapore is not exactly a debating society, schools are also not actively promoting political involvement and educating the students on politics. It could also be because of the youths' lack of understanding of the functions and operations of politics that they seemed to be turned off by politics. Some may feel that one man cannot make any major change in politics, thus the general apathy towards the government and politics.

If only the rules are more flexible, less stringent and more political content is published on the web whereby allowing people to freely access the information and giving them room to express their thoughts, all these attempts might be able to engage young people in politics. Perhaps the Internet can play a more vital role in the upcoming elections.